George Miller has come back with Mad Max: Fury Road

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/27/14 at 1:34pm

Yes, a fourth movie for this franchise that seemed dead for a good decade- there were even attempts by Miller and pre-persona non grata Mel Gibson to do a fourth movie that got scrapped. This one has Tom Hardy as the titular Max and Charlize Theron in second-billing. This was the footage shown at ComicCon. I loved the original trilogy and much of Miller's work- ignoring Happy Feet- so this looks promising.
Mad Max: Fury Road trailer

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/27/14 at 10:08pm

I think ROAD WARRIOR may be the best action movie ever made (and, yes, I know it is cribbed from SHANE), not to mention the best sequel.

So as long as you-know-who isn't involved, I'm up for anything Miller wants to do.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/28/14 at 10:52am

"(and, yes, I know it is cribbed from SHANE)"

How?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/28/14 at 8:23pm

Same basic plot: outsider saves town and befriends boy, then rides out of town leaving both behind.

I have to admit I haven't seen the film, SHANE, but I've read the short story.

Here's the wiki synopsis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_(film)


I think you can see the similarities.

I was not criticizing ROAD WARRIOR, just acknowledging the obvious.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/29/14 at 8:46am

Thanks for the words -- see SHANE the movie sometime, and I think you'll see that there's not much crossover between the two, except in really really really really really general terms, of the "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl" variety.

This MAD MAX reboot fills me with indifference, I have to say.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/30/14 at 5:30am

I believe you, Roscoe, but I'm not the only one who see the similarities. The following is from amc's site:

http://blogs.amctv.com/movie-blog/2013/01/story-notes-trivia-mad-max-2-the-road-warrior/


"The story of The Road Warrior was influenced by the classic Western Shane (1953). That movie is about a lone stranger who saves a town from a problem that had nothing to do with him."

I think that's a little more specific than "boy meets girl", etc., but your point is well taken.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/30/14 at 9:02am

"I think that's a little more specific than "boy meets girl", etc.,"

Well, influence is one thing, I guess -- but the similarities between ROAD WARRIOR and SHANE are pretty superficial. It's about the same level of similarity between IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, I think -- the couple starts out hating each other, then they grow to love each other.

The same "lone stranger who saves a town from a problem that has nothing to do with him" meme can be applied to basically any Lone Ranger story ("Who was that masked man?"), Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI, Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, and Hammett's RED HARVEST, and Leone's FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (which was such a bare-faced plagiarism of YOJIMBO that Kurosawa successfully sued over it, making more money in the process than he'd made over his original film).

See SHANE, and I think you'll see what I mean. It's a really good movie, a bit stuffily ARCHETYPAL in places, but there's plenty to recommend it, including Jack Palance's turn as a grinning gunman.

Updated On: 7/30/14 at 09:02 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/30/14 at 10:52pm

I will see SHANE the first chance i get, Roscoe. I've always wanted to see it, actually, but never got the chance.

I see the relationship you identify, but there's a world of difference between "superheroes" who go from place to place doing good and a loner who is reluctantly drawn into a conflict not his own--in part because of his regard for a troubled boy.

And you haven't mentioned the similarities in the underlying contexts of the two films: in the former, it's a range war over grazing land, in the post-apocalyptic latter, it's a war over gasoline. In both cases, these conflicts predate the arrival of the hero and he is slowly drawn into the conflict on the side of the underdogs.

According to several internet sources, even George Miller has acknowledged the influence of SHANE.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/31/14 at 8:57am

"I see the relationship you identify, but there's a world of difference between "superheroes" who go from place to place doing good and a loner who is reluctantly drawn into a conflict not his own--in part because of his regard for a troubled boy."

"Superheroes"? What "superheroes"?Yeah, there is a world of difference, but it has nothing to do with what I was talking about. The men in the films I mentioned are all, in fact, loners who are drawn into pre-existing conflicts not their own, and regard for emotionally troubled locals are part of the package.

So George Miller acknowledged SHANE's influence, okay. Beyond borrowing a couple of plot elements, I still don't see that it amounts to much of significance. I didn't leave ROAD WARRIOR thinking, "My, what a splendid re-working of George Stevens's classic SHANE," the similarities aren't all that evident, as they are in Leone's plagiarized remake of YOJIMBO or in Kurosawa's samurai versions of Shakespeare, to me at least.

Updated On: 7/31/14 at 08:57 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/31/14 at 9:24pm

And yet I was aware of the borrowing without even seeing the film.

I put the word "superheroes" in quotations marks to include characters such as the Lone Ranger, characters who go from place to place fighting for what is right. Many of the TV Western characters from the 50s and 60s fall into this mold.

SHANE and ROAD WARRIOR are more reluctant heroes; in the latter case, one could even deem Max an anti-hero.

I'm not sure why this is such a problem for you. Nobody is claiming ROAD WARRIOR is a mere rip-off.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/1/14 at 7:46am

Well, yeah, it's easy to be aware of something based on a google search and a wikipedia synopsis. As one who as actually, you know, SEEN THE MOVIES, I think I have the right to stick by my opinion, that the alleged "influence" of SHANE on ROAD WARRIOR is nothing more the appropriation of a couple of pretty generic plot elements that are about the same level as the similarities between Hammett's novel RED HARVEST and Kurosawa's YOJIMBO (which influence Kurosawa himself admitted, fwiw), and that those similarities are so heavily outweighed by the differences as to become damn near insignificant, ultimately.

And of course, you have the right to stick to your opinion that ROAD WARRIOR is "cribbed" from SHANE. Maybe when you actually get around to seeing SHANE you'll understand exactly what I mean, but it looks like we're not going to agree on this matter. Have a good one.

Updated On: 8/1/14 at 07:46 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/1/14 at 7:02pm

I don't really have to see SHANE--NOT WHEN EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS SEEN IT ACKNOWLEDGES THE DEBT ROAD WARRIOR OWES TO IT!

Here's David Denby from the NYT:

http://books.google.com/books?id=sOcCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=George+Miller+Road+Warrior+Shane&source=bl&ots=gX7sGPz2su&sig=Eub4DVCZIdaH6PMblvmzQnvYfDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EhvcU6_KFMGAogS_yYEY&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=George%20Miller%20Road%20Warrior%20Shane&f=false


(Obviously, I don't agree with his trashing of Miller's film, but he (and almost every reference I can find) fully credits SHANE as a primary influence on ROAD WARRIOR. Even George Miller has said as much. Jeeze!)

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/1/14 at 11:32pm

Actually, that's David Denby in New York Magazine, and he even cites SHANE as being just one of assorted sources (including SEVEN SAMURAI and YOJIMBO) of varied plot devices, and his description of the film demonstrates pretty conclusively that the final product of Miller's film is very far removed from Stevens' film, as you'd know if you'd bother to see the film.

For example, OK -- the hero bonds with a child in both films, right fine sure. But the children are so markedly insanely different that the similarity is barely worth registering -- the howling pre-verbal Feral Kid bears no resemblance at all to the sweet-faced innocent portrayed so memorably by Brandon de Wilde, as you'd know if you'd bothered to ever see the movie, and which David Denby mentions quite clearly.

A primal source it may be. But the end product bears no real resemblance to that primary source. When you finally see the movie you might understand.

Moving on. The last word is yours.

Updated On: 8/1/14 at 11:32 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/2/14 at 4:46am

My last word is merely that your horse is awfully high, dude. We began this discussion YESTERDAY. I live in a town of 47,000 people and no video stores. How you expected me to run out and see SHANE while we were chatting escapes me.

I do know the difference between the NYT and NYM. I made a mistake. Thank you for the correction.

I have seen clips and I know perfectly well that Brandon deWilde was no Feral Kid. But each kid serves a similar function in his respective film, which you would realize if you would look at structure rather than superficial character traits.

We are both right here: THE ROAD WARRIOR borrows from SHANE but is hardly a mere ripoff. I did not mean to imply otherwise with my use of the word "cribbed".