MovieChat Forums > Mad Max (1980) Discussion > Question That Needs Explaining.

Question That Needs Explaining.


Simple one really, so simple you may think it's dumb to ask but me & my friends used to wonder about this all the time, believe it or not.

In the beginning when Max first confronts Nightrider on the road, you see & hear the Nightrider shouting "Do you see me Toecutter?! Do you see me man?!" Ok, this goes on for a bit but then for some reason we see Nightrider flat out lose it & he starts to break down crying just before Max reaches him on the road.

Always wondered what it was that bothered him & made him lose it. Dumb as it sounds me & my friends have been wondering what was up with that for all these years. Maybe some of you have the same question, who knows?

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Nightrider realized he was up against Max, the MFP's top pursuit officer. Nightrider simply did not have the skills Max had. He knew his short reign was officially over. Nightrider ended up in a little box.

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Thanks. That sounds reasonable enough but why would the Nightrider even know who Max or any of the MFP were? Why would Toecutter & the bikers know who anybody was? They're just outlaw bikers blowing through town, so why would Max or anyone else be of notoriety to them? Just a thought.

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You're right, I don't think the movie made it clear that Nightrider knew the already legendary Max. I guess Max shook Nightrider up by playing chicken with him. After that, Max quickly did a U-Turn and caught up with him and his floozy(who also was very shook up seeing Max's Pursuit Special rapidly approaching).
Max had a lot of advantages, faster V8, racing gloves, sunglasses, and boots(Nightrider had just escaped and didn't even have shoes).
Earlier, when Nightrider was up in the game he proclaimed he was a fuel injected suicide machine. Max made sure his words were prophetic.

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It's not that dumb. Nightrider was being bested by the epitome of cool, the ayatollah of rock'n rolla; Max.

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Nightrider starts whimpering because he realizes he's met his match. He was also clearly cuckoo, so that probably has something to do with it.

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Nightrider saw himself as being fearless, even going so far as to call himself a "fuel injected suicide machine". When Max put him to the test by playing chicken with him, Nightrider got scared at the last moment and swerved out of the way. This revealed that despite all his talk, Nightrider was actually afraid to die. Being confronted with this, and the idea that his opponent had more resolve than he did, Nightrider was broken mentally.

I don't agree with the other poster who believes that Nightrider knew who Max was. Max was just another cop to him, which is why Nightrider and the other members of Toecutter's gang call him bronze, which is the colour of their badges.

This is one of the greatest opening scenes of all time, but I think it takes place too early in the narrative, as it doesn't make sense why Max would do something so risky at this point. Of course, the death of the Nightrider is the inciting incident that starts the events in the story, but as far as the character of Max is concerned, it would have made more sense if this had happened after Goose died, and especially after his wife and child were killed. It also highlights another problem I have with this movie which is that the rest of the film is not up to the level of intensity of this opening scene.

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Like what you had to say Phoenix. It makes a ton of sense. If you read my posts here you’ll see I asked the same question you did, regarding why would anybody be supposed to know who Max was.

He’s a cop, a nameless civil servant livng in a apocalyptic world. It’s HIGHLY unlikely that he’d be well known or a celebrity of any kind to anybody. In the world he’s from who would even care?

But there are those here who think otherwise.

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This is actually a really insightful post, and it is something I've thought about subconsciously. In fact, it's something I thought about again just after reading the other posts:

This top-of-the-line cop was willing to commit suicide against some crazy psycho on the road, even though the cop has a wife and kid. What was he thinking? Or is that part of what made him "mad" before going mad?

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"as it doesn't make sense why Max would do something so risky at this point".

It does if you go along with the premise that the cops are a bit mentally unbalanced right from the start of the film, from their experiences. And that's clearly what the film was showing. It's the reason why Max says to Fifi "Any longer out on that road, and I'm just like one of them. A terminal crazy".

There was even a deleted scene where Max and Goose were having a drag race with each other for fun.

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Exactly. He isn't called Mad Max for nothing.

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after taking on all the officers nightrider was now tired and max was fresh and ready for a fight, night rider didn't know who max was but he realized his time was up and he couldn't keep up anymore

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Pay attention on next viewing: Nightrider is driving fast, high as a kite on narcotics and self confidence until he loses the sudden game of chicken that Max forces on him. Then, his high instantly becomes a bad trip with his confidence crushed. Even further when Max relentlessly keeps pushing him up with his car. It's quite realistic and a great scene.

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Agree. The mood swing from Nightrider is drug induced. Yeah, Max shook him up with the game of chicken, but all his emotions are just enhanced from the drugs.

I never got the impression that Max was some legendary patrolman in this first movie. Isn't what Max does in the finale, make Max the legend?

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At least a couple of people in here got it right.

It's not complicated.

The Nightrider was challenged to a game of chicken, and he pussed out. He lost. He thought he was the biggest bad ass on the road, and in the blink of an eye he was forced to face the fact that he wasn't. In front of his old lady to boot. And him thinking he was the biggest bad ass was all he had in life.

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