The Barry McKenzie brand of down-under caricature (zestfully vulgar, mates) has been noticeably cleaned up in this Australian-produced feature, though the results are far from displeasing. A North Australia crocodile hunter (Paul Hogan, a bit short on roughhouse authenticity) abandons the outback at the behest of a female reporter (Linda Kozlowski) to test his survival skills in the more sophisticated wilds of New York City. The theme of physical testing and environmental ordeal (the reporter against the outback, the Aussie against New York cabdrivers and muggers) as a prelude to romance derives from Hawks, as does the basic (regressive) male-female dynamic, and director Peter Faiman even styles his film in a broad, aggressive Hawksian manner: it’s confidently slam-bang, with hardly an introversive moment in it (all the more remarkable within the context of Australian cinematic gentility). There’s really not much going on here, and the narrative occasionally bogs down in anonymous crowd scenes and aimless party going, but for most of the film’s brief running time it remains a rollicking if slightly atavistic pleasure. With Mark Blum and David Gulpilil.