Dundee has been sanitised but it’s still a good movie

Some frames involving Mick and a cross-dresser are among those that have been deleted from Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut, the restored and edited 4K cut of Australia’s most commercially successful film.

A scene from Crocodile Dundee. Paul Hogan as Mick in new restored version of the film

Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut (M)
97 minutes
In cinemas from May 8
★★★

Crocodile Dundee came out at the right time for Australia. It was 1986 and the prime minister was Bob Hawke, who broke records for beer drinking while at Oxford University. Three years earlier Australia II won the America’s Cup yacht race. Paul Hogan’s “shrimp on the barbie” commercial cooked up interest in Australian tourism.

Almost 40 years later Australia’s most commercially successful film, directed by Peter Faiman, filmed by Russell Boyd and starring Hogan as Mick “Crocodile” Dundee and American actor Linda Kozlowski as New York newspaper reporter Sue Charlton, has been re-released in a restored and edited 4K cut. How does it stand the test of time?

Not too badly. It may not show the face of Australia today but nations, like people, grow and change across time. For fans of the original, there’s the nostalgic air of “C’mon Aussie, C’mon”.

The 4K restoration, which involved the cleaning and repair of more than 200,000 individual frames from the original 35mm film, brings the screen to life, especially the outback scenes. That life is also due to what was there from the beginning: Boyd’s camerawork. A scene towards the end on a New York subway platform is a fine example of his craft.

This 4K restoration aims to win over a new generation. With them in mind, here’s the set-up: Sue heads to the Northern Territory to do a story on a bloke who survived a crocodile attack. She and Mick meet and he takes her bush. In the second and best half of the film, they travel to New York together.

The potential romance between Sue and Mick – which would soon be imitated in life – is one of the strengths. The first time they meet, in a pub, they look each other up and down. The will-they-kiss moments between them are well done.

The script, by Ken Shadie, John Cornell and Hogan, has lines that jar today, such as Mick’s view on Indigenous land rights, but has moments that do work, such as Mick’s friendship with the New York hotel doorman. Hogan’s physical comedy, such as when he tries to work out a bidet, is impressive.

The frames that have been deleted are set in New York. One involves Mick and a cross-dresser. One line of dialogue has been changed. There is a debate about the rights and wrongs of sanitising movies. Martin Scorsese, for one, says films should be shown as the were made, “warts and all”.

Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut is thought-provoking for background reasons. On the surface, it remains an entertaining movie.