THIS POST IS TO ADDRESS ONE OF THE MANY BONES OF CONTENTION THAT STILL SURROUNDS THE PRODUCTION OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ROAD MOVIE OF MODERN TIME. YES, IT'S A TAD JINGOISTIC, BUT "MAD MAX" IN ITS ORIGINAL, UNADULTERATED, NON DUBBED FORM IS A FUCKING BONA FIDE FIRST FOR COUNTLESS REASONS, I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO BOTHER WITH 'PROOF' - IT JUST IS, NO ARGUMENTS ACCEPTED . . . .
One of my closest mates, fellow skater and the bass player in my first band, Dale 'The Rat' Stevens, is the nephew of Grant Page, head stunt dude and Mel's 'double' in Mad Max, in fact he shot all his scenes with a busted leg sustained in a bike get off on the way to the set . . . . and the guy who gets smacked in the head by his bike on the bridge didn't die either, contrary to popular urban myth, he was, however, a legit member of a semi outlaw mob called the Vigilantes who made up most of the Toecutter's crew . . . . anyhow, we got to meet Grant on our first trip Sydney and asked all the idiot questions young blokes do when in the company of greatness . . . . and full of too much booze !!!
The scene I've nailed to the wall here is the one showing the clocks on Goose's Z1000 as he winds it on leading up to the brake shitting itself and seizing thanks to Johnny 'The Boy' and his act of sabotage . . . . the tacho is showing around the 8,000 to 8,500 mark and the speedo is hovering around the 160 klm/hr zone . . . . this has caused a lot of armchair critics to suggest the film was sped up or otherwise faked, this is total bullshit, as Grant said, the segment of film, shot while the cameraman was lashed to the rider with no helmet, was simply done with the bike in fourth gear, [it may have been third but I don't think so] not fifth, hence the greatly increased tacho reading and the sound of the bike screaming its top end off . . . . Page, as the stunt co-ordinator and super keen rider himself took it all into account and whoever did the riding nailed it, no speeding up film, no phony clocks, no bollocks, no bullshit, end of story . . . . another wrap, another legend Mad Max scene in the can.
So, there you have it, take it to the bank folks, thems is the facts . . . . any doubters, like the guys I was having a fairly animated discussion with last night at dinner, go and do some research yourself, it'll be out there somewhere . . . . the truth always is . . . . and while you're out there chasing that down, go and check out the 'real' version of the film . . . . kill two geese with one stone.
One of my closest mates, fellow skater and the bass player in my first band, Dale 'The Rat' Stevens, is the nephew of Grant Page, head stunt dude and Mel's 'double' in Mad Max, in fact he shot all his scenes with a busted leg sustained in a bike get off on the way to the set . . . . and the guy who gets smacked in the head by his bike on the bridge didn't die either, contrary to popular urban myth, he was, however, a legit member of a semi outlaw mob called the Vigilantes who made up most of the Toecutter's crew . . . . anyhow, we got to meet Grant on our first trip Sydney and asked all the idiot questions young blokes do when in the company of greatness . . . . and full of too much booze !!!
The scene I've nailed to the wall here is the one showing the clocks on Goose's Z1000 as he winds it on leading up to the brake shitting itself and seizing thanks to Johnny 'The Boy' and his act of sabotage . . . . the tacho is showing around the 8,000 to 8,500 mark and the speedo is hovering around the 160 klm/hr zone . . . . this has caused a lot of armchair critics to suggest the film was sped up or otherwise faked, this is total bullshit, as Grant said, the segment of film, shot while the cameraman was lashed to the rider with no helmet, was simply done with the bike in fourth gear, [it may have been third but I don't think so] not fifth, hence the greatly increased tacho reading and the sound of the bike screaming its top end off . . . . Page, as the stunt co-ordinator and super keen rider himself took it all into account and whoever did the riding nailed it, no speeding up film, no phony clocks, no bollocks, no bullshit, end of story . . . . another wrap, another legend Mad Max scene in the can.
So, there you have it, take it to the bank folks, thems is the facts . . . . any doubters, like the guys I was having a fairly animated discussion with last night at dinner, go and do some research yourself, it'll be out there somewhere . . . . the truth always is . . . . and while you're out there chasing that down, go and check out the 'real' version of the film . . . . kill two geese with one stone.
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