MovieChat Forums > Mad Max (1980) Discussion > Why Did Max Leave His Wife and Son Unatt...

Why Did Max Leave His Wife and Son Unattended to go Confront the Bikers?

posted 7 months ago by MrAnonymous (152)
5 replies | jump to latest

That scene drives me crazy. It never occurred to him that leaving his wife and son unattended to go confront these guys might be a huge mistake? I'm not criticizing the movie, because I'm sure all kinds of people do irrational things in situations like this, but I cant help feeling that the best course of action was to move them inside and stay to protect them. The knowledge that his hot headed decision to run into the woods to confront the bikers is what left his wife and son unprotected must have tortured him for the rest of his life.

[–] [deleted] 7 months ago

It did.

[–] TheArgentinian (7061) 6 months ago

because he was going in the direction they were supposed to be coming to to get to her?

[–] MrAnonymous (152) 6 months ago

I hear you, but he had to know they might try to flank around him and get to her. Why not stay where he knew he could protect his family.

[–] TheArgentinian (7061) 6 months ago

He was full of rage for what they put her wife through. They don't call him mad for nothing, just sayin'

[–] HellFire (561) 3 months ago

You're assuming George Miller wants us to think Max is "normal"?

He plays chicken with Nightrider at the beginning of the film instead of trying to shoot him through the windscreen or at least his tyres which Charlie tried to do, and there's even a shot in the film where his baby is playing with a real gun. George Miller is a man of detail so he wouldn't leave a close up like that in the film in the edit without it meaning something no matter how low-budget this was.

Miller was an ER doctor treating highway casualties and he was astounded by the nonchalant attitudes of the highway cops. The shot of the baby is there to show Max is a cop who is becoming reckless because the job is taking its toll on his mental health as it would on anyone's in a society like that.

It's one of the reasons why the film is so good. The cops are hugely flawed.