Thing I never noticed, till today.

[pauli77]

Well I've just noticed on the Road Warrior truck chase that Humungus originally intends to shoot Max through the windshield but Max ducks so he adjusts his aim.

[scfc68]

It's not a flub or blooper, just a little bit of 'makes no sense'...why, if you're laying on the ground with your knee cap blown off, do you keep stretching for the shotgun just out of reach when you have a nice revolver strapped to your shoulder? I know, I know, somebody out there will say, "Well that shotgun would be much better at taking down the guy on the bike". Great point. Except that the shotgun is out of reach and the revolver is right there on your shoulder. A gun in the hand is worth two out of reach.

Totally agree, and this scene setup and execution is one of the big issues I have with MM1.

First, the scene. There is a straight road with egress at point 1 and point 2. Max chases the 3 bikers from point one. He stops to see Johnny's wreck. No sign of the other two. Then, from where he just came at point 1, the two bikers appear!? Where were they hiding? How could he not notice them in the knee deep grassy field and fence line? Okay, let's move past that.

Bubby sets up and fires, from a seated position, a snub nose revolver from a distance that had prevented Max from seeing them in his field of vision until the last second. A snub nose revolver has an effective range of probably 30 yards/meters, and a maximum effective range of perhaps 100-200 meters, with wild inaccuracy at that distance. If you think of this, Bubba's and TC setup would be quite a distance away to go unnoticed. Perhaps and quite likely well outside the range of a snub nose revolver. Okay, for purposes of moving the movie forward, let's ignore that Max drove right past them and fell for the ambush, and they managed to set up and make a miracle shot with the snub nose revolver, pushing it to the limit of feasible.

Max goes down and drops his shotgun. People get injured all the time, and don't realize the extent of their injuries - I've seen interviews with amputees or Soldiers who lost limbs or had serious wounds who had no idea of the seriousness of their wounds (call it fog of war, shock, mental denial, etc.). Perhaps Max, having been hit and fell, didn't know what hit him or how bad it was. I've accepted that he probably had to choose (in an unexpected turn of events and an instant) to go with the shotgun or handgun and misjudged the distance or his injury and inability to immediately retrieve the 12 gauge (which also secures it from the bad guys, which would have been very important). Like any trained Soldier, if you drop your weapon you retrieve it immediately. His sidearm appears to be a .357 or .44 magnum revolver. It would have definitely been effective. But he chose in that instant to go with the shotgun.

He gets the shotgun and kills Bubba. It's unclear why he doesn't take a close shot at the TC or Johnny. He has at least 1 more barrel in the shotgun, a loaded revolver, and probably reloads on his person.

Oh well. I love MM1 and still give it an A+ or 5/5 stars. It's just that this scene wasn't well thought through and could have been done more intelligently.

I can see what you mean, but its good cinema; reaching for the shotgun just antes up the anticipation and its VERY satisfying when fired

[scfc68]

Well I've just noticed on the Road Warrior truck chase that Humungus originally intends to shoot Max through the windshield but Max ducks so he adjusts his aim.

Thank god he did duck, we'd have had no chase, no thunderdome (quiet back there!!)

[MachRider]

Well I've just noticed on the Road Warrior truck chase that Humungus originally intends to shoot Max through the windshield but Max ducks so he adjusts his aim.

Thank god he did duck, we'd have had no chase, no thunderdome (quiet back there!!)

And the question worth million interdimensional timeline dollars is.... Would we still have Fury Road?

[MachRider]

I can see what you mean, but its good cinema; reaching for the shotgun just antes up the anticipation and its VERY satisfying when fired

I think that revolver wasnt ever supposed to be there... Keep in mind this is bunch of guys doing their first movie. They probably wrote the script first and then later when designing outfits for characters, just dropped a revolver there, not thinking about possible plot holes.

But isn't it funny that after almost 40 years, Max finally uses a pistol in Fury Road.

[TheDarkOne#1]

I can see what you mean, but its good cinema; reaching for the shotgun just antes up the anticipation and its VERY satisfying when fired

I can see what you mean, but its good cinema; reaching for the shotgun just antes up the anticipation and its VERY satisfying when fired

I think that revolver wasnt ever supposed to be there... Keep in mind this is bunch of guys doing their first movie. They probably wrote the script first and then later when designing outfits for characters, just dropped a revolver there, not thinking about possible plot holes.

But isn't it funny that after almost 40 years, Max finally uses a pistol in Fury Road.

Maybe Max was in a state of panic because he was shot and didn't think about using the revolver but insteads tries to grab the shotgun. It's a common thing to happen. People that are in panic (danger) won't always do the most logical thing.

[roadwarriormfp]

Maybe Max was in a state of panic because he was shot and didn't think about using the revolver but insteads tries to grab the shotgun. It's a common thing to happen. People that are in panic (danger) won't always do the most logical thing.

A logical reply finally..

Not to mention why would you want to grab a pistol in a holster (which means undoing the holster clip) and then firing a single bullet at a moving target while in great pain and expecting to be able to aim properly? Come on really? Shot gun... many pellets, bigger chance of hitting target.

[DetritusMaximus]

Shotgun out of reach, pistol on shoulder, bad guy doesn't know how good of a shot you are. Instead...probable broken arm along with shattered kneecap while two sociopaths are trying to kill you.
The panic thing doesn't really wash, either. Max is noted for being real cool under pressure. Although he was a little unhinged, one might even say 'mad', by the recent events, that mental state can come with its own focus and single-minded motivation.

[leadcounsel]

Shotgun out of reach, pistol on shoulder, bad guy doesn't know how good of a shot you are. Instead...probable broken arm along with shattered kneecap while two sociopaths are trying to kill you.
The panic thing doesn't really wash, either. Max is noted for being real cool under pressure. Although he was a little unhinged, one might even say 'mad', by the recent events, that mental state can come with its own focus and single-minded motivation.

Training to secure primary gun if dropped, habit, bad split second decision, unsure of the extent of his injuries or the distance of the shotty, didn't accurately judge the time bad guys would be on him. All good reasons to go for the shotty. He would have gotten the shotty in another moment. Afterall, he did end up getting the shotty. That's how I'd see it.

One of the great things about Max is that he makes a lot of mistakes, which shows he is human and imperfect. In the films, he is victim to some bad choices and reactions. For instance, in MM2 instead of staying with the group, he leaves, and then he gets run off the road and loses everything. Colossally bad decisions, both thought out and reactionary. In MM3 he is subject to ambush at the beginning, and loses everything to theft.

[MachRider]

Maybe Max was in a state of panic because he was shot and didn't think about using the revolver but insteads tries to grab the shotgun. It's a common thing to happen. People that are in panic (danger) won't always do the most logical thing.

A logical reply finally..

Not to mention why would you want to grab a pistol in a holster (which means undoing the holster clip) and then firing a single bullet at a moving target while in great pain and expecting to be able to aim properly? Come on really? Shot gun... many pellets, bigger chance of hitting target.

Not quite logical in case of trained shooters. First thing they will do in case of panic is pullout the gun and spray lead in direction of threat. If primary gun is unavailable, reach for secondary. If secondary is unavailable, cover. Max did nothing of that. I stll call filmmaking mistake.
I had the "privilege" of seeing the real ex-military guy reacting to loud firecracker noise by ducking and reaching for non existent sidearm. Talk about the epic wtf moment in everybody else - you could see people wishing to break out laughing but then tought " oh fck, better not!"