The 1982 Australian film 77ie Road Warrior is a muscular punk cult movie which has appealed to a broad range of audiences. Yet it has not always been a success with critics. Most reviewers acknowledge its impressive technique, especially the stuntsmanship and fast-paced editing which make it a successful action movie of the motorized chase-and-crash genre. But the film's director and cowriter, George Miller, claims that it is more than merely a genre movie:
This is a mythological tale. . . . You can compare it to a western-I grew up on them and they are very important to me-but I think this kind of story is told over again in many cultures.
In an attempt to generate a …