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How to do stunts like Mad Max 2 – Step 1: Be prepared to hurt yourself


How to do stunts like Mad Max 2 – Step 1: Be prepared to hurt yourself

I’ve been influenced by a lot of movies over the years, but every single frame of Mad Max 2 — or The Road Warrior, as it was billed in the United States — is burned indelibly in my memory. I saw it in 1981 in its original release at a tiny theater in Reading, Massachusetts. From that point on, it was the yardstick by which I measured action movies, and no other film has ever come even close. Part of the reason for that is that the stunts and cars seemed so authentic. And according to this documentary from 1982, that’s because they were authentic, and quite a few stuntmen were authentically injured during some of the more memorable action sequences.

Armada

“In a nightmare vision of tomorrow, this armada will terrorize a decaying civilization.” It’s the feel-good hit of the summer!

The video goes on to describe some behind the scenes action on two of the movie’s most memorable stunts, neither of which went according to plan.

Stunt1

The first is the scene where mohawk-coiffed stuntman Guy Norris crashes into a dune buggy on a motorcycle, flips end-over-end over the buggy and lands in a ditch. It wasn’t exactly supposed to go that way. Norris was supposed to leave the bike a millisecond earlier, which would’ve allowed him to glide safely into the landing zone, but because he actually hit the buggy first, he somersaulted over the buggy before landing, causing him enough injury that he sat out the rest of the production.

The bit about Director George Miller being trained as a physician sounds like BS, but it’s actually true. He completed his residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia while simultaneously making short films in the early 1970s.

Car

The narration is hilarious: “Norris was, of course, supposed to land safely, in the most advanced and reliable cushion yet devised: A huge mound of empty cardboard boxes.”

In the second sequence, it’s stunt director Max Aspin along for the ride. He’s driving a Road Warrior-ized Valiant Regal.

Let’s pause for a second to look at the ramp construction. I’ve built half-assed scaffolding to hold up a rickety stepladder that looked safer than that.

Ramp Construction

This is the same sequence in which the Gyro Captain drops a snake into the tail-gunner’s nest, causing him to misfire into his driver’s back, sending the car out of control and into the moat.

Valiant Jump2

The trouble was that the Valiant actually made contact with one of the cars it was supposed to clear, at a speed of 60 miles per hour. Aspin ended up breaking his leg in the crash and he, too, was out of the production for the duration.

Ditch

This mini-documentary is well worth the six minutes of your time if you loved this movie as much as I did. CLICK BELOW TO WATCH THE ENTIRE VIDEO:


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4 thoughts on “How to do stunts like Mad Max 2 – Step 1: Be prepared to hurt yourself

  1. Norse

    Shows how far behind in safety the Australian film industry was compared to the American film industry at that time.

  2. John T

    funny, looking at the 4th pik down I don’t remember ever seeing that LJ Torana in the film. And I had to have a little chuckle at Norse’s comment – its the first time I’ve seen an American even acknowledge that Australian stuntmen were involved in the film!! (Grant Page, the main stunt man in this and a whole bunch of Aussie films, used to tell the story of how American stunt men always tried to take credit for the stunts in this movie.) Not quite sure why Norse thinks American film makers were so far ahead in safety either…people get hurt in US films too, mate! Was it the cardboard box ref? I think you’ll find everyone did it that way ( and still do..) Oh, and on Grant Page, watch this! it shows his vehicle known as ` buttercup ‘ which is so Bangshifty it hurts!!!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqZKhzT1Evw

  3. R1150GSA

    When I begin my stuntman career (which will be shortly), I think my stuntman name is going to be “Lucky Carl”. My real name isn’t Carl but that doesn’t matter.

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