Crocodile Dundee (1986)

“I don’t mean to put down your black widow spider, but the funnelweb spider can kill a man in eight seconds, just by lookin’ at him. ” – Mick

Number of Times Seen – at least 5 times (Theater in ’86, cable, video, 4 Oct 2009 and 22 Jul 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A reporter meets an Australian Bushman and decides to write a series of articles about him which make him a hit in New York society.

My Take on it – This is a film that was a hit when it came out and made its star Paul Hogan a household name.

The way that the story presents the typical fish out of water story with relation to an Australian bushman in a pretty unique fashion for its time actually works quite well even if the film hasn’t aged well over the course of the past 33 years.

Paul Hogan does a wonderful job in the title role and proved that he was the perfect embodiment of this character that he created.

Hogan’s chemistry with co-star (and future real life wife) Linda Kozlowski fades in and out over the course of the film but that in ways actually helps things because that helps the fish out of water cause portrayed here.

Unfortunately, the character and its relevance has been overused over the years and things don’t feel as innovative now as it probably felt when it came out.

It’s easy to see the originality of some of the parts of this story, yet the jokes and situations presented here come across as being quite superficial and stereotypical in most cases which hurts things so much.

Bottom Line – Interesting ‘fish out of water’ story that worked much better when it came out over 30 years ago than it does now due to its unique approach to things. Hogan is great as the title character but it has been so overused over the past 3 decades, it’s hard to still see the film as it was seen back then. The innovation of this film is slightly hurt by the fact that the jokes and situations all feel very superficial and in some cases quite stereotypical. The chemistry between Hogan and Kozlowski fades in and out over the course of the story yet strangely works due to the way that the ‘fish out of water’ aspect of the film is presented.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Crocodile Dundee (1986) was the second highest grossing film of 1986. Platoon (1986) was the third biggest film of the year, with Top Gun (1986) coming in first. It took $177 million in the US alone, and $353 million worldwide. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)