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Rating: 4 out of 5
When I was thirteen years old, I had the pleasure of going to Australia. I had the opportunity to go through an organization called People 2 People. I remember the cost at the time was around $5000. My family helped to send me away for the summer. It was a dream for a little kid like me. My next-door neighbor at the time was from Australia, and we struck up a relationship with them. I remember the accent and the strange sayings they had. Australia was a fantastic place. For twenty-one days, I traveled down the country’s East Coast from Cairnes all the way down and finished at Sydney. I snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, and while swimming, a sea turtle swam up to me and looked at me like I was a fool. I stood next to a kangaroo and koala. I stayed in the Outback and saw all the sights and sounds of Australia. I would love to go again now that I am an adult. Maybe I can’t stay for three weeks but two weeks for sure.
One movie was huge for me growing up to get a minor knowledge of Australia, and that film was Crocodile Dundee. I thought the film was great, and when it was on Tubi or some other free streaming service, I had to watch it. Let’s say that this film doesn’t age well at all. Some moments are funny, but now the movie cringes more than anything else. How the world has changed so much. I like the growth of my mindset because there are scenes in this film that are not cool at all.
Crocodile Dundee stars and was co-written by the Australian superstar Paul Hogan. There are a lot of superstars from Australia now, but back when I was growing up, it was Paul Hogan and the famous and my favorite golfer because of the nickname, Greg “The Shark” Norman. Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Greg Norman. Where was I? Oh yea! New York City writer Sue Charlton (Kozlowski) is a feature writer for her father’s newspaper called Newsday. Must be freakin nice! Sue’s life is pretty good as she is dating editor but stuck-up asshole Richard Mason. While wondering and looking for something to write, she gets a newspaper article from Australia about the legend Michael J Crocodile Dundee (Hogan). The article states that Dundee runs a safari business and has just survived an attack by a crocodile with his bare hands. Seeing this as a chance for a unique story, Sue decides to travel to Australia to meet and interview Dundee. In Walkabout Creek, located in the dry and dusty Outback, Sue decides to spend a few days with Dundee, following him to the place where the incident happened. While in the Outback, Sue faces dangerous situations like a crocodile attack and questioning the bare hands fight. While there, the pair start developing romantic feelings for each other. Sue, seeing the Outback, asks Dundee to travel to the urban jungle of the Big Apple. Dundee takes up the challenge and decides to travel to the big city of New York. Dundee becomes a fish out of water and soon sees that the mean streets of New York might be as fierce as anything he has ever experienced.
I am trying to think of the best way to review this film. The film is pretty much two parts, with half taking place in Australia and the other in New York City. The main theme is how each main character has to deal with being in a foreign place. Let’s take Sue, for example. She goes to Australia to write a story about Dundee. While there, she is treated by Dundee as a pretty face and can’t save herself, but we learn a lot about Dundee. Sue witnesses Dundee subduing a water buffalo that is minding his business, taking part in an Aboriginal tribal dance ceremony, killing a snake with his bare hands and eating it for dinner, scaring away kangaroo poachers, and showing life in the Outback.
The other half of the story is Dundee in the mean streets of New York City. Even though he is out of place, people seem to like him for being a strange presence with his way of thinking. Listen, I have been to New York City and seen videos of New York City; Dundee shouldn’t be that crazy in a city of 8 million people. Yet, in New York City, Dundee is far out of place. He deals with a pimp and hoes strangely, and when he is being mugged, he looks at the robber’s knife and pulls out a bigger one. He even sees people taking cocaine and having no knowledge of it.
Both stories are fun to watch because they show that no matter if you speak the same language, culturally, we are all different. This film does a great job showing the cultural differences between the wilderness in both places. How out of place a person can be in a new land. Yet, I feel like everyone should experience this because it is a great way to learn about a new culture and a way of life. We can all learn new things in life through experiences.
The conclusion of the film was meh to me and pretty predictable. Dundee has a big problem with Richard and thinks he is an asshole. When Richard proposes to Sue, and she says yes, homeboy’s feelings get hurt, and he decides to peace out. As he is waiting for the subway, there is this big love scene where they pass messages and profess their love to each other. The scene is sweet and memorable.
Now let’s talk about what is wrong with this film. Like I said earlier, this film didn’t age well at all. This film has blatant racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. It might have been acceptable back in the day, but now it is not cool at all. In the Australian scenes, Dundee compares Indigenous people to fleas fighting over dogs. He also is quite misogynistic as he thinks she is a pretty face and can’t handle the Australian Outback. He might be right, but calling her “Sheila” is quite offensive. I like how Sue stood up for herself, but the film still did the whole damsel in distress scene. In the US, the cringe increases tenfold. The scene that makes it the worst is when Dundee and Sue are in a bar. He is talking to a woman. Sue says that the woman is a man, which Dundee doesn’t believe. He literally sexually assaults her by grabbing her private parts in the bar and saying out loud, “It’s a guy,” with everyone laughing. That’s not cool, man. The f-word is thrown around like a dart at a dart board. Once again, it’s uncool.
The performances of the two main stars are noteworthy, to say the least. They both sold the film and were entertaining because they were from such different worlds. Hogan was entertaining as the bushman from Australia. Hogan put on that Australian charm and culture. Kozlowski was as strong as Sue. I actually enjoyed her performance, and that bathing suit scene was a nice touch, not to sound sexist or anything like that.
Crocodile Dundee is one of those films that is funny, but damn, it didn’t age well. Looking at the cultural differences is fun to watch because each character deals with them differently when they are in the other’s place. The performances are good and should be commended. The racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia really put a damper on this film and will make a person feel uneasy or have a cringe on their face. Give it a watch, or simply go to Australia. I vote for the latter.
