The Drama of Motion in Stagecoach & Mad Max: Fury Road
A journey to Lordsburg and Valhalla!
Every cinephile was ecstatic when Martin Scorsese joined Letterboxd late last year. An Oscar-winning director was reviewing films and creating lists just like the rest of us! Shortly after joining the platform, Scorsese posted a list titled Companion Films. He writes in the list’s description:
“I love the idea of putting different films together into one program. I grew up seeing double features, programs in repertory houses, evenings of avant-garde films in storefront theaters. You always learn something, see something in a new light, because every movie is in conversation with every other movie. The greater the difference between the pictures, the better."
In one way or another, we all naturally compare and contrast cinema. Simply by discussing those films we enjoy and those we do not, we are thinking about how films relate to one another. Yet it never occurred to me that “every movie is in conversation with every other movie.” It is a beautiful and exciting thought.
Imagine a film you have seen many times revealing something new, perhaps inexhaustibly, with the aid of companion films. Scorsese illuminated the endless depth of cinema for me, and I eagerly searched for films that could strike up a good conversation with each other.
In accordance with my nightly ritual, I slowly clicked through every available streaming service unable to find anything to watch. While browsing HBO Max with glazed eyes, I noticed two films next to each other that struck me as companion films: John Ford’s Stagecoach and George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
I am not the first to notice the resemblance between the films. When Fury Road was released in 2015, IndieWire appropriately described the film as “Stagecoach on Acid.” In fact, production designer, Colin Gibson, told Business Insider that “the classic John Wayne western, Stagecoach, was an inspiration for creating [the War Rig as] a moving location where the drama plays out over a long stretch of time.” It is clear that Stagecoach inspired and influenced Fury Road, but is there more to their companionship?
On the surface, both films share many similarities. Stagecoach and Fury Road are known for their action-driven narratives, stunning visuals and spectacular stunts and practical effects. Although Ford’s epic was made eighty five years ago, the insane, life-threatening stunts in the final chase scene fill me with a sense of shock and awe to this day. I similarly remember seeing Fury Road in theaters and being blown away by each and every action set piece. I had never seen anything like it!
Each film is a visual feast for the eyes. Ford’s use of deep focus and long takes allow the audience to take in the vast beauty of the American West, the intensity of the action and the internal motivations of the characters. The eyes are the window to the soul, and Ford reveals the innermost thoughts and emotions of the characters with lingering extreme close ups during pivotal moments throughout the film.
Miller’s unprecedented manipulation of frame rates throughout Fury Road gives the action a unique look and feel. It is snappy and scrappy, which fits the madness of a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Each shot is a spectacle, especially the chase into the sandstorm. Everything is cranked to eleven!
The “Black & Chrome” edition of Fury Road brings the films even closer to each other in aesthetics. In addition to the theatrical cut, the special edition includes a black and white version of the film, which is “the best version of the movie,” according to Miller. The black and white version transforms and focuses the film. The absence of eye popping colors helps to clearly define the characters against the stark landscape of the apocalypse, especially in the fast paced action. The sensory overload is intentionally dialed back, so we can be more attentive to the story and its characters.
The structure of the films are also alike. They each take place in unforgiving, desolate landscapes where lawlessness and violence are the rule rather than the exception. Both films feature a motley crew on a perilous journey to a common destination. The movement of the journey without reveals the movement of the characters within as they put aside their personal prejudices and conflicts to overcome the external obstacles and enemies that threaten their survival.
Each film contains a similar cast of characters including unconventional heroes, disgraced denizens, oppressed outcasts and even pregnant women. Many of these characters undergo redemption arcs, particularly Max Rockatansky, Furiosa, Ringo Kid and Dr. Josiah Boone. As the leading rough and tough protagonists, it is easy to assume that Max and Ringo are parallel heroes. Both find redemption, but each finds a different kind.
Ringo and Furiosa are far similar, in my opinion, because they each find redemption through retribution. They both have suffered injustice. Ringo is sent to prison after the Plumbers falsely accuse him of killing their foreman. Furiosa was taken from her home as a child and became a slave.
In these circumstances, both Ringo and Furiosa had to commit injustices to survive and stand for justice. When Ringo learns that the Plumbers have murdered his father and brother, he breaks out of prison seeking vengeance. Similarly, Furiosa seizes the opportunity to escape the tyranny of Immortan Joe by stealing away with his wives and War Rig.
Ultimately, they each get revenge by defeating their enemies in battle, bringing the unjust to justice. Their unjust acts and desire for vengeance are redeemed by their noble actions for others along the way; their motivations are not inherently selfish.
Despite being in the custody of Marshal Curley Wilcox, Ringo helps to protect the stagecoach and its passengers from Geronimo and his Apache warriors. He also swears to return to prison with the Marshal if given the chance to face the Plumbers at Lordsburg. In a similar way, Furiosa escapes with the wives to save them from a life of oppression and give them “hope.” They each find justice and redemption by facing those who took both away from them. In the words of Ringo, “There are some things you just can’t run away from.”
While Ringo and Furiosa find redemption in combating external injustice, Max and Doc Boone are similar because they are plagued by an internal injustice against themselves. At the outset of Stagecoach, we learn that Doc Boone is being run out of town because he is a drunkard. He is constantly seeking his next drink and ambivalent to his own wellbeing. When asked to vote on whether to continue their journey to Lordsburg without a cavalry escort, Doc Boone responds, “I'm not only a philosopher, sir, I'm a fatalist. Somewhere, sometime, there may be the right bullet or the wrong bottle waiting for Josiah Boone. Why worry when or where?”
In a similar way, Max is “drunk” with despair. He has abandoned his “righteous cause” as a cop and road warrior and become a man who exists to “survive.” Max has been reduced to this instinct because he is “haunted by those [he] could not protect.” Unlike Ringo and Furiosa who run toward the hope that promises justice and redemption, Max “runs from both the living and the dead,” but he cannot run from himself. He is trapped without hope.
Given Doc Boone’s profession and service in the Civil War, it stands to reason he too is haunted by those he could not save. Perhaps living with these horrors drove him to seek solace in a bottle. Regardless, Max and Doc Boone struggle to overcome themselves. Like Ringo and Furiosa, they each find redemption by rising to the occasion for the sake of those around them.
Max initially helps to defend the War Rig with Furiosa and the wives out of self interest. He works with them to “survive.” After holding up his end of the bargain, Max is given the opportunity to make his own way. He departs saying, “Hope is a mistake. If you can’t fix what’s broken, you’ll go insane.”
Reminded of the promises he made to those he could not protect in the past, Max returns to help Furiosa, the wives and the remaining members of the “Green Place” go back the way they came and take Immortan Joe’s undefended Citadel. Max holds onto hope and abandons his despair. He stops running from himself.
Doc Boone’s expertise is called upon when Lucy Mallory faints and goes into labor when the stagecoach has stopped to change horses. Boone is drunk at the time, and Hatfield calls him a “drunken beast.” In response, Boone corks his whiskey bottle, takes off his jacket and asks for coffee.
With the help of the Marshal and Ringo, Boone sobers up as quickly as possible to attend to Mrs. Mallory. After many hours, Doc Boone successfully delivers the baby and ensures Mrs. Mallory’s survival. Boon continues to indulge throughout the rest of the film, but he is more temperate.
He remains sober and retains his reason so as to help protect the stagecoach during an attack at the end of their journey. He saves the injured Mr. Peacock from his wounds, and even dissuades Luke Plumber to leave behind his shotgun to ensure Ringo has a fighting chance against the three brothers during their shootout at Lordsburg.
At the end of the film, Ringo defeats the Plumbers and surrenders to the Marshal so he can be escorted back to prison. After a change of heart, the Marshal, assisted by Doc Boone, helps Ringo and his love interest, Dallas, to leave Lordsburg in a carriage and escape across the Mexican border. As the carriage drives away, the Marshal offers to buy Doc Boone a drink. He smiles and says, “Just one.”
In the end, redemption is won for each of these characters, but the differences draw out some interesting distinctions. Ringo and Furiosa find something to die for while Max and Boone find something to live for.
With the anticipated release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga today, I am excited to witness George Miller bring everything shining and chrome to the big screen once more and the new conversations his latest film will start along the way.
Love this post and love the graphic, man! Well done.