Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome them, as Max, still alive in the desert, wanders on to places unknown. "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" was the first "Mad Max" film made without producer Byron Kennedy, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 1983 while location scouting for the film. While the film was in development before Kennedy's death, director George Miller was hesitant to continue without his producing partner. "I was reluctant to go ahead," said Miller. "And then there was a sort of need to – let's do something just to get over the shock and grief of all of that." A title card at
Mad Max the film polarized critics. In a 1979 review, the Australian social commentator and film producer Phillip Adams condemned "Mad Max", saying that it had "all the emotional uplift of "Mein Kampf" and would be "a special favourite of rapists, sadists, child murderers and incipient [Charles] Mansons". After its United States release, Tom Buckley of "The New York Times" called the film "ugly and incoherent". Stephen King, writing in "Danse Macabre," called the film a "turkey." However, "Variety" magazine praised the directorial debut by Miller. "Mad Max" grossed A$5,355,490 at the box office in Australia and over US$100 million worldwide. It