Mad Max (R, 1979)

A lunatic called "Night Rider" breaks loose in a stolen cop car and leads several futuristic law enforcement agents on a high-speed wild goose chase. His eventual death brings a much larger gang of sadistic followers to town, where they wreak havoc and pose a threat to Max (Mel Gibson) and his colleague Goose (Steve Bisley). After the bad guys burn Goose alive, Max decides to take his wife (Joanne Samuel) and young son away, but the family soon finds itself face-to-face with the villainous gang. One hideous act later, and Max hits the road in a souped-up car, seeking his violent revenge.

Directed by George Miller (Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet), Mad Max is a groundbreaking low-budget exploitation hit that established a certain set of rules for action movies and inspired many sequels and knock-offs, but today it's perhaps more interesting historically than it is aesthetically. Certain sequences still dazzle, and Miller's close-to-the-street cinematography captures the thrill of speed in highly effective way, but the film doesn't really establish the rules of its post-apocalyptic future, and it's too uneven in tone; the scenes of cartoonish violence are a lot more interesting than the idyllic home life images of Max and his family.

It's the least of the trilogy; the sequel, The Road Warrior, is darker and more streamlined, with a more sustained atmosphere, and the third film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, is more imaginative and fantasy-based.