Mad Max

Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979)

Vitals

Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, taciturn Main Force Patrol officer-turned-vigilante

Victoria, Australia, “A few years from now” (early 1980s)

Film: Mad Max
Release Date: April 12, 1979
Director: George Miller
Costume Designer: Clare Griffin

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Mad Max, George Miller’s dystopian action thriller set in Australia, celebrates its 45th anniversary today. This film marked the beginning of a series that would include three sequels throughout the ’80s, revived with the highly acclaimed Mad Mad: Fury Road in 2015.

Before the sequels’ increasingly elaborate productions, the original Mad Max was a relatively straightforward road movie-meets-Western. It was made on a modest budget of A$400,000, shot guerrilla-style in the Melbourne area through the last months of 1977. Although met with mixed reviews upon its release in April 1979, Mad Max went on to shatter box office records, grossing over $100 million worldwide. Its success not only opened up the global market for Australian cinema but also catapulted the 23-year-old Mel Gibson to stardom for his portrayal of the titular Max Rockatansky.

Mad Max is set in a near-future Australia plagued by crime and civil breakdowns due to oil shortages and ecocide, with Miller and screenwriter James McCausland finding inspiration from the behavior of Australian motorists during the 1973 oil crisis. As officers serving the Main Force Patrol (MFP), one of the few remaining law enforcement agencies, Max and his partner Jim “Goose” Reins (Steve Bisley) pursue the motorcycle gangs terrorizing the countryside, they clash with the ruthless “Toecutter” (Hugh Keays-Beane) and his gang, leading to a personal and deadly vendetta that ultimately targets Max’s family.

What’d He Wear?

Costume designer Clare Griffin outfitted all Main Force Patrol officers in identical black motorcycle jackets with matching pants, leather boots, and tight blue T-shirts, but we’ll restrain today’s focus to our protagonist Max Rockatansky.

Motorcycle Jacket

The now-familiar motorcycle jacket silhouette with its waist-length cut, asymmetrical front zip, and abundance of zips and snaps, was introduced in the late 1920s when New York-based outfitter Schott launched the “Perfecto” model. Initially limited to serious riders, the Perfecto-style motorcycle jacket grew intrinsically associated with rebellious youth thanks in large part to Marlon Brando wearing one in The Wild One (1953), resulting in the style being known throughout Australia as a “Brando jacket”.

Although motorcycle jackets are traditionally crafted from a hardy leather, Mad Max‘s limited budget meant most of the cast’s black jackets were made from a vinyl “pleather,” even Mel Gibson’s jacket as the eponymous Max. Mad Max Costumes, the definitive online source for information about the film’s wardrobe, confirmed that Goose was the lone character to wear a genuine leather jacket, ostensibly to protect Steve Bisley during his extensive motorcycle stunts. (I’ve read some sources that state Gibson also wore genuine leather, but most of what I’ve read states that this was only Bisley.)

The black jackets worn by Max and his fellow officers follow the asymmetrical front-zip design associated with classic Perfecto-style jackets, but the rest of the details are more simplified. Unlike the traditional quartet of pockets, the MFP’s jackets feature only a slanted zip-up pocket on the right side. Instead of a full belt, there are short tabs that close through one of two silver-toned snaps on each side of the waist. The broad lapels have a silver-toned snap in each corner to fasten to the body of the jacket when zipped only to mid-chest, though we never see Max wear these snaps fastened.

A gently scalloped pointed yoke extends across the back, then follows a seam down each sleeve. In the motorcycle jacket tradition, the sleeves have silver-toned zip-back cuffs. The MFP jackets feature black-painted plastic oval caps with 12 silver-toned rivets fastening them onto each shoulder, presumably for added protection during crashes and clashes—as well as to also add an additional degree of offbeat intimidation to the officers’ looks.

Max’s MFP jacket is detailed with the requisite badges worn by his fellow officers:

• A silver-toned rectangular name tag, displaying Max’s badge number “MFP 4073”
• The bronze MFP badge, consisting of a winged star and the slogan “MAINTAIN RIGHT” in a scroll, all against a shield
• A round teal-filled badge with black crosshairs and “MFP” printed in red across the top

The name tag is pinned to Max’s left breast just above the bronze MFP badge, while the crosshairs pin is positioned on Max’s upper left sleeve.

Blue T-Shirt

Max and his fellow officers wear tight cotton T-shirts made by the Australian underwear company Bonds in a icy shade of baby-blue discontinued during the 1990s, according to the Mad Max Fandom Wiki. These crew-neck T-shirts have short raglan sleeves and have been specifically identified as the Bonds “Gotcha” model.

Bonds continues to sell the Original Raglan Tee in a “close fit cotton”, though shoppers would have to look elsewhere for a Mad Max-style ice-blue shirt.

Pleather Pants

The flat-front motorcycle pants match the officers’ jackets, likely made from the same black vinyl “pleather” material. The details mirror the jacket, with the sole visible pocket being a jetted pocket bound on the right side and the gently dipped back yoke following the direction of the jacket’s scalloped back yoke. The zip-front is covered by a narrow fly.

A black leather garrison belt is pulled through the trousers’ tall belt loops around the waist, tapered on the sides but swelled wider on the back and front, where it closes through a tall rectangular silver-toned single-prong buckle. Max keeps his silver triple-link handcuffs (identified as Loftus novelty cuffs) looped around his belt rather than in a traditional case; despite what Max tells Johnny (Tim Burns), the actual metal is not a “high-tensile steel”.

Engineer Boots

Consistent with their moto-inspired style, MFP officers wear black leather engineer boots from South Australian bootmaker Rossi, which had been founded in Kilburn in 1910 by Arthur Rossiter and operated as Rossiter’s Ltd. for much of the 20th century.

Mounted to riveted hard leather soles, the smooth calf-high uppers each feature a fully belted strap around the top of the shaft and one around the ankle, each pulled through integral loops and closed through a silver-toned single-prong buckle. A bronze MFP badge is pinned to the right side of the right boot.

Max’s Accessories

Max’s silver-toned sporty Carrera-style aviator sunglasses have an oval cutout over the bridge and smoke-gray teardrop-shaped lenses. While I don’t believe the original maker of Max’s screen-worn specs has been identified, fans often purchase the “Maximum Force II” replica offered by the Japanese company MacLeod Dinkum Gear.

Max pulls on black deerskin motocross gloves, distinguished by the gray foam rubber strips across the top of each non-thumb finger—including one long strip that arcs from the pinky to the index finger.

Max has a unique holster for each of his firearms, keeping his MFP-issued Smith & Wesson service revolver in a black leather shoulder holster with a suede strap. On duty, he keeps his nightstick strapped to the right side of his belt, but after he goes rogue he swaps this out for a cut-down double-barreled shotgun in a black leather drop-leg holster that secures around his thigh with a buckle-belted black leather strap.

The Guns

The MFP’s issued sidearm is the Smith & Wesson Model 28 Highway Patrolman, a .357 Magnum service revolver introduced in the mid-1950s as Smith & Wesson’s affordable alternative to the popular but premium Model 27 Registered Magnum.

Though both are functionally identical double-action .357 Magnum revolvers built on Smith & Wesson’s large “N-frame” platform, the Model 28 lacks the Model 27’s high polish finish and checkered top-strap, maintaining the revolver’s reliability in a lower-cost package. The Model 28 featured four-inch and six-inch barrels, with Max carrying the latter.

Max doesn’t draw his Model 28 revolver on screen, so its most prominent on-screen usage is in the hands of his infant son “Sprog” (Brandon Heath). Neither Max nor his wife seem to be appropriately concerned with the situation.

Double-barreled shotguns are among the most frequently seen weapons in the dystopian Australia of Mad Max, wielded by cops and crooks alike. Max seeks his revenge through the final act with a sawed-off shotgun identified by IMFDB as a VG Bentley.

This hammerless 12-gauge shotgun has been cut down to “lupara”-like dimensions, with the blued side-by-side barrels hardly extending past the wooden fore-end and the stock molded to a smooth pistol grip.

While on duty, Max pulls a Winchester Model 1912 pump-action shotgun from their interceptor. Rather than the riot-length shotguns often carried by police officers, Max’s Model 1912 appears to be a full-length sporting version.

Winchester developed the Model 1912 as a hammerless evolution of ifs popular Model 1897 shotgun. Initially, the Model 1912 was only chambered in 20-gauge before adding 12-gauge (the most popular caliber) and 16-gauge options in 1913 and finally 28-gauge in the 1930s. Nearly two million Model 1912 shotguns would be produced between 1912 and 1964.

Goose and Max on patrol.

The Cars

Both of Max’s MFP cars are variations of the Ford Falcon. Unlike Ford’s contemporary North American compact car of the same name, the Australian Ford Falcon was a full-size model that was marketed down under as “The Great Australian Road Car” for the XB series produced between 1973 and 1976.

MFP Interceptor

Max’s interceptor at the start of Mad Max is a 1974 Ford Falcon four-door sedan, painted in the yellow, red, and black livery of the Main Force Patrol. The Falcon XB was offered with two straight-six and two V8 engine options for the ’74 model year, with the general consensus among IMCDB comments suggesting that—as the most skilled pursuer—Max would have likely had the highest-powered motor, the 351 Cleveland V8 that generated 260 horsepower. The screen-used Falcon is clearly mated to a floor-mounted automatic transmission, in this case Ford’s three-speed “Cruise-O-Matic”.

Pursuit Special

After “The Nightrider” (Vincent Gil) steals the MFP’s last remaining “Pursuit Special,” a rusted-out 1972 Holden Monaro, the MFP commissions the assembly of a replacement—a black-on-black 1973 Ford Falcon GT two-door hardtop coupe that Max, uh, requisitions for his rogue rampage against Toecutter’s gang during the final act.

If you can’t Intercept ’em, beat ’em.

The XB GT was launched in September 1973, redesigned in style recalling the contemporary Torino and Mach 1 Mustang. The XB generation would be the last Falcon GT produced for nearly 20 years and was also Ford’s most popular GT model, selling a total of 2,899 vehicles, of which 949 were hardtops like the two-door Pursuit Special featured in Mad Max. IMCDB reports that the screen-used car was one of 69 to be painted “polar white” with black stripes, though the entire exterior was repainted a menacing matte black for the screen.

Like Max’s four-door interceptor, the Falcon XB GT was powered by a 351 Cleveland V8, albeit a more powerful iteration that generated 300 horsepower. Mated to a four-on-floor manual transmission, the Falcon GT in Mad Max was canonically modified by the MFP’s underground mechanic Barry (David Cameron) for extra power with a prop Weiand 6-71 “blower” supercharger that is erroneously depicted to be switched on and off. The Pursuit Special also boasted port exhaust, wheel arches, spoilers on the roof and trunk, and the “Concorde”-style front nose com and air-dam.

Art director Jon Dowding and mechanic Murray Smith were responsible in real life for designing and maintaining the automobiles in Mad Max, staying within the $20,000 budget to buy two ex-Victorian Police Falcon XB sedans that would portray the MFP’s Interceptors and a repossessed white Falcon XB GT that would be converted to the mean-looking black Pursuit Special. You can read more about the latter at MadMaxMovies.com and Mad Max Wiki.

How to Get the Look

Mel Gibson in Mad Max (1979)

Like his fellow MFP officers, Max Rockatansky patrols the dystopian Australian countryside in matching black pleather motorcycle gear with a tight baby-blue tee and engineer boots… though Max may have wished the budget had allowed for genuine leather instead of a vinyl alternative.

• Black vinyl/pleather motorcycle jacket with asymmetrical front zip, broad lapels, slanted zip-up right-side pocket, snap-closed side tabs, zip-back cuffs, and scalloped back yoke
  • Black-painted plastic riveted shoulder caps
  • Silver rectangular MFP number tag on chest
  • Bronze MFP winged star/scroll/shield chest badge
  • Teal-and-black “crosshairs” MFP insignia on left upper sleeve
• Ice-blue cotton crew-neck T-shirt with short raglan sleeves
• Black vinyl/pleather flat-front motorcycle pants with tall belt loops, jetted right-side pocket, zip-up fly, and back yoke
• Black leather garrison belt with silver-toned rectangular single-prong buckle
• Black smooth leather calf-high engineer boots with two belted-buckle straps
  • Bronze MFP winged star/scroll/shield badge, pinned to right boot
• Silver-toned sporty Carrera-style aviator sunglasses
• Black deerskin motocross gloves with dark-gray foam finger backing
• Black leather shoulder holster
• Black leather drop-leg shotgun holster

  The retired Max revisits his old pleather police gear for his rampage against Toecutter’s gang.

Max’s costume would remain spiritually similar for Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), albeit evolved to more of a “road warrior” outfit than the MFP uniform in this first film.

Sources

The Mad Max series had very dedicated fan communities, many of whom have put considerable research into identifying the MFP’s screen-accurate gear seen in this film and its sequels, with the below links particularly valuable for compiling this post:

• Mad Max Costumes
• Mad Max Movies Forum
• Mad Max Wiki (“Max’s MFP Uniform”)
• The RPF (“Mad Max MFP Uniform/Acessories[sic] Thread”)

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

The chain in those handcuffs is high-tensile steel. It’d take you ten minutes to hack through it with this. Now, if you’re lucky, you could hack through your ankle in five minutes. Go.

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