The most influential genre film of the 70s

[Larry Young]

My pal, the writer Christopher Mills, has a great blog called SPACE: 1970 where he discusses all the sorts of stuff we love.

When writing about the Mad Max Blu-Ray release, he started out his review: "Arguably the most influential genre film of the late 70s..." and this sort of thing always sets my teeth on edge, making me immediately try to find a counter-argument.

But I can't. Star Wars, of course, influenced filmmakers, but the Soylent Green/Logan's Run films were so of the time that their tropes really didn't translate later. But dang if Mad Max didn't usher in something.

Here's the link, if you want to read it all:

space1970: MAD MAX (1979) Blu-Ray / DVD Review

 

[wuher da brewer]

If you're going to talk about influencing what came later, may I submit a little genre film called Halloween. It was only the most successful independent film to date when it came out. It also influenced a number of imitators. I can point out a number of slasher precedents to Halloween, but it was Halloween that really got the ball rolling for the sub-genre.

 

[Larry Young]

If you're going to talk about influencing what came later, may I submit a little genre film called Halloween.

I suppose that all depends on what genre you're talking about. I thought with Mad Max, Star Wars, Soylent Green, and Logan's Run that it was clear Mills was talking about speculative fiction.

I certainly was; I don't know anything about horror movies, so I'll defer to you on that one.

 

[wuher da brewer]

I just read the article.

I guess he's got a point. There are certainly any number of post apocalyptic movies I could point to, arguably going back to Metropolis. Mad Max seems to be set at the onset of the post apocalypse. There have certainly been any number of those. You could argue that the marauding bikers in the first one aren't truly visionary in terms of the styles created by the art department for The Road Warrior. The costumes in Mad Max are plausible, their behavior could be explained away as that representative of 1% motorcycle gangs, depicted in films for over a decade, or that of looters during a riot. Personally, I think The Road Warrior is the more influential film in terms of style and imitators.

The Time Machine and Planet of the Apes, films of the Sixties, also created stunning visions of a post apocalyptic society. A Boy and His Dog may be a closer predecessor in terms of style, and it came 5 years before Mad Max. Though, it's admittedly painful to me to watch certain elements of the costumes and make-up in Boy.

 

[Zombie_61]

In your friend's defense, he did begin his review with the word "arguably", indicating he knows full well some people would disagree with his opinions. And that's the problem with calling anything "the most", "the best", "the top", etc.--it's subject to opinion and not everyone is going to agree.

Mad Max may or may not be the most influential genre film of the 70s if the genre is "one man against many in a post-apocalyptic world"; I couldn't say for certain, because I'm not a fan of that type of film. But if we're talking about genre films of the 70s in general (excluding the fact that, technically, every film ever made fits into one genre or another) I would agree with wuher da brewer that Halloween (1978) was a far more influential 70's genre film. So was Star Wars (1977). Or Jaws (1975). Or The French Connection (1971). Or The Godfather (1972). And so on.

 

[Vaderman]

So wait, how does Star Wars not count?

As far as I remember it, it ushered in a whole era of Sci-Fi films, including putting Star Trek up on the big screen!
I mean, I think you could argue that Sci-Fi is still riding on that crest, started by Star Wars.
I guess I am missing something here.
Speaking of Tropes, I would probably credit Star Wars with blasters, hyper-space, swords (of any type - in a sci-fi epic), having multitudes of aliens in non-featured parts (no one seemed to want to spend anything on make-up and then not show it off), Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, Droids, and I'm sure if it were earlier in the evening, I could think of more.
That is not to say those things hadn't come before, but to put them into the minds of mainstream audiences and make them something accepted without exposition, I would give the credit to Star Wars.
So yes, it influenced filmmakers but also audiences and the industry as a whole. Licensing and merchandising were never the same, nor were likeness rights and probably "creative accounting" and marketing.
Star Wars also stayed in some theaters for well over a year straight, as I recall.
I can remember seeing it's fingerprints on so many things after. I clearly remember this because even my beloved Star Trek seemed to be changed and we not only got a film and some budget, but we had a lot of aliens thrown in. I tended to wonder if Star Wars hadn't had the success it did, if Star Trek wouldn't have remained a series (II) or a movie-of-the-week and had one or two aliens: Spock and Ilia.
The impact on filmmaking is not to be underestimated, it was revolutionary and the ground broken by ILM and digital editing and compositing, sound "design," and so many other facets of the craft were changed forever and continue to be influenced. I just feel as though it had more of an impact on the Sci-Fi genre than Mad Max was on whatever it's genre was, if not Sci-Fi. ("The Man With No Name" genre? "Post Apocolyptic" genre? "Dystopian Future" genre? Comedy?)

 

[micdavis]

Yeah, this is a slam dunk.

Sure there are others, but "most", Star Wars (not ANH).

 

[wannab]

For better or worse...

Deep Throat.


Doug

 

[Colin Droidmilk]

Star Wars ushered in the last 30 years of SF, but its actual spirit of wholesome adventure was not really picked up for long, except by Spielberg maybe. Ridley Scott's violent and darker SF established the predominant pattern, and this style goes back to Mad Max's groundbreaking SF violence. Again, there are precedents, though; Rollerball comes to mind.

 

[Solo4114]

I'm not sure I'd call Mad Max science fiction, really. Speculative fiction, yes. Dystopian near-future, a society teetering on the edge of anarchy, men returning to savagery and brutality and abandoning civilization, but I'd say that it's not really a "post apocalyptic" film.

However, I agree with the previous posters who say that The Road Warrior is far more influential. Mad Max isn't really post-apocalyptic either. It's apocalyptic. Not quite the same. In the film, the apocalypse is HAPPENING right then. You're watching the descent. The Road Warrior is the real POST apocalyptic film, and its style influenced dozens of films (especially a lot of low-budget Italian knockoffs).

Now, maybe Mad Max started a trend of films depicting society in a particular kind of descent (for example, 1981's Escape from New York), but I think its successor is the real genre definer. For better or worse, the look of Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior has come to define post apocalyptic films.


As a separate note, Mad Max DOES have its antecedents in the various "chase" movies and "road" movies of the late 60s and early 70s. While it's not EXACTLY the same thing, you've got elements of Easy Rider, and then the "car" equivalents from the 70s like Vanishing Point, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, even Race With the Devil and the original Gone in 60 Seconds. That last one in particular I think is influential on Mad Max because it was produced on such a shoestring budget using real drivers in real cars.

It also has antecedents in some of the "revenge" films and "angry cop" films from the 70s. Deathwish and Dirty Harry, for example. It's not a perfect comparison, but the elements are there in the first film.

At any rate, interesting topic, and a film that is far too often overlooked (especially in favor if it's "younger brother" Mad Max 2). Both are cracking good action flicks, though. Tough to beat, even today.



Oh, and the second film? Shane + Stagecoach.

 

[Alan Castillo]

The Bruce Lee movies / Martial Arts movies.

Those '70's movies have all influenced tons.

Not up my alley, but undeniable.

 

[Alan Castillo]

Edit - Although their ''offspring" are sometimes mega-cool, like Kill Bill.

Edit X 2 - oops, just realised you're talking scifi right ? forget what I said :lol

 

[Solo4114]

No, but that's a very valid point. Certainly this side of the Pacific, Bruce Lee's stuff is HUGELY influential. Arguably that also helped to define Saturday afternoons on UHF stations here for probably close to a decade.

 

[Alan Castillo]

Man, when I was a youngster (pre-teen) in the 70's, ALL the 'cool' guys in my neighbourhood went to karate lessons, and handled those two sticky thingies with a chain in the middle like pros. (chuckols or something ?). Tried it once and whack, had a splitting headache for 2 days.

 

[Darth Detroit]

Halloween
JAWS
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Star Wars
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes
Alien

 

[micdavis]

2001: A Space Odyssey
Planet of the Apes

Both 1968, we're talking 70s.

 

[hankey01]

You know I'm going to say Superman the Movie. One of the first (arguably THE first) big budget, serious take on a Super Hero for the next age of cinema.

 

[Larry Young]

So yes, it influenced filmmakers but also audiences and the industry as a whole. Licensing and merchandising were never the same, nor were likeness rights and probably "creative accounting" and marketing.

Ha! That's for sure.

 

[bleyd]

A big Mad Max fan but have to agree with most influential film hands down is Star Wars.
It resparked life into Star Trek.
Changed the film industry as far as licensing rights go. As well as computer controlled cameras and special effects.

Action Figures? Yeah they were out before but after Star Wars the toy industry also changed. Huge impact on pop culture. Not knocking any of the other mentioned films huge fan of most of them.
Heck, look at the default page on this forum alone. If it wasn't for Star Wars I never would have found or even sought out this forum over a decade ago.

 

[ed209]

I would have to JAWS was far more influential than Mad Max. Prior to JAWS, there were no films that I can think of which used either an animal or fish as the main antagonist.

On top of that, JAWS, which was released in 1975, was considered to be the first "blockbuster" film, where scores of viewers returned to watch it multiple times. Then add in the impact it had on the viewers, some of whom literally developed a phobia of going into the ocean after watching it.

Mad Max had more of a cult following when it came out. I didn't know anything about it until about 1982, when I first saw it on cable (Z channel I believe it was).