Crocodile Dundee was made with $7 million and took in over $300 million at the box office. It was the commercially most successful Australian film ever. Because the film became so popular, I wasn’t sure whether I had seen it or not. It turns out I had never seen at least the first “Crocodile Dundee” movie, and I fully appreciate why it was so successful. It is utterly charming. A young journalist happens to be in Australia when she hears the news that a man in the outback was attacked by a crocodile and then managed to rescue himself through an ordeal of several days.

She wants to cover the story for her New York-based newspaper and travels out to the location where the crocodile attack happened. As the hero, Crocodile Dundee, shows her the Australian bush, it becomes apparent that romantic feelings develop between them.  (The two actors later married in real life.) I don’t want to say too much about the plot, but suffice it to say they later also travel together to New York. Having never been in even an Australian city, Crocodile Dundee sees the city with the eyes of a Martian, and this is utterly enchanting.