Dundee: Everyone’s favourite crocodile hunter is back (sort of)

Dundee: Everyone’s favourite crocodile hunter is back (sort of) and Indiana Jones isn’t far behind...

Trailer click here

We forget that Crocodile Dundee was doing “bushcraft” even before bushcraft was a thing, going out on “walk about” and carrying a big knife. He may have been fictional but he certainly was an influence on my life, along with another hat wearing hero – Indiana Jones. Which is probably (most certainly) why I like to wear Australian bush hats and brown fedoras. But why is Paul Hogan bringing back, or teasing that he will bring back Crocodile Dundee now?

Well, it seems to have stemmed from the spoof Superbowl DUNDEE film commercial in 2018 which made a lot of people very excited at the prospect of seeing a re-boot of the 1986 phenomenon Crocodile Dundee, suddenly this unexpected online interest made a new film relevant (sort of) and which could possibly also be a success (maybe), playing on the nostalgia currently being experienced for 1980’s films. They started filming in mid-2018. Hoges has always said he wouldn’t make another Croc Dundee film. He said it would be Crocodile Dundee in the Care Home and rightly so. And this isn’t going to be a Croc Dundee film.

Unfortunately for Hogan his last Croc Dundee film was about 8 years too late (it would have been awesome in about 1993) and by 2001 when Croc III Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles was released the Crocodile Dundee wave had passed, it had been forgotten, or had become uncool, and the nostalgia for 1980’s films had not yet arrived. On its release Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles had a really exciting trailer, which was probably better than the film, but even this didn’t quite pull me back to the Cinema (not wanting to look uncool in front of my mates). The other big movie of that decade was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (2008) which was…erm…something I wanted to love and which I do like (sort of) but which just takes itself far too seriously. I have to say out of Croc III and Indy IV I think Croc III is "better", mainly it doesn’t take itself too seriously (the script is shocking), the storyline weak...and, I mean, the baddie in Croc II appears as Dundee’s mate in Croc III …I love the lack of continuity in the Dundee universe but it has its charm in its made for TV low budget style and the fun of it. But they are kind of the same, both Indy IV and Croc III are comeback movies many years after the last sequel, the leading actors are old, they both wear hats...and the two heroes both get married at the end. And... they were both a dissapointment in that neither lived up to the expectation. I prefer Croc III however.

Watching Croc III on DVD is nostalgic, and thoroughly recommended if you don’t have very high expectations, and just want some easy to watch vaguely interesting, made for TV sort of film. And I have to say I enjoy watching it, seeing Mick Dundee, Sue, Donk and Nugget again. Although Sue and Nugget have forgotten how to act and Donk has lost a lot of weight (and has become quite eloquent since becoming a bar tender.). I still laugh when Dundee is the bath drinking a cold one, when he accidentally switches on the Jacuzzi and shouts "crocodile!". And Dundee and Jacko's trip to Wendys for a drive-thru burger really is hilarious.

A few years later Hogan starred in Strange Bedfellows (2004) which was the laugh out loud comedy that Croc III should have been, and then in 2009 Charlie and Boots was this beautiful, subtle, artistic comedy film with its serious moments, and seemingly the end of Hogan's film career. He has always said that he retired after Crocodile Dundee as he did what he set out to do, and thereafter just did things for fun. I do love this attitude but it may explain why Hogan had so many flops from 1990 to 2001.

Fast forward ten years and history seems to be repeating itself, we have “Croc IV” and hopefully Indy 5 a year two years later (maybe). Whilst we know that that Indy 5 is probably going to be terrible (Disney's Star Wars Sequels anyone?), I do feel a certain excitement at Hoges’ new film. But I realise I need to stop calling it Croc IV. It isn’t. It is called The Very Excellent Mr Dundee, a meta-comedy about Hollywoods insistance to reboot / remake / reinvent Crocodile Dundee...hence why the emphasis in the film's title is on the DUNDEE. I am certain we aint going to be seeing Mick Dundee again, even as a cameo. Which is a shame. A bushcrafting Larrikin is exactly what we need right now...but it is sensible decision as Paul Hogan is elderly and his Crocodile days are long gone... With the release date set for 30^th April (Australia) we will soon find out. Unless we don't want to look uncool in front of our mates then we will just have to wait for it to come out on VHS, I  mean DVD...Netflix.

Although, Paul, this is seriously not the best time to release a film in the midst of COVID-19... this could be disastrous...but the trailer looks bloody brilliant nevertheless!

As for Indy 5 it seems that the pandemic has ultimately put a hiatus on this...revised release date is 2022. Interestingly, Harrison Ford will be the same age in Indy 5 as Paul Hogan was in The Very Excellent Mr Dundee. It seems Paul knows when it is time to call it a day with Crocodile Dundee proper (in 2001 when he was in his early 60's), but Harrison Ford? Less so. Make way for a 79 year old Indiana Jones.