The Road Warrior

a.k.a. Mad Max 2
George Miller, 1981, Australia (9.1*)
One of the best slam-bang car (and truck, and cycle) chase films ever, made Mel Gibson a star. Throw in post-apocalypse Australian desert controlled by marauding vagabond warriors called "The Humungous", and you have all the makings for mayhem. Into a gasoline-starved world drops Mad Max (from a very inferior first film), this time known at "The warrior Max, the road warrior". The film starts with action, and only lets up to set up the next big action sequence. The drama surrounds an oil refinery manned like a fortress, and of course the Humungous descend to get the gasoline. Max decides to help the oil refiners in exchange for a tank load of gasoline. This was actually a pretty good sf plot hidden in a lot of severe road rage and violence; kudos to the costume designer, the weapons people, the mechanics, and apparently three stuntmen killed; and Emil Minty as "The Feral Kid", who has a deadly steel boomerang and just grunts and squeaks; also Bruce Spence as "The Gyro Captain", who admires and befriends Max, and flies around in an ultralight.
Quote: Never saw a man beat the snake before, gotta be pretty quick to beat the snake! (Gyro Captain)