Favourite Mad Max/Road Warrior ripoffs/retreads/homages

[Mud Guts]

I saw Race With The Devil when I was about 10 years old back in the late 70's. I was on holday with my family at Pontins either in Blackpool or Morecombe and there were no
TV's in the Chalets. This film was shown on a big screen. We were told the next day that clips has been cut of this version but it was still not suitable for kids.

Waterworld is under rated. There is a directors cut version is longer and fills in alot of the plot holes that exist in the shorter version that is always shown.
The longer version has a shot of a 'Mount Everest plaque' at the end when they are standing on top of the hill watching the Mariner sail off.
Last time I looked, I couldn't find this version anywhere.

[leadcounsel]

I can't think of any MM ripoffs I liked. All that I have seen were either terrible, awful, or plain nonsense.

Waterworld was a total ripoff (then again, Road Warrior was plagiarized from a Samurai Western mix so I guess that's not enough, right). Loner, reluctant hero, stumbles on small band of survivors in a walled off community. The difference is that MM2 was believable and realistic.

Logistics sucked in Waterworld. For Waterworld to work, the mountains and land over 2, 3, 4, 5+ miles high would have to be covered in water. Thing is, there isn't enough water or ice to cover all the land. And if there was, the air would be too thin to breath at 20,000+ feet.

Last human evolution was, if you believe evolution, from quad to bipedal. Faster evolution is certainly possible, but we're talking hundreds of years and tens of generations. For gills to evolve, let's say 200 years pass.

In that same 200 years, our characters are living on the sea. Salt water. Rust would eat through those ships, metal scraps, engines, guns, bullets, and all things metal in a few decades. I love how they waste resources like firing guns full auto like they have an endless supply of ammo.... and zip around on their skiidoos like they are kids on spring break in Cancun. Any gas would have long been used or gone bad. Oil could be refined, but with what equipment. Every piece of gear dropped in the ocean, sunk, broken, or worn out is irreplaceable. I seem to recall someone had cigarettes. Humans can't effectively desalinize water today, with endless resources. How are they drinking freshwater in that world... or did they skip a few generations and start drinking saltwater, which is deadly for humans? What a disaster of a film logistically.

The acting was atrocious and totally unbelievable. The characters were just plain silly and nonthreatening. The set was equally bad. Like they were trying too hard - and it wasn't convincing.
I watched that film once when it came out, and it still scars me to think about it...

[rockatansky4073]

WHEELS OF FIRE was always my favourite!

I love all the Italian rip offs from the 80's - they are dumb as shit, but entertaining as hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWYgHtOxypM

[Nightwalker]

I love all the Italian rip offs from the 80's - they are dumb as shit, but entertaining as hell.

Absolutely. Just watch them for the insane stunts and weird mocked up cars

[rockatansky4073]

SHITYEAH NIGHTWALKER!
And the insane brutality they come up with too.
it's like they want to out do the violence in the original MAD MAX's - 10 times the rapes and gore.

But i guess when you look at Italian horror films from those times - CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, GATES OF HELL, CUT THROATS NINE etc. and how nasty they are, it's no surprise.

[v8gasoline]

Two Ozploitation films definitely have some connections to Mad Max:

Running on Empty/ Fast Lane Fever (1982)

Running on Empty/ Fast Lane Fever (1982)

220px-Fast-Lane-Fever.jpg (21.99 KiB) Viewed 3653 times

Plot : This film collects just what it was like to be in Australia in the early 80's. It's about hot cars, hot chicks and hot times. The story begins when two local street racers agree to race Fox, the faster street drag racer there is. After two of the three race rounds, the race is no longer a game, but more of a survival!

Trivia :Running on Empty (1982) is a car movie from an early 1980s Australian cycle of Australian car movies that were made after the success of Mad Max (1979). Others included Midnite Spares (1983), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), Freedom (1982), The Chain Reaction (1980), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Run Chrissie Run! (1986).

Check it out before it gets taken down. Look out the MM Easter Egg too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2yo8YWZ5e4

And Dead End Drive-In (1986)

Dead End Drive-In (1986)

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Plot: In the near future, drive-in theatres are turned into concentration camps for the undesirable and unemployed.

Trivia: Director Brian Trenchard-Smith has described this film as "Part Mad Max (1979), part Exterminating Angel [The Exterminating Angel (1962)]".

Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkR9Ny_FLYQ

[Nightwalker]

But i guess when you look at Italian horror films from those times - CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, GATES OF HELL, CUT THROATS NINE etc. and how nasty they are, it's no surprise.

That's so great about those movies. The filmmakers of those films don't have to apply to the rules of "Hollywood" censorship. They can just make it as how they see fit.

Two Ozploitation films definitely have some connections to Mad Max:

Running on Empty/ Fast Lane Fever (1982)

And Dead End Drive-In (1986)

I've seen both.
Saw Dead end drive-in in the cinema.
Both are great movies. Especially Dead end drive-in. Typical '80's style of filming.
I've spoken with Richard Brennan and Brian Trenchard-Smith.
Brian also told us that because most of the filming was during the night, someone that lived next to the drive-in was bothered by the noise. They had to go to court. The lawyer of the man said that he was a respected war veteran (Can't remember exactly what Brian said) and the judge asked from witch war. "Ze second world war" the man replied. The judge wasn't fond of Germans and they where allowed to continue filming.

[Bad cop]

Some of my favorite apocalyptic/dystopian films include:

1978 Dawn Of The Dead
1985 Day Of The Dead
2005 Land Of The Dead
2007 Grindhouse
1987 Robocop
1986 Dead End Drive-In
1995 Waterworld
2008 Doomsday
1981 Escape From New York
1979 The Warriors
1975 Death Race 2000
1990 Crash And Burn

Just to name a few.

[MFP_1138]

Waterworld (despite it's impossibilities)
Escape From NY
Escape From LA
The Warriors
The Road
The Book of Eli
Grindhouse: Planet Terror
Dawn of the Dead (original)
Day of the Dead (original)

[Mud Guts]

Escape From NY = Classic. I love Snake!
Escape From LA = OK but the surfing scene was too far. Love the ending, shame a third film wasn't made.