If you grew up in the 80s, you knew about Crocodile Dundee.
Also, if you grew up in the 80s, get ready for the constant stream of reminders that you’re an old fart as many of your favorite 80s properties that you grew up watching, reading, and playing turn 40 in the coming years. Now it’s your turn to tell those kids to get off your goddamned lawn… or pretend you own a lawn, which is the more likely scenario these days, but I digress.
Crocodile Dundee saw release in Australian theaters in April 1986, while the rest of the world would get theirs in September. The story involves American reporter person Sue Charlton going to Australia to do a story on a strange fellow named Mick “Crocodile” Dundee, an individual who lives a rather interesting life in the Outback. So enamored by this strange individual that she invites him back to New York, where he is introduced to all the things we take for granted (circa 1986, of course) and oh boy, how does the strange out-of-towner deal with this zany city folk?
The classic fish out of water story, where some stranger heads into a strange land and is baffled by their surroundings. It’s the kind of tale that we’ve seen told countless times over the years to varying degrees of success. And in the hands of a lesser talent, it would have come across as hokey or mean-spirited, but Paul Hogan (who also wrote the script) plays Mick Dundee with enough charm and innocence that you can’t help but root for the guy as he adapts his new surroundings. He makes a point to never put Mick (or Hogan himself) in a situation that’s beyond his capability. Most importantly, things are played fairly straight and not treated like a hokey joke like most modern comedies would go for. Aussie Wilderness Person goes to New York and tries to fit in… great, go for it. No need to force laughs, the laughs will come naturally.
Honestly, the movie is almost entirely carried on the back of Paul Hogan because none of the other cast match up to him. Not because the acting is bad; it’s just everyone else seems a bit tame and normal in comparison. As such, they’re less interesting. Even Sue (played by Linda Kozlowski) falls into the trap of being smitten with this odd folk hero of sorts and being torn between that and the rich guy she’s dating. Spoiler: she makes the right call.
Crocodile Dundee is a fun movie and even after four decades, still holds up. The jokes and gags land where they should, the dialogue hits the right notes, and the main character sells the whole deal. It’s enough of a strong movie that when Netflix (Canada) took the movie down, I bought the trilogy Blu-Ray off Amazon because yay, I like me some Croc.
In 2025, a new version of the movie dubbed The Encore Cut was released, which removes some of the more “questionable” bits that wouldn’t land well with today’s moral standards. Some people will object to this sort of censorship, but I would suggest looking for old DVD or Blu-Ray releases instead if you want the original cut because they’re going to Lucas this as the standard going forward.
dtm666 