AUSSIES BITE BIG FOR ‘CROCODILE’

Australians are notorious for not being particularly partial to things Australian. In the world of films, this translates into the enormous difficulties that most Aussie pictures encounter finding local bookings--unless and until they have scored a hit abroad. Somehow, American and British movies always get the first nod.

Which is why “Crocodile Dundee” is a special case. Anticipation has been enormous. After a gala premiere here the other evening, the film opened simultaneously in no fewer than 72 theaters in every major Australian city. (Daily Variety reported last week that the film had set a national gross record at $1.5 million in its first few days, sizably up from the “Rocky IV” record.)

Even local critics, whose lack of enthusiasm for Aussie production knows no bounds, this time have been close to ecstatic:

”. . . an entirely good-natured, high-spirited comedy on the idea of race and culture. The humor is dry, laconic, rarely obvious and surprisingly rigorous,” wrote the anonymous reviewer for the influential Sydney Morning Herald. The Sun’s John Hanrahan described it as “not only a pleasant surprise but an often funny, entertaining and quite clever two hours of screen fun.”

To ice their cake, star (and co-writer) Paul Hogan and producer-partner John Cornell flew to the States immediately after the premiere to negotiate for American distribution.

And who is Paul Hogan? He’s that lanky, laid-back chap who narrates all those TV commercials selling Americans on a visit Down Under. (“Australia? That’s where we have the America’s Cup.”) Hogan has also done a great deal of TV here, including current commercials selling Australians on a visit to other areas of Australia.

He plays Dundee, a Northern Territory crocodile poacher who becomes famous overnight for surviving an attack by an enormous croc and isn’t at all averse to embroidering the legend manufactured for him by his canny business partner (played by veteran character actor John Meillon).

On the other hand, Dundee has his own rather rigorous set of values, including a total indifference to personal gain and a deep respect for his aboriginal friends and tribal customs. He’s also a deep-seated male chauvinist--although quite prepared to punch out anyone using foul language in the presence of a lady. Dundee is good with his fists, swift with a knife and a sure shot with a rifle. He is, in sum, probably every Australian male’s idealized image of himself.

The difference is that Hogan plays the image for laughs. Not raw, folksy humor, but a sophisticated, twinkling wit with a bit of bawdy.

The New York scenes are enchanting. Met by a stretch limo, housed at the Plaza, it’s a little like Tarzan returning to Greystoke. A man who has never known a place with more than two dozen people in it, he assumes that New York, with its teeming millions, “must be the friendliest place in the world.” In a New York bar, a jive-talking black man tries to carry on a conversation with Dundee. While it’s clear that neither man has the slightest idea what the other is talking about, they end up on the best of terms.

Distribution abroad becomes essential for an Aussie film. This is something that the Australian Film Commission has been unable to grasp. The majority of the movies to which it has given grants for (partial) funding have been so insular that they failed to appeal even to a wide Australian audience. And the complaint is frequently heard that the commission is so slow and unpredictable that most producers would much rather bypass its red tape.

At a time when the Aussie film industry is once more languishing in the doldrums, “Crocodile Dundee” may provide a much-needed shot in the arm.