My Fave out of the original trilogy!!
This is JUST MY OPINION.
I've seen the first 2 and while I actually enjoyed the first Mad Max, my thoughts on The Road Warrior was, "Meh." Terrible writing, terrible acting, terrible movie. Mel Gibson kicked ass though, he really shined. Decent action, AWESOME climax but other than that, I was bored.
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was wayyy better written, actually adding humor, better characters, better dialogue and better direction. In Thunderdome, we see more of the wasteland, more of the dystopian civilization actually trying to rebuild.
Max Rockatansky was fleshed out better, with more personality than in the previous ones. He even speaks more, than in Road Warrior. And before you criticise me for saying "he's supposed to be a shell of his former self", I GET IT. But I don't dig it. A "Hero" with ZERO personality is BORING as hell.
Even Arnold's T800 Terminator in T2 had more personality than Max in the Road Warrior.