Trivia for
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) More at IMDbPro »

• The script called for Aunt Entity (Tina Turner) to drive a vehicle. All of the vehicles were stick-shifts, which Turner couldn't drive, so a special automatic had to be constructed.
  
  
• One of the restaurants in the post-apocalyptic city is The Atomic Cafe, a reference to The Atomic Cafe (1982), a documentary about the Cold War, nuclear fear and propanganda films from the government.
  
  
• When introducing Max to the Thunderdome crowd, Dr. Dealgood calls him "The Man with No Name". This is a reference to Clint Eastwood's character in Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns", particularly Per un pugno di dollari (1964), where his character also enters a town as a drifter and plays the two ruling factions against each other for profit.
  
  
• The character of "Captain Walker", the absent father-figure/savior/pilot, is clearly a reference to "Captain Walker" from the film Tommy (1975). Also, the presence of Tina Turner (who protrayed the "Acid Queen" in "Tommy") strengthens the connections between the two movies.
  
  
• Director/Co-Writer George Miller was given the rights to this and Mad Max 2 (1981) to get him to step aside as the director of Contact (1997).
  
  
• Two directors were hired so that George Miller could concentrate on the stunts and action scenes, while George Ogilvie handled the performances of the large cast of actors.
  
  
• Originally, the film was supposed to be about a group of children living without parents in the wild. They were trying to decide what adult character would find them, when someone thought of Max. After that suggestion, it became a "Mad Max" film.
  
  
• The film references a novel by Russell Hoban called "Riddley Walker" about a hero traveling in post-apocalyptic England.
  
  
• The possible outcomes on the Wheel are: - Death - Hard Labour - Acquittal - Gulag - Aunty's Choice - Spin Again - Forfeit Goods - Underworld - Amputation - Life Imprisonment
  
  
• Max's eyes are different; the pupil in his left eye is permanently dilated. This is a nod to "Mad Max 2": When his car is forced off the road by Wez and Max crashes, he suffers a severe injury to, among other body parts, his left eye. The disparity is easier to see in close-ups, and VERY easy to see in HD versions of the film. In the regular version, it's most prominent when Max first looks down on the Thunderdome.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: Ironbar yells out when Max throws him face first out of Auntie's open window.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: When Max takes the wheel from the helmeted driver and shoves him out the "cow" colored cruiser.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: Made by the spectator that Blaster accidentally stabs, to get to Max.
  
  
• The poster art for this film was one of the last done by Richard Amsel.
  
  
• Aunty Entity's (Tina Turner) steel mail dress weighed more than 55 kilograms.
  
  
• The sandstorm at the end of the film was real, and a camera plane actually did fly into it for some shots. The storm in its entirety hit the crew in the desert, forcing them to ride it out in their cars and wherever they could find cover.
  
  
• Max's shotgun differs in this movie from the one he used in Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981), which was his duty weapon. This one has exposed hammers and a different grip.
  
  
• Jedidiah's airplane is a Transavia PL-12 'Airtruk', a single-engine agricultural biplane designed by Transavia in Australia. First flown in 1965, around 120 had been built by the time this movie was made.
  
  
• All of the pigs in the film foreshadow George Miller's involvement with Babe (1995) and directing its sequel ten years later.
  
  
• The first of the series made with American financing. Which explains why American stars like Tina Turner crop up in the film.
  
  
• The age certificates of each Mad Max picture have gone down from an 18, to a 15 and with Thunderdome a PG. Because the films mostly appeal to a teen demographic, George Miller may have been pushing the series towards a more mainstream audience. Which would explain why half the cast is made up of children.
  
  
• George Miller lost interest in the project after his friend and producer Byron Kennedy was killed in a helicopter crash while location scouting. That may explain why Miller only handled the action scenes while George Ogilvie handled the rest. The film is dedicated to Byron Kennedy.
  
  
• Two scenes were cut from the film to bring down the running time. One where he dreams of his murdered wife and son, wakes up and cries. He realises he's become just as bad as the animals he used to hunt down as a cop. The other is Max takes a dying Gekko to the top of a sand dune at night, sees the lights of Bartertown and tells him they've reached Tomorrow-Morrow Land.
  
  
• The music video for 2Pac's 1996 hit "California Love" was shot at the Thunderdome set and features vehicles and clothes inspired by the Mad Max series.
  
  
• Bruce Spence, who played the Gyro Captain in The Road Warrior plays Jedediah, a different character who robs Max at the start. But funnily enough he still rides a helicopter!
  
  

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