Mad Max 1: The Original – Re-release

This advertising flyer is for the 1983 cinema re-release of Mad Max in Australia.

To emphasise the point the film's title is accompanied by a dominating number 1 and the addition of prominent text, 'The Original' and 'In the beginning'.

In contrast to posters from the first release in 1979, the re-release also highlights the plot points that led to Max becoming 'mad' – 'Max had a wife, a child and a job' – which gives the character's narrative arc more depth. 

After it found international success, Mad Max for a time held the Guinness World Record for the highest box-office-to-budget ratio of any motion picture. 

On its first release in the US in 1980, the film was dubbed for American audiences unused to Australian accents! Mad Max 2 was retitled The Road Warrior for its American release in 1982 so as not to alienate audiences that had not seen the first film.

After The Road Warrior became a sizeable international hit, Mad Max was re-released in US and UK cinemas in 1983 before finding an even bigger audience on home video in the 1980s.