MovieChat Forums > Mad Max 2 (1982) Discussion > War montage at the beginning of the movi...

War montage at the beginning of the movie.

posted 9 years ago by Sjaaksnaak
13 replies | jump to latest

There's one part where a guy is running away from a soldier and gets shot.
I did a few double takes on that scene, was that real?
Does anyone know if that was really a guy that got killed and is now part of this movie?
(not someone getting killed for this movie of course. But found footage that looked "cool")
Remember, this was 1981 where death scenes usually involved a knock back of a few feet when someone gets shot.
But the way he fell (or slumped) down, the way his hat shot into the air.. disturbing.
If that was faked, that actor/extra deserves some kind of 'death scene award' because, damn...

[–] Tenakoto 9 years ago

I think it's Vietnam war footage.

[–] Sjaaksnaak 9 years ago

Damn, if that's true and it is real.. damn.
I've seen a lot of movie deaths a lot more gruesome as this but this is probably the first that gave me a wierd vibe.
Have to admit I've seen some footage of actual deaths of people getting shot and those just clicked with this scene.

Is that allowed? To use real footage in a film like this?

[–] printsofdarkness 9 years ago

Is that allowed? To use real footage in a film like this?

I suspect now the answer is no. But back in the Bad Old, Pre-PC Days, I suppose less footage was ruled illicit for use in a feature film.

There is a scene of a sacrificial slaughter of an ox in the climax of Apocalypse Now. That was real too. That likely also would have been prohibited for inclusion were the film made today.

Good catch on the Mad Max 2 Prologue. I found it disturbing and real too on first viewing. The way the fleeing man drops- life violently and percussively wrested from his body, exactly the instant the armed man discharges his rifle convinces me of this.

I have nothing supporting this, but my sense is the footage used predates Vietnam. Korea or earlier is my inclination. And not necessarily taken from an American conflict, for that matter.

It suggests the live-action analog to Robert Capa's famous photograph Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Soldier

The eleventh hour is 10 o'clock and the end of the day has sweet FA to do with your opinion.

[–] Sjaaksnaak 9 years ago

Yeah, I can understand it's not allowed nowadays.
And I know about the apocalypse now scene. Although it is my understanding that they denied having anything to do with that. That it just happened to take place while they were there.
The same with cannibal holocaust and the turtles and monkeys.
Although in those days you could say 'they were just animals' and was kind of allowed back then.
Makes me wonder what other movies include these kinds of scenes.

[–] Tenakoto 9 years ago

I looked at the footage a bit more in detail, it could be WW2 footage of the Japanese and Australian SAS, this was before the Geneva Convention was established, execution style was before the GE mandate, not 100%.

Miller probably had permission to use the footage from the Australian military archives in his movie, most of WW2 footage is not under copyright permission.

[–] Sjaaksnaak 9 years ago

He probably had permission to rummage around in military archives. And in those days, I think I would probably have included this scene also.
As gruesome as it is, it fits perfectly in the "humanity" aspect of the Mad Max universe.

[–] Sjaaksnaak 9 years ago

*needed to have permission to get his hands on that kind of footage. If it's real.
Maybe from some illegal underground video distributor. People have always been fascinated by death and humanity.

[–] aronaamora 8 years ago

Some of the footage is from students' riots in Paris during the 70's- I've seen news films of those riots and I spot some shots re used in the opening of the movie.

[–] aronaamora 8 years ago

I re checked and the riots took place in 1968- I found a news reel of the riots and I spotted three shots re used in THE ROAD WARRIOR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjyKJQ-oD5I

[–] tenantennae 8 years ago

Is that allowed? To use real footage in a film like this?

Yes.

[–] dablais 8 years ago

There's one part where a guy is running away from a soldier and gets shot.
I did a few double takes on that scene, was that real?
Does anyone know if that was really a guy that got killed and is now part of this movie?

It is real war footage. I was able to track down the footage of the man being shot by a soldier. It is from the Algerian War (also known as the Algerian War of Independence). It was a war between France and Algerian independence elements. It occurred from 1954 to 1962.

The footage is from a 1960 UPI documentary written by Maurice Schonfeld. Schonfeld later went on to co-found CNN. The documentary covers the time period from 1954 to 1960.

De Gaulle and the Six-Year War
Full film: http://youtu.be/4SO4lF33hkU

The footage from The Road Warrior starts at 7:35 (WARNING: graphic footage)

[–] tuimjedi 8 years ago

There´s also a lot of real violent scenes in the opening montage of Dawn of the Dead (2004)

[–] armamentarmedarm 8 years ago

Damn, that is a great find. You should add that to the trivia page if you haven't already, I imagine barely anyone knows the source of the footage.