Crocodile Dundee
Australia has always prided itself on being a country built on an image of rugged individualism, a so called âmanâs worldâ where being tough and able to withstand the elements of nature (and life) are considered to be part and parcel of living in that region of the world. A slightly off stereotype perhaps, but one that remains the main source of that nationsâs pride, with there being probably no homegrown celebrity with worldwide fame who has helped to promote that image more than Paul Hogan. A major television star in Australia for years, he managed to first move onto the world stage when he vigorously campaigned to promote his home country as being an ideal tourist attraction in a series of television commercials seen both in America and every other major country. With his face (but not necessarily his name) now familiar to all of us here, Hogan then took it upon himself to mount a film production that would truly put Australia on the hearts and minds of everyone who saw it which really must not have been too difficult a task since (with the exception of The Mad Max Trilogy) the countryâs film industry was rarely known to produce anything that anybody would actually care about outside of its own point of origin. And thus came this 1986 release, a goofy yet amicable comedy that became one of the biggest smash hits of the 80s, all while promoting a positive image of the country of Australia and its people. But it was not without controversy: Even as Hogan himself always steadfastly maintained that the characterâs conception came from that of his own mind, many of Dundeeâs character traits and especially his backstory were obviously based on one Rod Ansell, a real life Outback bushman who in the late 1970s had experienced surviving a crocodile attack and then crawling nearly 100 miles back to civilization (as Dundee is said to have done in the movie), through which the extent of his fame was being interviewed by the BBC and writing a book about his ordeal. Upon seeing the movie, he immediately sued Hogan (who was actually 15 years OLDER than him) for damages and lost, was refused permission to start a âCrocodile Dundee Outback Toursâ business, saw his family and marriage fall apart as he also had the Australian government destroy his livelihood, and finally developed a severe drug habit that completely destroyed him mentally and led to him being shot dead by the police over what was little more than just a psychotic episode. Tragic indeed, but the saving grace for this movie version actually is Hoganâs own amicable, laid back personality, with not a pretentious bone in his body and at 47 years of age, his debut in a major motion picture (with a very limited output in the years to come, including the sequels). The high concept of the picture (and why Hollywood took it into wide release) is in showing how the rugged bushman is taken out of his element in the Outback and then brought to New York City and its monstrous population of 7 million people while trying to find a way to fit in (otherwise known as a âfish out of waterâ comedy which Hogan may very well have invented for the modern age) that admittedly really was a personal story for Hogan himself based on his own first ever trip to New York several years before. The story begins when a super spoiled rich girl newspaper reporter (Linda Kozlowski, also making her debut and super hot at the time) whoâs the daughter of the magnate who owns her paper travels to Australia to meet and interview the survivor of a crocodile attack who had lost his leg before crawling back to civilization (obviously a half baked story that was spread to draw attention to the region) and once there meets Dundee along with his business partner (John Meillon, who barely got to enjoy the success of these films before dying in 1989) as well as several denizens of the local pub (apparently the top nightspot in the small town even if itâs an utter shithole) including Steve Rackman (a local Aussie pro wrestling legend who famously used to battle Andre The Giant in the late 70s whenever Andre would come to the region) as Donk. Eventually Kozlowski agrees to âtake the tourâ of The Northern Territory Outback with Dundee as her guide, and it must be said that the great care that Hogan takes in developing the character with all of his little quirks, traits, and mannerisms seems real and genuine as does his chemistry with Kozlowski (who married Hogan in real life after he divorced his wife of 30 years). Along the way he saves her from her own crocodile attack, rescues some fleeing kangaroos from some drunken poachers (even after half heartedly admitting that he does some poaching on the side), and even entertains a visit from an Aborigine friend of his (David Gulpilil, a real life Aborigine actor who became famous himself for starring in the interracial love story Walkabout, here basically playing the same character for laughs). Eventually, Kozlowski is so impressed that she invites Dundee back to New York City (on her rich fatherâs dime) to in essense explore a whole new jungle and he agrees. The Australian scenes comprise the entire first half of the film, and it must be said that they are done with loving care in order to âsellâ the viewers on the mystique of the entire region even while some might be impatient to see the highly hyped second half in New York (with the brilliant âThatâs a knifeâ mugger scene used in the television advertising single handedy selling this movie as a must see and making it a hit) where Dundee now hits the urban jungle still thinking that his amicable âGâday mateâ personality is going to be enough to impress people, including Kozowskiâs rich, annoying, entitled boyfriend (Mark Blum) who is also her editor and is such a condescending prick that he takes them all out to dinner and openly makes disrespectful remarks to Dundee which results in him being dealt a severe knock out punch. But he has better luck with some of the other characters he meets including his limo driver (future star Reginald VelJohnson), a happy go lucky drunken cab driver, and a couple of hookers who show genuine interest in him for non monetary reasons. It can also definitely be said that after the semi serious first half in The Australian Outback, the New York scenes in the second half are where we get all the big laughs including the aforementioned mugger scene, Dundee unmasking and defrocking a transvestite, punching out the pimp of the two friendly hookers, and him being at a fancy, upscale party where he good naturedly shows a cokehead a better way to use the drug (and Kozlowski refers to cocaine use like itâs no big deal) while another girl takes a drag from his rolled up cigarette and tells him that itâs âgood shitâ, prompting a confused Dundee to actually sniff the cig to see what it smells like (easily the funniest moment, all of it built from Hoganâs perfect understanding of the nuances of his character). Granted, the story is predictable (the boyfriendâs wedding proposal in front of a roomful of other rich people where it is assumed that she accepts without actually saying yes easily sets up the ending) and the directing job by Australian TV helmer Peter Faiman is rather pedestrian at best, but the ending (originally intended to be Dundee just disappearing into the NYC subway system in order to explore America) turns out to be amazingly moving and touching, not to mention funny in the way that Hogan and Kozlowski relay their feelings through a couple of random people before Dundee literally walks on the supportive heads and shoulders of those people there in order to reunite with the woman whom he has fallen in love with, thus cementing the movieâs true status as one of the first and best romantic comedies featuring what would become one of the most iconic characters ever, even as Hogan (who described himself as being the âlaziest person in the entertainment industry that I knowâ) would build a slapdash career sometimes taking years off between films until he felt like doing something, but he never topped this one role which not only epitomized himself but that of his entire home country in a movie that audiences worldwide managed to take to heartâŚ
9/10