It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee and American actress Linda Kozlowski as reporter Sue Charlton.

When Dundee arrives that night, Sue finds his leg is not missing, but he has a large scar which he refers to as a "love bite".

The next morning, offended by Mick's assertion that as a "sheila" she is incapable of surviving the Outback alone, Sue goes out alone to prove him wrong but takes his rifle with her at his request.

Once in New York, Mick is perplexed by local behaviour and customs but overcomes problematic situations including encounters with a pimp and attempted robberies.

He's a mythical outback Australian who does exist in part—the frontiersman who walks through the bush, picking up snakes and throwing them aside, living off the land, who can ride horses and chop down trees and has that simple, friendly, laid-back philosophy.

[9] The first scenes were filmed in the small town of McKinlay in Queensland, where the hotel used has original warped and polished hardwood floors.

Production decided to shoot in Kakadu National Park at the end of the dry season since crocodiles were less active in the filming locations.

[11] Crocodile Dundee was offered to 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. for North American release before Paramount picked it up for US$6 million.

[13] Crocodile Dundee remains the single most-viewed Christmas Day film or programme in the United Kingdom when it debuted on 25 December 1989 on BBC One, with an audience of 21.8 million.

[14][15] In January 2025, a version of the film subtitled The Encore Cut premiered in Sydney, ahead of a wider theatrical release in May.

Faiman possessed a mixed response, arguing that while re-edits to films are not unprecedented, "I think that screwing around with history, in the arts particularly, is not a good idea.

[33] It opened nationwide in the UK on 9 January 1987 where it became number one nationally, where it stayed for eight weeks to become one of the highest-grossing films of all-time with a gross of £20 million.

The critics' consensus reads: "Infectiously easygoing charm and a leading man in the role he was born to play help Crocodile Dundee make the most of its familiar fish-out-of-water premise".

[40] Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and wrote: "All of the cliches are in the right places, most of the gags pay off and there are moments of real amusement as the Australian cowboy wanders around Manhattan as a naive sightseer.

The problem is that there's not one moment of chemistry between the two stars: Paul Hogan as 'Crocodile' Dundee and Linda Kozlowski as the clever little rich girl.

[41] Nina Darnton of The New York Times thought that Paul Hogan was "delightful" in the title role, that the screenplay was "witty, with a fine sense of irony and the gift at poking fun at its own conceits", and that "Linda Kozlowski plays the reporter, Sue, very well", virtues which "go a long way toward compensating for the film's illogical plot and set-up situations".

[42] Variety stated that director Peter Faiman "has problems with the pacing and a script (by Hogan and longtime TV colleague Ken Shadie) that has its flat, dull spots.

Hogan is comfortable enough playing the wry, irreverent, amiable Aussie that seems close to his own persona, and teams well with Kozlowski, who radiates lots of charm, style and spunk".

[50] Robert Hughes complained in 2000 that to Americans "Crocodile Dundee is a work of social realism", giving them a "'Wild West' fantasy" about Australia.