Courtesy Cleveland Institute of Art/Warner Bros.
"I don't know anything about methane."
"You can shovel shit, can't you?"
Mel Gibson said farewell to his first signature role with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Written by Terry Hayes and co-director George Miller, who shared leadership with George Ogilvie, Thunderdome has two appealing stars. Gibson is joined by Tina Turner as Auntie Entity. There's also exciting sequences like Max fighting for his life in Thunderdome. The movie's severely undercut, however, by episodic storytelling, a plodding second half and an unsatisfying ending.
The story is as complex as a primer:
Max has a wagon. Max gets robbed. Max sets out to get back his wagon. Max is hired by Entity. Entity wants Max to kill Blaster (Paul Larsson). Blaster is friends with Entity's enemy, little person Master (Angelo Rossitto). Max picks a fight with Blaster. They face off in Thunderdome. Uh-oh, Blaster's got Down's Syndrome! He gets killed anyway. Master is devastated. Max is kicked out of Bartertown. He's mistaken for Captain Walker by a camp of kids. They all survived or were born after a plane crash.
Savannah (Helen Buday), the camp's female leader, is ready to search for civilization. Max shoots at and smacks Savannah to get her to stay. She and others leave anyway, aided by the incredibly creepy Scrooloose (Rod Zuanic). Max and the escapees end up back in Bartertown. They, Master and the Pig Killer (Robert Grubb) cause destruction. Max is able to get the father and son who stole his wagon (Bruce Spence and Adam Cockburn) to get Savannah, et. al to safety. Entity, the apparent last one standing in her party, takes defeat like a champ. Eh, she at least has something, unlike Max.
"Do you know who I was? Nobody. Except on the day after. I was still alive. The nobody had a change to be somebody."
Tina Turner's casting ended up being a coup. Her comeback spanned just before, during and well after the production of Thunderdome. And that's the problem. I couldn't stop thinking about Tina and her deserved success rather than Entity and her drive to stay on top in Bartertown. For what it's worth, Tina keeps her dignity intact while treading more or less the same path as GRACE JONES! in A View to a Kill. You know, the ruthless and powerful black woman who in the end, won't kill the hero? I think my biggest problems with Entity are that she's off-screen for too long and that the abrupt ending makes her seem* slightly pathetic. Still, her wardrobe was fabulous.
*In-universe, however, it works. Entity gets to save face and go back to rule Bartertown in peace.
Mel Gibson didn't write or produce Thunderdome, so Max initially being treated as a god-like figure isn't quite as bothersome as it was with Pale Rider. Still, it's aged uniquely in light of Mel's public image since 1985. Anyway, Max is a capable but not especially memorable hero here. I wouldn't have minded a little more interaction with Savannah, Slake (Tom Jennings) and company. Otherwise, the kids are most notable for providing a focal point and later, point of view, for Tina's opening credit and closing credit songs. You could lose them (the kids, not the songs) without hurting the movie.
"Time counts and keeps countin', and we knows now finding the trick of what's been and lost ain't no easy ride. But that's our trek, we gotta' travel it. And there ain't nobody knows where it's gonna' lead. Still in all, every night we does the tell, so that we 'member who we was and where we came from ... but most of all we 'members the man that finded us, him that came the salvage. And we lights the city, not just for him, but for all of them that are still out there. 'Cause we knows there come a night, when they sees the distant light, and they'll be comin' home."
Not Recommended.
Thoughts:
-- "Twenty-four hours of your life. In return, you'll get back what was stolen." "Sounds like a bargain." "It's not. It's the law."
-- Box Office: Grossing $36.2 million on a $10 million budget, this opened at No. 2 and came in at No. 24 for 1985.
-- Critic's Corner: "The most visually spectacular installment by far ... (with) showier stunts than its predecessors, and a better sense of humor," Janet Maslin wrote. Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times, compared Miller to Ford, Hawks and Kurosawa. "(Miller) creates violent set pieces that, as part of an overall vision, keep reverberating in the mind. ... In a way, he has become chaos' poet." Roger Ebert: "This is a movie that strains at the leash of the possible, a movie of great visionary wonders."
-- Detractor's Corner: "A great deal of engine noise and clanking iron is drowned out by the audience's resounding ho-hum," Paul Attanasio wrote. "While you wait for (Turner) to cut loose, she gives a weirdly dignified performance -- you want King Kong Bundy, but she gives you King Lear." People: "Turner isn't all the film has in it, but she is its sole source of fun." Some critics also didn't care for the kids. "Save the sentiment for Spielberg, George," People wrote.
-- Memorable Music: The score is at 30-20 in favor of songs written for movies. Thunderdome has two entries. "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard chart**, played over the closing credits and was a Golden Globe, Grammy and MTV Video Music Award nominee. "One of the Living," which peaked at No. 15, played over the opening credits and won a Grammy (over competition including fellow movie song "Invincible" by Pat Benatar).
**Behind "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)."
Courtesy YouTube
-- Awards Watch: Thunderdome went zero for four at the Saturn Awards, losing Best Science Fiction Film to Back to the Future, Best Director to Ron Howard, Best Screenplay to Fright Night and Best Costumes to Ladyhawke. On a happier note, Tina won the NAACP Image Award.
-- Hey, It's 1985!: Mel and Tina shared the cover of Rolling Stone's August 29 issue, featuring Kurt Loder's behind the scenes article. I'm wondering if he was already slated to co-write I, Tina, or if that came after the issue was published. The choicest gossip, information and such has to do with Mel. Thunderdome was the fourth movie he'd made between 1983-84*** and thanks to Max, he was confirmed "the most charismatic slam-bang action hero to emerge since Clint Eastwood." It's always interesting to read comments from people on the cusp of mega-stardom****, and like I said, Mel has had an eventual few decades. Anyway, he goes for a combination of aw shucks, pragmatic and tongue-in-cheek.
***After The Bounty, The River and Mrs. Soffel. He took a break before making Lethal Weapon.
****Loder appears to have interviewed Gibson, then 28, in November 1984, three months before People named him the first "Sexiest Man Alive."
-- "Reclusive? I'm not reclusive. I'm a guy that dances on tables, puts lampshades on his head, sticks his dick out in crowds. But I'm married now, got kids. I figure, stay healthy, live longer. ... The camera likes some people. Some people it doesn't. The most beautiful woman in the world can look like dog shit on camera. Fortunately for me, it also works the other way around. ... It can be pretty tough saving the world sometimes. It's a special branch of work, isn't it?"
-- What Could Have Been: Both Lindsay Wagner and Jane Fonda (!) were considered for Entity.
-- Fanservice Junction?: I'm using the question mark because I'm not sure how old Jennings was during filming. TV Tropes describes Slake as "a muscular college age guy in nothing but a loincloth."
-- "Remember: no matter where you go, there you are."
-- Next: Silverado. On deck: The Man with One Red Shoe, The Legend of Billie Jean. Coming soon: The Black Cauldron.
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