A notable Kennedy-Miller production, 'Mad Max' was directed by George Milller, written by Byron Kennedy and George Milller, and starred Mel Gibson as 'Mad' Max Rockatansky, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne and Steve Bisley.

The film is set in an imaginary Australia, where everything is as bad as possible, complete with decaying order and violent highways, and focuses on a police pursuit driver who is drawn into a path of vengeance after a motorcycle gang targets him for the death of their former leader.

Film Trivia:

• For the USA release, the Aussie accents were dubbed and 'Americanised'.
• This was the first Australian film shot in anamorphic widescreen.
• George Miller paid a truck driver $50 to run over the bike at the final scene. However, the truck driver didn't want to damage his rig, and had the crew install a shield painted to look like the front of the rig.
• Hugh Keays-Byrne modelled his performance of 'Toecutter' on historical records written about Mongolian warlord Genghis Kahn.
• The auto accident scene was made as realistic as possible, thanks to director George Miller's experience as a medical doctor.
• Because of the tight budget, decommissioned police cars were used in the film. Only Mel Gibson was wearing real leathers - with all the other police officers were wearing vinyl costumes. Kawasaki donated the motorcycles, all late model demonstration units and many of the bikers kept them after shooting was completed.
• The blue van that was wrecked in the film's opening chase had the engine removed and was pushed into the path of the oncoming cars by off-camera assistants. The lack of the engine's weight caused the van to spin uncontrollably, adding to the spectacular crash.
• Mad Max can be thanked for bringing Mel Gibson to the movies. Without auditioning (he actually went along to the auditions with a friend who was auditioning), he was asked to audition in three weeks time. This was based on his 'look' - the night before he had been in a bar fight and his head looked like "a black and blue pumpkin" (his words).