Question: What has ended up with Max? Billy promised to go back and release him, but we never see that happen, and no explanation is given for that in the Epilogue. Is Max a real figure? If he is, what has happened to him? Did he manage to escape, or did he die in prison?
Answer: It's never stated what happened to Max. The film was a heavily fictionalized version of Billy Hayes' book, and the Max character appears to be fictional as well or at least a composite of other real-life imprisoned Westerners that Hayes met while in a Turkish prison.
Question: When Damian learns that he is the Antichrist, he is very upset about it. Later in the movie, why does he choose to embrace who he is and his destiny?
Answer: Having lived as a "normal" boy, Damien is initially shocked to learn his true identity. After having time to adjust and being surrounded and groomed by satanic supporters, he eventually embraces his true persona.
The answer is correct, and I'm just going a into a bit more detail. During the events of the first film, Damien is normal until Mrs Baylock entered his life. She started teaching him about who he was, but he was only five or six, which would have been far too young for him to understand. He started acting more malicious after this point. After the movie ended, it skips ahead to Damien living with his uncle, aunt, and cousin. During that time, it's conceivable that the forces surrounding him decided to give him a period of peace. He was raised by his aunt (secretly a Satanist), but she might have been instructed to give him a normal upbringing so he wouldn't call attention to himself. As a result, he probably forgot about it, and started to believe he wasn't any different. Once he learned of his unholy lineage he began to remember and eventually embrace it, especially since he had several followers (Buher, Neff, and many others he may not have met yet) to help and protect him.
Question: Why was Michael killing people? There was no mention of his history, or what made him the way he was.
Answer: The only answer given in this film is that Myers is purely and simply evil. He's just doing it because he's compelled to, and doesn't seem to have any trace of humanity left inside of him. Future sequels attempted to give an explanation, but to varying degrees of success. But as far as this original film is concerned - he's just pure evil.
Answer: The movie doesn't require a back story, although subsequent sequels, and the Rob Zombie remake address your questions. Then again, what makes any serial killer kill? The topic has been studied by psychologists for decades. Often serial killers lead normal lives, at least in public.
Question: Can anyone tell me the name of the music the band is playing when chief Brody and his wife are dancing?
Answer: Teach me tonight is the name of song when Chief Brody and his wife Ellen are dancing to.
Answer: The songs are: Downtown, The Girl From Ipanema, and Teach Me Tonight.
The very first piece the Amity High School band plays, is a piece called "FANFARE." It was composed specifically for the film -> by Universal's music department head (at the time) HAL MOONEY, utilizing a small Universal staff ensemble of musicians. The composers of the other pieces: Downtown (Tony Hatch), The Girl From Ipanema (Antonio Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes), and Teach Me Tonight (Gene DePaul/Sammy Cahn). I had hoped so much when they came out with the definitive JAWS 2 score, that John Williams would have permitted these pieces to be included on the score. I think the case was that those particular pieces were not in the 'vaults' along with the John Williams score. We'd all agree, those songs are essential to the JAWS 2 narrative.
Any idea if the Teach Me Tonight arrangement from Jaws 2 is commercially available? Great instrumental in the big band style.
Question: When the group first meet up at the dock, just as they are about to set off in the helicopter, when Roger closes the door, he then looks out of the window - eventually he gives a smiling nod. This could simply be a nod to the other group but it seems as if it may have been unintentional possibly as if he thought that the camera had stopped rolling. Curious to see if anyone could clarify it. Maybe I'm just looking too much into the film.
Answer: One of the cops that was with Joe Plato (how much you have seen of them will depend on which version of the movie you, but I HIGHLY recommend the fan made/edited 'Extended Mall Hours' cut on YouTube) asked them for cigarettes. You'll notice that Roger and Fran lit up cigarettes as they were taking off, that's what Roger was laughing at.
Question: Why does Leonard Nimoy have a brown piece of leather on the back of one of his hands?
Answer: On the DVD commentary, Director Phillip Kaufman explained that the leather on Nimoy's hand was the actor's idea and simply showed how kooky the character was. Fits the character well really.
Answer: Max WAS a real character, and a Dutchman in real life, rather than an English one as portrayed in the movie. He eventually got paroled and later treatment for a severe drug addiction he had too.