
Toecutter, portrayed by Hugh Keays-Byrne, is the main antagonist in Mad Max and the ruthless leader of a merciless motorcycle gang terrorising the outback roads.
His penultimate act of savagery is tracking down Max's wife, Jessie, and their son and mowing them both down on the highway in cold blood. This is the incident that incites Max's path of revenge.
This production still effectively captures Hugh Keays-Byrne's characterisation of Toecutter. His villain is eloquently spoken, almost Shakespearean with Messianic pretensions, but always with a simmering menace.
In short, Keays-Byrne's Toecutter is affably evil. His flowing robes in this image suggest a Christ-like figure and he holds his rifle in an oddly mannered, offhand fashion.
Keays-Byrne returned to the Mad Max franchise in 2015 to play Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.