Product: Mad Max (1979)
Rating: 4.0
WAY better with the original Australian voices
Would anyone have dubbed Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" just because he used a bizarre, otherwordly form of English? Or how about the childish drawl of Forrest Gump or Brando's slurred rasps in "The Godfather?" Of course not! They were integral parts of the characters, the settings, and the times of those films. So why, WHY were the distinctive, wonderful accents and slang of the Australian characters in the U.S. version of "Mad Max" dubbed over with, apparently, the voices of bland, Midwestern newscasters? Did the film's U.S. distributors think they'd fool us? That American audiences would hear Matt Lauer's voice coming out of Mel Gibson as he raced across the deserts of the Australian outback and not think, "Hey! Those 'Americans' are driving on the wrong side of the road . . . and their steering wheels are on the wrong side, too!?"Fortunately, this DVD resurrects the outstanding, original voices of the Australian actors and actresses, coming through, crisp and clear, in stereo, rather than the "Hercules-in-New-York"-ish mono of the American dubbing.If you've seen "Mad Max" before, and hated it or even just thought it was so-so, take a chance on this DVD and see it again in "Australian-English." It's an almost totally different movie. Believe me -- I didn't particularly like it the first time I saw the dubbed, U.S. version, either. If you loved it, (pardon the cliche) see it again for the first time. You'll be transported into the surreal world of Australian outback biker slang that George Miller intended. And, trust me -- Mel Gibson sounds a LOT better with his own voice than that of the mellow, sedating NPR commentator (I can only suppose) they found to dub him.