Mad Max II is one of the last gasps of the once proud Australian cinema. Mad Max I, you may recall, was a low-budget, science-fiction action thriller which introduced Mel Gibson to the agog world. Mad Max II is that rare thing, a sequel that is actually better than the original. The only other instance I can think of is For a Few Dollars More, the sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. Interestingly in both cases the director remained the same. Leone of course went on to make an even better sequel, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.