Crocodile Dundee

Not the puerile, misogynistic, chauvinistic sex comedy some people (who shall remain nameless) predicted. Instead, a charming, affable comedy about an Australian backwoodsman who finds life and love in the big city. The film is hardly polished, but that is a large part of its charm. Paul Hogan,. the hero, is most engaging, and the picture is funny without being witless, indigenous (both in the outback and in NYC) without being exploitative, and in general handled with admirable restraint. Even the woman hero (or, as we say in America, heroine) is presented as a strong person, not some swooning bimbo. The Australian reserve is almost palpable, especially whenever a (infrequent) swear word cropped up; I'm not sure if this was a glitch in the theater equipment or a plan on the part of the filmmakers, but on those occasions the soundtrack seemed momentarily garbled, as though they would rather we not hear the word, even though it needed to be in the script. Now that's restraint.