In the third “Mad Max” film from 1985, Tina Turner faced the desperate Mel Gibson as the antagonist Aunty Entity.
“Mad Max” is trending on Twitter this Wednesday (May 24). This is not due to the “Mad Max” actors Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy, nor to George Miller, who directed the four films made between 1980 and 2014, in which an ex-cop in post-apocalypse Australia fighting for survival. “Mad Max” is trending on social media for a sad reason: Because Tina Turner passed away, at the age of 83.
In the third film, 1985’s Beyond the Thunderdome, Tina Turner plays Max’s enemy, a despot by the name of Aunty Entity. Her rocked survival look, part Stone Age man, part Amazon, has become an iconic fashion statement. Turner even kept the costume for her stage shows, and her dancers also dressed in the same way.
Tina Turner was at the peak of her success when filming began – the 1983 album “Private Dancer” became her first worldwide solo hit after breaking up with Ike Turner. For the “Mad Max” soundtrack, composed by Maurice Jarre, she contributed two songs: “One of the Living” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero”. A children’s choir sings along in the song – it stands for the (film) orphans living in the desert, who oppose Max: “We don’t need another hero”. They don’t believe that he can still help them in this lost world. The song was another success: number one in Germany and Austria in July 1985, a summer hit; No. 2 in the UK and Switzerland; Third place in the US.