Why Mad Max Was Banned In New Zealand

The 1979 Australian dystopian revenge film "Mad Max" helped launch director George Miller's career and spawned an incredible franchise with five truly distinct entries, but it's a lot darker than many people remember. "Mad Max" is a revenge story tracking a singular character, the titular Max (Mel Gibson), a weary cop in the final days of a dystopian Australia before the full-blown apocalypse sets in. After Max's partner Goose (Steve Bisley) is brutally attacked and burned alive by a biker gang, Max hangs up his badge and tries to live a peaceful life with his wife and son that's cruelly cut short when the same gang kills his son and nearly kill his wife. That sends him into pure revenge mode, acting as a renegade cop, and it's honestly kind of badass (in a purely fictional way). There's just one little problem: certain elements of the movie were deemed to be far too violent by New Zealand's Classification Office (imagine if the MPA was a government entity) and the film was officially banned in August of 1979, despite New Zealand being Australia's closest neighbor. 

While that ban was eventually revoked (in part due to the immense popularity of the less-grim, action-packed sequel, "The Road Warrior"), there was a period where it was illegal to screen or sell "Mad Max" in New Zealand, and it was mostly centered around what happened to Goose. 

"Mad Max" was released in Australia in April 1979, and sadly in August of that same year, there was a violent gang uprising that led to several police officers being injured. Some of the gang members allegedly picked up Senior Sergeant Charles O'Hara, who was already injured in the fray and attempted to throw him into a burning vehicle, but he was thankfully rescued by other law enforcement and firefighters and did not suffer Goose's fate. While it's unlikely that anyone there saw the scene in "Mad Max" and decided to replicate it in reality, the similarities and real-life problems with gang violence were enough of a reason for the censorship board to totally ban the film in New Zealand. 

The ban was lifted in 1983, after the success of "The Road Warrior," which means that there was only a four-year period where "Mad Max" was illegal in New Zealand. That might not seem like a big deal at all, but since "Mad Max" is the first movie in the franchise and one of the best films in it as well, it would have been a real bummer for the people of New Zealand to not get a chance to see it. New Zealand has some truly great films of its own, including the work of Peter Jackson, but c'mon, who wants to miss out on pre-problematic Mel Gibson cool guy goodness?