CROCODILE DUNDEE
Analysis and Critical Review
Cate Guimaraes
H-231 Australian Cinema
May 16, 2001
Introduction
Crocodile Dundee is one of the most remarkable films to have come out of
Australia. It is the "only non-Hollywood film to be the most successful film
internationally in its year of release." (Gillard, page 36) "Michael J.
'Crocodile' Dundee has become a hero and his story a legend. His magic has
taken the world by storm." (Video jacket) The films success is epitomized in
the nomination it received for Best Screenplay in 1987 at the Academy Awards.
In addition Paul Hogan was the Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy Actor in
1987 for his role as Mick Dundee in Crocodile Dundee.
Principal Cast and Credits
The film's cast is headed by the famous Paul Hogan well known throughout
Australia for his various appearances on television variety shows, talk-back
shows, advertisements, and of course The Paul Hogan Show, "a half-hour of
dryly loony sketches [which] made him one of Australia's most popular
comedians during its 1977-82 run." (People Weekly, page 68) Paul Hogan plays
the role of the "Croc" to perfection in part due to the fact that his
character was written by him, for him. [A little side note for the film buffs
of the world, in Crocodile Dundee III, Mick is featured driving a Subaru
Outback (which he is renown for throughout the US, and perhaps the world since
he is the international spokesperson for the car, because of the various
Aussie style commercials he is featured in) through the streets of downtown
Los Angeles, not the car I would have pictured a crocodile hunter to be
driving.] The film critics, Albert Moran and Tom O'Regan put it best: "Dundee
was written for Hogan in part by Hogan in order to feature that persona."
(Moran & O'Regan, page 137)
In this film, Hogan acts alongside many other well-known actors from both the
Australian and the American film world. Mick's beautiful blond co-star, Sue
Charlton, is played by American actress Linda Kozlowski (who remains true to
Mick's character and to Hogan himself by appearing in the two subsequent Croc
films as well). The Croc's best mate, and partner in their "Never Never
Safari" business is Walter (Walt) Reilly, played by Australian actor John
Meillon. Sue's (supposed) boyfriend Richard, the annoyingly nerdy newspaper
editor, is played by American actor Mark Blum, whose face is recognizable for
the various roles he has played in many American films of the eighties.
Finally, Sam Charlton Sue's father and owner of Newsday, the paper that both
Richard and Sue work for, is played by American actor Michael Lombard.
"[Crocodile Dundee] was directed by Peter Faiman, best known for his work
with Hogan and for live television and music specials." (Moran & O'Regan, page
136) It was produced by John Cornell and the screenplay was done by three
Aussie blokes-Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, and John Cornell. The cinematographer
was Russell Boyd who did some excellent shots of the Australian outback. The
scene when Sue and Mick are swimming in the gorge all alone is truly
breathtaking and a very realistic depiction of the vastness and solitude one
feels in the outback, especially if you live in a city as Sue's character
does. The production company is Rimfire Films but the rights to the film were
bought from Paul Hogan by "Paramount Pictures [Hollywood], a subsidiary of
Gulf and Western", to be shown in the US. (Russell, page 58)
Box Office Figures
The box office figures for Crocodile Dundee are astonishing considering it is
"a modest little comedy" about an Australian bushman who comes to the US and
must survive the perils of New York City (Dunn & Ellis, page 17). At a small
cost of "$5.6 million" this Australian film was a great success everywhere.
(People, page 68) "In its first year Crocodile Dundee grossed over $45 million
at the Australian box office, making it the largest grossing film ever
released in Australia." (Video jacket) But it was not only a success in it's
own country of production but overseas as well. As of the end of January 1987,
"Crocodile Dundee is the most successful foreign film ever released in the
U.S. and is now a world wide hit." (Video Jacket)
The executives at Paramount Pictures made the decision to release the film in
871 theaters so as to increase its commercial value, and it worked. It earned
$8 million, the weekend it opened and after just its twelfth week in theaters
the film was named a top grosser, "having earned more than $103 million at
1,495 theaters." (Russell, page 58) Plus it was only 1986 so the figures are
that much more impressive, not to diminish their value now, it simply does not
seem like a lot of money compared to the blockbusters of today. In 1986
Paramount Pictures was having some serious financial difficulties so with the
help of Crocodile Dundee, as well as other top grossing films from the US,
they were able to make some serious profits and pull themselves back together
as a production company. In the U.S., in its first year, Crocodile Dundee
"earned $400 million, one of the largest worldwide movie grosses ever." (Dunn
& Ellis, page 17) It is also the "longest reigning movie to top the U.S. box
office charts during its first year and is now ranked among the all-time
blockbusters." (Video jacket)
Even Paul Hogan himself did not anticipate the success of this film to be so
great. But he maintained his composure despite his newfound success:
It's like being a bricklayer. If you put a wall up and it's good and flat and
straight - if that's your job and you try hard - you shouldn't be stunned. You
should be stunned if it comes down on you. It's the same with Crocodile
Dundee. It was just bigger and more successful than we originally thought.
That's a nice bonus. (Hogan, interview as told to Dunn & Ellis)
Hogan was described by John Dunn and Judy Ellis, his interviewers for an
article in Life magazine, as "blunt and plainspoken" and as "amiable as the
outbacker he plays - and a lot smarter." (Dunn & Ellis, page 17) Part of the
reason why Hogan is able to be so down to earth and to truly relate to his
home grown character in the film, he attributes to his blue collar background.
He spent the first thirty years of his life in various positions from "bridge
rigger to racetrack bookmaker's assistant to union organizer." (Dunn & Ellis,
page 17)
Plot Synopsis and Commentary
The film opens with a shot of the unmistakable Twin Towers and the New York
City skyline at night all lit up and the various noises of city life in the
background-sirens blaring, horns honking, cars driving and millions of people
walking. Then it cuts to a shot of the sidewalk and a variety of feet walking
in front of a building. As the shot pans up we read that it is the front of
the office building for the newspaper Newsday. Then a cut to a quick shot of a
man on the phone and the woman on the other line who is insisting that she
must stay to get one last story. She calmly assures him that she will be home
soon everything will be okay and, "Don't worry, I'm a New Yorker."
Then we jump from the city life to the outback Australia, as an older looking
man steps out of a car in what looks like the middle of nowhere and awaits the
arrival of the beautiful blond reporter from the US who Walt (the older
gentleman) insists will put their little outback town on the international
tourism map. Wally greets Sue and takes her to the only place in town to go
Walkabout Creek Hotel, the pub. (Regardless of the size of the extremely
sparsely populated towns throughout the Northern Territory none of them are
without a pub, an interesting Australian tidbit). Walk begins to spin the
tales of the infamous Crocodile Hunter, who has killed the huge crocs that
inhabit the waters of the Northern Territory with his bare hands. Sue has come
to do a story on the outback and the infamous Michael J. 'Crocodile' Dundee
who narrowly managed to escape the toothy grip of a crocodile. And so begins
the adventures of Mick and Sue in the outback, he shows off and she takes
pictures, culminating in a sacred ceremony performed by the Aborigines of the
area, that Sue sneaks to even after Mick told her not to (what else could be
expected of a female journalist from New York City?)
Although there is no overtly sexual behavior out of either character, it is
obvious to the viewer and both characters, that there is something there. At
first Sue pretends to know too much about the city to be thrown off by the
outback and she marches right off to find her own way in the bush. Fortunately
Dundee does follow her and in the only slightly scandalous scene in the whole
film (the scantily-clad Sue bends over the water edge to cool down) that lasts
but a second before Mick must come to the rescue. This Tarzan-like hero wins
her heart just in time for her to return to her home in New York. No need to
worry the story does not end there because Mick has decided to accompany this
fine looking woman (who has only wet his appetite for American life with a
small kiss) to the States to help her finish her newspaper article and to do a
little sightseeing.
The humorous antics of a grown man from the outback in a city with the crowds
and nonstop action of New York, are shown in the very first seen of the Croc
in the airport and his troubles with the escalators. The adventures of a
bushman in New York continue when he is forced to climb a street sign in order
to see where he is going because the crowds are so much and he constantly
seems to be going in the opposite direction of the masses. Mick uses is savvy
outback knowledge in the streets of Manhattan by stopping a purse-snatcher
with a can of peas and by once again saving Sue's life. Although instead of it
being a crocodile, this time it is a mugger with a knife who takes one look at
the Croc's --"That's not a knifeáThat's a knife."-- knife and runs as fast as
he can in the opposite direction.
The audience's trust in the hero's ability to get the girl wavers for a bit
when we discover that not only does she have a boyfriend in New York, who is
the editor for the newspaper that she writes for and her father owns, but that
he has decided to propose to her. But we have every confidence that our
beloved Crocodile Dundee will not be defeated by a nerdy, glasses-wearing,
writer, and we discover that Sue has not accepted the marriage proposal. Sue
just misses Mick, who is heart broken and must go on a Walkabout to discover
what to do about his lost love, and she thrusts off her city heels and runs
down the streets of Manhattan after him in barefooted true Aussie style. The
movie finishes in stark contrast to the start (which was empty of people and
things in outback Australia), in a crowded subway tunnel in midtown Manhattan
during rush hour. Sue tells Mick that she is not getting married to Richard
because she is in love with him. So in one last over-exaggerated feat of
strength where Paul Hogan gets to show off his tan biceps and his Australian
brute physical strength, we watch as he climbs over the crowd of onlookers,
grabs Sue in his arms and gives her a real (Australian) kiss.
Perhaps it was watching the movie now, fifteen years after it was released,
or maybe it was because of my New York roots, that I found this film to be
really quite amusing. It is not a film that I would think to refer to as a
blockbuster, simply because a blockbuster to me is a Titanic or a Forrest
Gump, one that wreaks havoc at the box office and wins dozens of Oscars, but
it is a movie that passes the time (and passes it well) and it brought a smile
to my face on more than one occasion. I laughed at the eighties hairstyles and
clothing and the silly portrayals of the crowded and rough streets of
Manhattan.
Unfortunately the sequels to this classic eighties comedy simply do not do the
film any sort of justice. Crocodile Dundee II, was an incredible
disappointment and I even found myself waiting for the movie to finish,
generally not a good sign. The biggest disappointment of all Crocodile Dundee
III, where throughout the entire ninety minutes (an extremely brief film by
today's standards), I was leaning over to the person next to me whispering,
"This is the worst movie I have ever seen." It was a wonder I did not get up
and leave the theater. Considering there were only two other people in the
otherwise empty theater, I doubt that I would have been a disruption to
anyone. It is a shame that the reputation of Crocodile Dundee has to be
tainted by the sequels made; nonetheless in and of itself Crocodile Dundee is
all that it should be, a funny movie that does not require much thinking or
understanding but merely grazes the surface and takes you away from the
stresses of everyday life for a few hours.
Historical Context of the Film
It was 1986 and Australia was due for yet another a blockbuster film. With
the success of films like Gallipoli, The Man from Snowy River, and Mad Max 2,
it was only a matter of time (four years to be exact) before another big one
hit. It was when the country began to shy away from the lower-budgeted native
Australian films to the higher-budgeted and more diverse films that Crocodile
Dundee premiered.
Blockbusters in Australia were films that came about as a direct result of the
tax incentives of the early 1980s (namely 10BA). "Before the incentives
blockbuster production was severely handicapped by lack of funds and publicity
infrastructure." (Moran & O'Regan, page 134) The way the films were released,
as well as the publicity used to promote the films, was done in such a way as
to make the films debut into an event, "a phenomenon." Crocodile Dundee was
released in almost 900 hundred theaters in the U.S. in "a full-scale
commercial effort" to promote the film and to avoid labeling it as an
"art-house sideline." (Russell, page 59) Paul Hogan was even sent on a tour of
the twelve major cities in the U.S. in order to "generate human interest in
the film amid a television and print advertising blitz." (Russell, page 59)
There were simultaneous campaigns across several medias in order to further
boost the interest of these films. It involved "appearances, interviews,
feature articles, stories and ads relating to the film and its creative
talent." (Moran & O'Regan, page 134)
In making the film into something of a phenomenon, it appealed to a much
broader audience. It was no longer aiming to solely peak the interest of the
regular movie-goers in the 15-25 year old range. The target was non-cinema,
movie-watchers, a wide variety of age, style, social class, political opinion
and personal experience was the new market for major films. Paul Hogan himself
admitted that "films today seem split between those for the teen or sub-teen
market with lots of gore and heavy language, or else you get sad, 'meaningful'
films for older people. There's a big hole in between - and that's what I'm
after." (Hogan, interview as told to Dunn & Ellis)
In splitting the movie into two different settings, the first half being in a
typically (although figurative) small town in the outback and the second half
being in the city of all cities, Manhattan, the audience being targeted is
doubled. It is not only geared at Australians of various ages, classes and
lives but it crossed over the oceans as well to draw in a whole different
market from the shores of America. It appeals to Australians for the extremes
of Australian outback living and to Americans for the comedic things a bushman
would hypothetically do in a major US city. Crocodile Dundee also "referenced
uranium mining, Aboriginal land rights, the tourist industry and so forth" in
a typical effort to be a socially conscious film of the decade (Moran &
O'Regan, page 135). Ironically there really are places throughout the
Northern Territory that have extremely small populations, much like the
figurative Walkabout Creek, so although a joke, it is not a far cry from the
truth. Though New York may seem quite a bit crowded to someone from a town
consisting of three buildings (better described as run-down shacks), it is not
so bad that in order to see your way around one must stand atop a street sign
and get their bearings, which the Croc does with a certain grace and style.
Nonetheless, being that I have grown up in and around New York, even I myself
can laugh at the way Mick Dundee handles himself in the Big Apple.
Yet another feature of the blockbusters of the 1980s was the intermingling of
mainstream television personnel with feature films. "Crocodile Dundee used the
television comic and ad personality of Paul Hogan, and was developed by Hogan
in conjunction with 'Strop' Cornell (a former straight man to Hogan in the
Paul Hogan Show)." (Moran and O'Regan, page 136) Hogan's desire with Crocodile
Dundee was to make a film that everyone could laugh at which is why he
exaggerated the outback and the city life, no one gets offended and everyone
is amused. "I decided a lot of people wanted to be entertained, not assaulted
by unnecessary bad tasteá.Whether I want to be or not, I'm an unofficial
ambassador." (Hogan, interview as told to Dunn & Ellis) In being that
ambassador and a representative of Australian culture and the country itself,
he maintains his dignity with this sweet little film.
There are certain aspects to Crocodile Dundee that make it different from
other blockbusters of the 1980s. From the very start it sought to put both
Australian and American audiences on the same plain, to treat them in the same
film and social context. It was successful at doing this was because it was
not a complicated film, it was simple and humorous and it made fun of the
stereotypes of outback Australia and city, USA, something the people of both
countries can relate to.
Hogan is easy to sympathize with and both Moran and O'Regan agree that the
film does a good job of being what it is, on the surface amusement. Hogan is
seen as being one of the audience, not putting himself above anyone else, he
makes jokes so people will laugh with him and not at him (unlike the foolish
antics of Barry McKenzie). He is an overly masculine character who gets
himself out of strange social situations (for example the transvestite) by
being what he is, a genuine Australian bloke. Since the movie is a comedy the
various ways that Hogan portrays his character do not have to be taken
seriously by the audience, allowing people from two very different continents
to enjoy this classic eighties blockbuster.
Conclusion
"The 1980s is the 'industry' era where genre cinema and blockbusters
dominated with 10BA tax concession finance in Mad Max II and Crocodile
Dundee." (O'Regan, page 196) And by definition of the word blockbuster, in
terms of the Australian film context, Crocodile Dundee fits in perfectly. It
was a film that cost very little and made so much, which was a great surprise
to those who made the film and those who starred in it. Even Mr. Paul Hogan
himself never anticipated that his little "comic fantasy in which an Outback
adventurer Mick Dundee braves the wilds of New York" would do so well. (People
Weekly, page 68)
The financial success of Crocodile Dundee shocked not only a nation, but the
world and made it one of "the most popular features of the decade." (O'Regan,
page 68) "Crocodile Dundee was the most successful film internationally in its
year of release and the most successful foreign film ever in the US market -
it made $174.6 million dollars in its US theatrical release." (O'Regan, page
83) The figures are everywhere and it is a film that was an instant
international success.
"National cinemas are marked by their relational character and by the
co-presence of, on the one hand, the local and national, and on the other
hand, the international." (O'Regan, page 76) Crocodile Dundee is molded into
this depiction of national cinema perfectly and upon viewing this film how can
you not see the ways in which it appealed to such a vast audience? It is
almost impossible to avoid falling in love with Mick Dundee, is there anyone
else you can imagine (or really want) rescuing you from the nasty jaws of a
croc? Exactly.
WORKS CITED
1) Dunn, J. & Ellis, J. Life Magazine, "Paul Hogan." Time Inc.1988, July 1988,
v11, n8. Pages 17-18.
2) Gillard, G. Australian Cinema Unit Booklet, Murdoch University: Perth, WA,
2001. Page 36.
3) Moran, A. & O'Regan, T. Australian Screen, Penguin: Ringwood, 1989. Pages
118-145.
4) O'Regan, T. Australian National Cinema, Routledge: London, 1996. Pages 68,
76, 83 & 196.
5) Russell, G. Time Magazine, "Hollywood's top gun; Frank Manusco's Paramount
makes the comeback story of the year." Time Inc.1986, Dec 29, 1986, v128.
Pages 58-59.
6) Staff (?), People Weekly, "Paul Hogan." Time Inc. 1986, Dec 22, 1986, v26.
Pages 68-69.