I think he totally deserved it. Rapist and murderer. Quite a bleak film. Not seen it since childhood and is grimmer than I remember. But not bad.

Let's see if I were Max and I knew this guy was a) potential rapist/gang member terrorizing the countryside, b) burned my buddy alive c) and was more than likely involved in squashing my family d) never faced justice the first time I brought him in and probably never will e) mental and f) as long as the paperwork's clean
I'd give him less of a chance than Max offered him to survive.
Maybe Max felt more like OP because he didn't just blow Johnny's head right off. If you've ever had someone you're close to get murdered in cold blood, you kind of want them dead, and in a scenario where justice doesn't matter any more and these guys were just as likely to kill Max if they survive and find him again makes more sense to end them.

Yeah I would have killed him too. Even though I walked away from the movie thinking he dropped the match in the scuffle as opposed to throwing it (thus intentionally setting Jim on fire), he deserved what he got.
"God made man. Then he rested. And on the 8th day, God created George O'Brien."

Killing is always wrong no matter the reasons or who it's against. Even in self defense.
Damn, I'm good.

Who else think johnny didn't deserve what max does to him at the end? Ok, Johnny raped a girl earlier in the movie and set Goose on fire
"Ok, he raped a girl and lit a man on fire, but"
Yes, he deserved it.
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In normal circumstances I would say a big no to vigilante justice.
This is the Mad Max universe and this film is set on the verge of civilisations collapse.
The police are under-funded, the courts both powerless and corrupt which is best personified by the 2 defence lawyers, the older gent who smugly says to the MFP "It Means you don't have a case" and the younger shorter funny sounding one who threatens "The courts will hear about this" while he gets shoved around.
So with the whole system failing Max naturally takes matters into his own hands, we see no effort from the MFP either to go after him.

I didn't realize that before but yeah that dude was raped. I don't know if it was Johnny that did it, nor do I know if Johnny raped the girl as well.
DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia!

Dont forget Johnny apart from his part on the couple's rape (forgetting about the guy?), making death threats to the MFP.. his part in capturing and burning goose
afterwards he takes part in an attempt at killing Max ..AND he later murders a driver (he denies it but probably was him as he was dragging the driver's body back to the wreck rather than away from the wreck.. so unless the driver got out and died out seems like he got out injured and Johny finished him off)

I think the OP is forgetting the point of the ending. The director was trying to illustrate that both villains met their fate the same way they committed their crimes. It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but Toecutter ran over Max's family and thus dies the same way. Johnny burned Goose to death and although Max may not know that Johnny was the one who personally burned Goose alive, the audience sees Johnny being blown up as an equal and justifiable death.
Frankly the ending, really makes up for the low-budget movie that this was. It was really slow paced in some parts, but I enjoyed it; especially the ending.

Yeah it offers up a good philosifal question. I always thought it was harsh as he was the youngest and they clearly just influenced him and took advantage of him, he was also schizophrenic or whatever.
Also I think he didn't mean to set Goose on fire, the other guy sort of knocked ot out of his hand and it landed on the grass, but unfortunately the car still caught on fire.
So no I don't think he did deserve it but the others deserved to die.
As someone else said, beaten within an inch of his life may have been more appropiate, but then we lose the most iconic scenes.

Always good to hear from those who stand up for sadists!
I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

Deserve? It's MAD Max. Max is mad. Max is crazy. Max doesn't know/care if he deserves it or not. He's on a mission of vengeance.
"
Men like you don't die on toilets
." Mel Gibson-Riggs, Lethal Weapon

Deserve? It's MAD Max. Max is mad. Max is crazy. Max doesn't know/care if he deserves it or not. He's on a mission of vengeance.

and his arm was run over immediately after that.

One thing nobody has mentioned is that Johnny helped Toecutter set up the ambush on Max on the highway. He laid down, drawing Max to the bike by the side of the road. Thereby, allowing Toecutter & his gang to shoot and run over Max's arm, breaking it. He was an accessory to a murder plot. So does Johnny deserve what Max does to him? Absolutely.
Max was shot. In the
leg.
Thus Max was set up with a lifelong limp seen in the sequels.
Great white sharks are attracted to death metal music.

One thing nobody has mentioned is that Johnny helped Toecutter set up the ambush on Max on the highway. He laid down, drawing Max to the bike by the side of the road. Thereby, allowing Toecutter & his gang to shoot and run over Max's arm, breaking it. He was an accessory to a murder plot. So does Johnny deserve what Max does to him? Absolutely.

This is not a movie about the ethical treatment of criminals. It's about revenge.

He caused Goose to get killed by the Toe Cutter!

This message has been deleted.

The revenge scene went too fast. I recently watched this film again on Netflix. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid (forgot how low budget it was compared to the sequels). I forgot how late into the movie it takes for him to go "mad". When his wife was killed, the Netflix timer showed only about 15 minutes left. It would have been nice if there was another 10 minutes of revenge. Toe Cutter's death was far too abrupt, as was everyone's except Johnny. I would have preferred Toe Cutter be the one that was strapped to the car with the hack saw. In fact, I would have liked to see more draw out painful deaths for everyone else, except somehow Johnny gets away and is featured in the sequel. As someone else mentioned it would have been great to see him as a bitch in Humungus's gang.

Ok, Johnny raped a girl earlier in the movie and set Goose on fire
Yeah, raping and burning people is petty crime. Max should have just given him a ticket. Derp.
Terrible things, Lawrence. You've done terrible things!

So OP, (and I don't expect any kind of answer from you since you haven't posted since 2010 or so) when the future setting of this movie catches up with us in a couple of years (chuckle) and a biker gang comes along and rapes yer neighbor and then just for laughs, burns up yer best friend who's sleeping on yer couch and then, as you and yer wife and two year old kid are escaping from the inferno of you former home, (and again just for laughs), they run down yer wife and squash flat yer 'beautiful' child's head and leave you for dead Well I guess I'm just wondering at what point would it become justified (to YOU of course in this lawless new future where the police are only interested in beating and killing minorities and arresting docile potheads) to go out and find and visciously murder every single one of the cowardly, worthless m.o.t.h.e.r.f.u.c.k.e.r.s who did it?
"Here, it's a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card! Ha hahahah!" The Goose.

That's a tough one,actually.Max's revenge on Johnny is,indeed, one of the most brutal ever filmed.Johnny sure looks more like a spoiled brat in the final scene rather than a gang member.The viewer cannot guarantee that he believes what he says to Max about ''bad people''..'' I am not with them''.He most likely does not.As far as his actions throughout the movie are concerned,he committed murder almost ''taken by the hand'' in the Goose death scene.(Remember the preceding scene,where he tries to tolerate burning his hand with a lighter's flame and cannot go along with it?) Maybe the director's choice to have this particular character suffer the worst of Max's revenge is deliberate in order to illustrate Max's words to Fifi ''it's that rat circus out there,I'm beginning to enjoy it''.And this is accompanied with loneliness,as the final,endless,white line travelling shot indicates.

He deserved that and more
Esta es mi firma