Love of an Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee

Loved Crocodile Dundee as a kid, so when I boarded a long-haul flight I was thrilled to rewatch it, and then turn it into a double feature by discovering this documentary - which suitably dives deep into the extraordinary talent of John Cornell. Not being from Australia, his career and ingenuity was new to me.

However by the end - I was struck by a clear omission. Where was the celebration of director Peter Faiman? Whether or not he was asked / or wished to participate in the doco, his input seemed glaringly breezed over. It wouldn't have taken much to bump up his presence, and take away the odd "where is Peter" vibe.

Also, while I do not not wish to take away from Paul Hogan's remarkable achievement (what talent!) - it seems misguided and disingenuous not to mention Rod Ansell, who seems clearly the inspiration for the character for Crocodile Dundee.

After hearing one-too-many-times about how Crocodile Dundee "just came from my head", the doco sparked me to look further into Rod Ansell. It seems extraordinary that a new piece of work has been made (this doco) and yet this connection was not acknowledged - if not in this doco, then via other channels. It seems like the right thing to do... surely?

Other than that, a thoroughly enjoyable tribute and celebration to the clearly remarkable John Cornell. For those -like me - not aware of all that came before of Crocodile Dundee, it was an inspiring ride.

This movie is about friendship and how two mates helped extract the best of each other. It's a movie about love and how one can preserve de memory of their lifelong partner. It's a movie about success and believing in each other.

I expected a documentary about crocodile Dundee, instead I watched a great storyline of aussie creativity and success.

Loved it. Thank you Delvene Delaney for producing such a great film.

Believe it or not it's almost 40 years since they captured lightning in a bottle and called it "Crocodile Dundee" (1986).

The biggest blockbuster movie ever made outside of a major studio.

Now comes the documentary "Love Of An Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee".

It's not only the making of that amazing box office and cultural hit movie, but also a peek at the chemistry of this doco's producer, director and writer Delvene Delaney and her late husband John Cornell's eternal love.

A love where they fulfilled their promise of growing old together.

Cornell was the brains of the outfit even though he played the dim-witted slow talking "Strop" on TV.

(The timeless beauty, Delvene, sharing her behind the scenes duties with Victoria Baldock as well as being the on screen narrator).

Plus this movie traces the magic in the friendship between Cornell and his longtime partner in crime former Sydney Harbour Bridge Painter Paul Hogan ("Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee") and Hoge's blossoming romance with his lead actress Linda Kozlowski?

Hogan once famously said, "We are show business. I'm the show and John is the business".

This doco traces that long dynamic from TV's "A Current Affair" to "The Paul Hogan Show" and their hugely successful tourism ad campaign for Australia to the world.

All the time with one eye focused on raising Paul's profile in the US as his career trajectory led to leading man in Hollywood.

This comedy romance adventure movie was box office gold in the 80's returning its mum and dad investors their money back ten fold, but it wasn't a sure bet.

Some big investors like the late Kerry Packer unwisely withdrew their major investment at the 11th hour only to regret it for the rest of their lives.

Those who backed it are still doing the Crocodile Rock.

Whilst other backers get the chance to thank the team on camera in short, concise interviews during this marvellous documentary and keeping the running time to an economical 88 minutes.

First time filmmakers Peter Faiman and company surrounded themselves with the best in the business to create "Croc Dundee" nearly 4 decades earlier including: DOP Russell Boyd, Cameraman Ray Brown and music maestro Peter Best to create something uniquely Australian that the whole planet fell in love with from Melbourne to Mexico.

It's wonderful to see actors John Mellion and David Gulpilil chatting in this new doco even though they passed away years ago...thanks to found footage in Delvene's shed on her farm in the Byron Bay hinterland.

Paul remarks towards the end of the doco how he barely makes the top ten lists about famous movie stars now whilst his alter ego "Mick Dundee" is always at or near the top in terms of recognition.

And as Paul reminds us Michael J. Is purely fictional, a character!

There's moments in this highly entertaining film where you get to see the machinations behind the Wizard of Oz's machinery of how the original movie stock was almost lost forever, also how an iconic scene found its way onto the editor's cutting room floor, but retrieved in the nick of time and so much more.

Having seen this movie I can't wait to rewatch the OG with its stunning scenery of outback Australia including the fictional town of Walkabout Creek.

More people must see this behind the scenes and into the heart of mateship and magic that is "Love Of An Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee" that got limited screen time in the country of it's birth.

It will make you laugh out loud, but also leave the cinema wiping your eyes and they are not crocodile tears.

So in some ways, this documentary doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is - a love letter to a great Aussie film and its producer, John Cornell, by his wife and soul mate. But it tantalizes with showing some of the magic thst made Crocodile Dundee such a beloved film and worldwide success. Some of the photography is stunning and just brings back some of the magic of the original film (to be re-released in a edited form in May 2025 in Australia at least).

The background to the making of the movie and the interviews with some of its key players are great but if there is any criticism to be found here, it is that some of the interviews seem to be short and could have offered so much more (while admittedly extending the runtime). One can only hope there is a longer documentary to be produced with the release of the 4K physical media. One example is the brief account from Peter Best whose music enhanced so much what was on the film and elevated it significantly (just imagine the movie without the music over the titles or at the end of the movie).

There is more than one love story here - not only the love between the deceased producer, John Cornell, and his wife Delvene Delaney but also the love of mates John and Paul Hogan, others who worked with them and the love that developed between Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski. It was great to see Linda being interviewed and still very much the person she was during the filming of Crocodile Dundee. Both Paul and Linda avoid talking about their love or marriage so maybe that was off-limits. But to see them having so much fun during the filming of Crocodile Dundee comes across and their chemistry was tangible.

This film is timely as we move towards 40 years since the release of Crocodile Dundee (1986). We can only hope thst another behind the scenes documentary may be made by the same team to coincide with the 2026 anniversary before we lose more players behind such a successful independent film. It truly was the little film that could and there's something very Aussie about that. This documentary is worth a watch to anyone who like the creation of lightning in a bottle.