1986 Crocodile Dundee

Sometimes there is a movie that comes out of nowhere and takes the audience by storm. The term for this type of release is a sleeper hit, owing to the fact that it hasn't had a hefty marketing campaign so arrived under the radar. These tend to be low budget movies with no stars attached, but for some reason the audience fall in love and word of mouth spreads. Crocodile Dundee is such a movie.

No-one thought Australian films were cool, least of all Hollywood. Yet when Paul Hogan released his comic creation on the world it took off, and the secret to this is good storytelling.

The story is simple, as most popular stories are; Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee is a celebrity in his small town when an American reporter comes to interview him. She then takes him to New York, the concrete jungle, and this fish out of water finds his way dealing with thugs, yuppies and bankers in his usual wild way.

It has a wonderful humour and a warmth to it that eases the viewer in. You can't help but like the character as he is transported from his backwater environment into the more volatile modern city. Yet his values remain the same, and everything he does is for good.

Paul Hogan co-wrote the screenplay and the movie propelled him from relative popularity to mega-stardom. The movie was made as a deliberate attempt to make a popular Australian movie that could be sold to the Americans, yet no-one expected it to be as huge a hit as it was. On a budget of $8m, it grossed a massive $328m. It was also nominated for a best screenplay Oscar.

And it also marks the meeting of Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski, who plays his love interest in the movie. After filming, the two got married.