Crocodile Dundee ****(1986, Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon) – Classic Movie Review 8047

It is virtually impossible not to succumb to the charms of director Peter Faiman’s hilarious 1986 Australian comedy Crocodile Dundee, with Aussie bush hunter hero Michael J Dundee (the comic Paul Hogan in his movie acting début) conquering the visiting US reporter Sue Charlton (the star’s real-life wife Linda Kozlowski) in the Australian Outback, and then the New Yorkers (‘g’day’) when she entices him back home to the Big Apple.

Hogan‘s triumph was astonishingly popular worldwide, perhaps because it is so disarmingly good-natured and traditional. It cost only $8,800,000 and took $174,635,000 in the US, with a cumulative worldwide gross of $360,000,000.

Hogan, oozing easy-going Aussie charisma on screen, also wrote the story and co-wrote the Oscar-nominated script, which is cheekily very much along the lines of the 1942 Tarzan’s New York Adventure. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Paul Hogan (screenplay/ story), Ken Shadie (screenplay) and John Cornell (screenplay).

A sequel followed in 1988, Crocodile Dundee II, and, belatedly, another in 2001, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. It has become one of the most popular and most often re-shown movies on British TV. The strong language may be edited on TV for family viewing. In the US they put quote marks round Crocodile, so it is ‘Crocodile’ Dundee there, after preview audiences said that they were expecting to see a real crocodile!

Also in the cast are John Meillon, Mark Blum, David Gulpilil, Michael Lombard, Ritchie Singer, Maggie Blinco, Steve Rackman, Gerry Skilton, Terry Gill, Peter Turnbull, Christine Totos, Graham ‘Grace’ Walker, David Bracks, Brett Hogan, Irving Metzman, Reginald VelJohnson, Rik Colitti, John Snyder, J T Cole, Gwyllum Evans, Claire Hague, Jan Saint, Peter Bucossi, Sullivan Walker, Bobby Alto, Anne Carlisle, Anne Francine, Paige Matthews, Paul Greco, Caitlin Clarke, Nancy Mette, Barry Kivel, Tony Holmes, Dan Lounsbery and Dolores Messina.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8047

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