"Crocodile" Dundee (1986)

In the surprise, immensely-popular sleeper hit and romantic adventure comedy from Australia, at the time - the highest-grossing non-US film at the US box office ever, with two less successful sequels: Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001):

• American newspaper feature reporter Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) - working for Newsday in NYC owned by her father - begged with her boyfriend and editor Richard Mason (Mark Blum) to allow her to remain longer in Australia, to cover rugged crocodile hunter and poacher Michael (Mick) J. Dundee (Paul Hogan, co-nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and Kozlowski's real-life husband), nicknamed 'Crocodile'; he had recently become notorious after surviving an attack of a monstrous salt-water crocodile in the Northern Territory of Australia, and reportedly had his leg half-bitten off before crawling to safety (he bypassed a hospital for a pub); before hanging up, Sue assured Richard: "Don't worry. I'm a New Yorker!"
• Sue was intent on interviewing Dundee at his safari business at Walkabout Creek, known as Never Never Safari Tours, and flew by plane to Darwin where she was met by a helicopter; after landing in the dusty and deserted outback town, she met Dundee's business partner Walter "Wally" Reilly (John Meillon), who confirmed that she would be paying $2,500 dollars for the exclusive story; it appeared Mick's exploit was a 'tall-tale' when pub bartender Ida (Maggie Blinco) laughed at Wally: "That story's gettin' better every time you tell it, Wally!"

Reporter Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski)

Sue's Newsday Editor Richard Mason (Mark Blum)

Walter Reilly (John Meillon) in Walkabout Creek

• the uncouth Australian Outback ranger 'Crocodile' Dundee made a dramatic entrance into the town's pub with rowdy customers, while pretending to wrestle a crocodile (revealed to be stuffed) and throwing his large bushwhacker Bowie knife into the side of the wooden bar; he ordered drinks from Ida: ("Two beers, Ida. One for me, and one for me mate"); he admitted to Sue that his encounter with a crocodile was a "slight exaggeration," although he sported a leg scar under his trousers that he called a "love bite"; while dancing with Sue, a group of out-of-town city cowboys (kangaroo shooters) made fun of Dundee - who retaliated by punching their main instigator in the face
• while driving into the outback the next morning in the tour's rattle-trap jeep with Sue and Wally, Dundee spoke of his marital status: "I was sorta married once - nice girl, good cook, BIG chest. Anyway, I went off on walkabout. When I came back, she'd gone" - Walter added he deserted her for 18 months, and Sue remarked: "And she didn't wait? Strange girl"
• Sue and Dundee trekked to their camp in the outback to stay for a few nights - at the site where he was attacked; on the way, he mesmerized a water buffalo blocking their path by stroking its muzzle until it collapsed after falling asleep; he described the incident with the croc: "He just wanted grab hold of me and take me down for a death roll"; she realized he was lying when he claimed he was only fishing, but bullet shells revealed he had been illegally hunting crocs
• around a campfire, she admitted that she had once been married to a well-meaning "original rebel" who protest-marched for every leftist cause; Dundee labeled him a "prize ratbag"; he described the Aboriginal communal view of land ownership: "Ah, well, you see, Aborigines don't own the land. They belong to it. It's like their mother. See those rocks sticking up there? Been standing up there for 600 million years. Still be there when you and I are gone. So arguing over who owns 'em is like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog they live on"; while speaking, he non-chalantly killed a deadly-poisonous king brown snake with his bare hands
• in the middle of the night, they were awakened by the "dangerous bastards" from the pub, who were cruelly shooting at kangaroos for fun; Dundee scared them off by firing at them with his rifle
• the next morning, as she recorded her thoughts into an audio device about feeling alone in the emptiness of the outback, he expressed long-held misogynistic attitudes: "A city girl like you. You wouldn't last five minutes, love. This is man's country out here"; she agreed she was a "fish out of water" and called herself a "sheila" - but then to prove him wrong and to assert her independence, she trekked off alone (carrying a rifle) to an escarpment to later meet up with Dundee
• in the wild as she waded into the edge of a billabong in a black leotard to fill her canteen, a large crocodile lunged out of the water, grabbed her canteen strap, and threatened to pull her in; to the rescue, Dundee (who had been shadowing her) appeared and twisted a knife into the crocodile's head; when she asked: "Is it dead?", he replied: "Well, if it isn't, I'm goin' to have a hell of a job skinnin' the bastard"; afterwards, he roasted it like a giant shish kabob; she remarked under her breath: "Oh, Christ, it's like living with Davy Crockett"
• Dundee was perturbed when they were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of aborigine Neville Bell (David Gulpilil), one of his partners: "Sneakin' up on a man when he's rendering first-aid to a lady"; Neville was on his way to a corroboree (a ritualistic dance ceremony and festival of Pitjantjatjara Aboriginals) at the Jabba; he declined having his photograph taken by Sue - not for any spiritual reason, but because she had forgotten to remove her lens cap; Dundee joined Neville at the ceremony (while Sue remained on the outskirts of the male-dominated event and stealthily took photos)
• afterwards that evening, Sue exclaimed: "That croc was gonna eat me alive," Dundee offered her a veiled compliment: "Well, I wouldn't hold that against him. Same thought crossed my mind once or twice"; while camping out, he encouraged her to eat roasted goanna (aka monitor lizard), yams, grubs, and sugar ants, but refused for himself: ("You can live on it. But it tastes like s--t")
• to wrap up her story, she proposed that he join her and return to NYC (at the paper's expense); when he wondered to himself: ("For a minute there, I thought you were making a pass at me"), she half-heartedly agreed: "Well, I might have been" - and they briefly kissed
• they flew to NYC on a Qantas Airlines plane, where there were a series of fish-out-of-water sequences, beginning with an airport escalator; he remarked about the crowded urban city: "Imagine seven million people all wanting to live together. Yep. New York must be the friendliest place on earth"; on his way into town in a chauffeured limousine, he was over-friendly with complete strangers, and he thought that the black limo driver named Gus (Reginald VelJohnson) was from an unusually well-to-do "tribe"
• the news magazine spared no expense in putting Dundee up at the Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue, and he reacted to his luxurious hotel suite ("It's a bit rough, but I'll manage"); he soon figured out what a second toilet (bidet) was for: ("For washin' your backside, right?"); while taking a stroll, he greeted everyone on a crowded sidewalk with "G'day!"; he was approached by a mounted policeman (Joe Pentangelo) on horseback after climbing up onto a streetlight pole for a better vantage point

Overly Friendly With Complete Strangers

Amazed by His Park Hotel Suite

"G'day!" to New Yorkers

• they dined out their first night with Sue's boorish editor/boyfriend Richard at the exclusive Tucano's Italian restaurant; Richard condescendingly quipped: "New York is no place for a country gent. I mean, ain't no crocodiles out there, but a fast-moving Chevy sure make a mess of you...I don't imagine that they have any kangaroo steak or possum grits!"; Dundee had enough of Richard's attitude, and while Sue was distracted and looking away, he punched Richard in the face and knocked him unconscious; later in a taxi back to the hotel, Dundee explained: "He was being a pain....You're not serious about this lemon, are you?"; Sue excused Richard's behavior due to excessive drinking and tried to defend her relationship with him: "Richard is warm, caring, and I love him, okay?"
• Dundee invited his Italian taxi-driver (Rik Colitti), after he went off-duty, to join him for drinking at a "boozer" ("pub"), where he spun Australian tall-tales for any listener: "The real danger down there is the sharks, though, the big ones, you know, like Jaws? I caught one down there about three weeks ago. Got it opened. Know what we found inside it? Three Filipino fishermen - still in their boat"; he was warned by Gus after being propositioned by a tall transvestite named Gwendoline (Anne Carlisle); to definitively check it out, Dundee grabbed at the guy's crotch and exclaimed: "Hey, that was a guy! A guy dressed up like a sheila"
• outside the bar, the good-natured Mick was confronted by a pair of prostitutes Karla (Nancy Mette) and Simone (Caitlin Clarke) who asked if he was looking for "a good time" - and he agreed; Karla knew of his reputation as "The Crocodile Man" who's "like a regular Tarzan. Wrestles crocodiles, eats snakes"; after they suggested giving him "one" for free, their Pimp (John Snyder) arrived and forbid them to socialize any further without being paid: ("Are you gonna talk all night, my man, or you gonna screw one of them?"), and promptly received a punch in the face from Mick for being rude
• the next morning after Sue found Mick taking a bubble bath in his hotel-room tub and pretended to be the sexy "maid" Rosita (Christine Totos) providing room service, she took him on a whirlwind trip around NY's tourist sights, including a view of the Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck (sitting atop Rockefeller Center), and sampling his first hot-dog in Times Square; Sue made a reciprocal joke about the local food in NYC: ("Well, you know, you can live on it, but it tastes like s--t")
• in the East Village during an attempted robbery of a woman's handbag on a busy sidewalk, Mick stopped the thief by accurately hurling a heavy tin can of soup at the back of the bag-snatching assailant's head as he ran off, and knocked him out
• at a social party of New Yorkers, Sue introduced Mick to the film's second transvestite named Fran (Anne Francine), who was given another crotch grab; when Fran was told that Mick was Australian, Fran smiled: "Maybe I'd better go there someday"; a moment later, Mick explained to Sue: "Just making sure"; Mick also shared a local antidote for clearing out the "blocked nose" of a coke snorter (Barry Kivel)
• during a phone call with Wally back in Australia, Mick described his encounters with New Yorkers: "Oh, bonzer people. Friendly, full of beans, but, uh, a bit weird"
• in a memorable scene after exiting from a subway station, the teenage leader (Tony Holmes) of a street gang of muggers with a small switch-blade knife attempted to accost Dundee and rob him - the unflappable and chuckling 'Crocodile Man' responded as he pulled out his large knife -- "THAT's a knife!", and then slashed the tough's jacket; after the gang fled, he said amiably to Sue: "Just kids havin' fun!"; she was relieved and admitted that she was falling for him: "I'm always all right when I'm with you, Dundee. God, that sounds corny. Why do you always make me feel like Jane in a Tarzan comic?" - she gave him a big kiss
• in the closing sequence, Mick was invited to a welcome-home dinner at the luxurious weekend home of Sue’s rich newspaper-owning father Sam Charlton (Michael Lombard); during an impromptu dinner speech, Richard unexpectedly proposed to Sue in front of the assembled guests at the table with an engagement ring and a kiss, and she foolishly agreed; her abrupt acceptance caused Mick to leave the party
• on his way back to the hotel while drowning his sorrows with swigs from a whiskey bottle in chauffeur Gus' limo, he exited the vehicle in the middle of Times Square and entered a dark alleyway, where he was outnumbered by the pimp he had previously knocked out and two other thugs; Mick was rescued by Gus who drove the limo at them, and also wielded a boomerang antenna ripped from the back of the limo; Mick was impressed by Gus' boomerang-throwing: "You sure you're not Pintinjarra tribe?" - Gus answered: "No, man. Harlem Warlords"
• the next day, Mick checked out of the Plaza Hotel and received directions from the hotel doorman Irving (Irving Metzman) to the nearest subway station, where he intended to set off to take a look at the rest of America on a "walkabout"

Dundee's and Sue's Subway Platform Reconciliation

• after she had changed her mind about marriage, Sue raced on the street after him (discarding her shoes) from the hotel to the subway station entry at Columbus Circle two blocks away, but on the crowded platform, she could not reach him; she called out: "Mick Dundee!"; she relayed two messages to Mick - the guy in the black hat - from bystander to bystander: (Sue: "Tell him not to leave. I'm not gonna marry Richard...Tell him I love him. I love you!")
• in the feel-good ending, Mick climbed up to the girders or rafters to gain height and walked to Sue on the heads and raised hands of the onlookers: ("I'll tell her meself. I'm comin' through") - to tell her of his love and to kiss her; the aroused crowd erupted into applause - before a freeze-frame and the ending credits