Crocodile Dundee  

By Tom Keogh

This 1986 comedy out of Australia is so old-fashioned in its romantic charm that one can't help but wonder what it would have looked like with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard in the leads. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine anyone besides Paul Hogan as the title character, a laid-back Aussie tracker who shows an American reporter (Linda Kozlowski) around bush country, then accompanies her to New York City. Sure, Hollywood has done the fish-out-of-water scenario to death in the last 20 years, and while this film has sufficient sport with the gimmick, it is largely driven by the principal characters and their developing love affair. Hogan cowrote the script and director Peter Faiman evokes the goofy, enchanted air of screwball comedies. The climactic scene, set in a subway station with scores of bystanders witnessing a conversation about relationship commitment, feels like vintage Capra.

Academy Awards

Crocodile Dundee received an Academy Award nomination for Writing (Best Screenplay written directly for the screen; Paul Hogan, Ken Shadie, John Cornell).

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