Summary
Overview
The How Did This Get Made podcast crew tackles Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), with special guest Matthew Berry - the actual screenwriter of the movie - revealing the behind-the-scenes drama of Paul Hogan's ego, credit disputes, and the making of this belated sequel. The episode features hosts Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael, and comedian Eddie Pepitone discussing the film's bizarre plot choices, lack of conflict, and Matthew Berry's firsthand account of his contentious experience writing the film.
Introduction and Initial Movie Reactions
The hosts introduce the episode about Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and immediately dive into discussion about the movie's pacing issues. They note the slow beginning filled with unnecessary animal footage and express confusion about the Australia opening sequence. The group establishes that this podcast will have an unusual structure due to technical difficulties and teases that the actual screenwriter will join later.
- The movie has an unnecessarily slow beginning with extended shots of gazelles and elephants to fill the 88-minute runtime
- The Australia opening sequence is confusing since the title indicates the movie takes place in Los Angeles
- Matthew Berry, the screenwriter, will appear later in the episode to discuss how the movie got made
" This movie, to me, it's so crazy what is going on here because the beginning is so kind of slow. I do feel like I got a sense in that beginning part of the movie, they're like, we don't have enough to fill the 88 minutes. Like, let's have another shot of these gazelles, another shot of these elephants going around. "
The Bizarre Los Angeles Mugging Scene
The discussion focuses on a stereotypical and oddly executed scene where young Latino kids in a convertible attempt to mug Crocodile Dundee in LA. The hosts are particularly perplexed by how the scene ends with Dundee jumping on the convertible's soft top and trapping the would-be muggers under a giant garbage pail. They note the scene's cliched nature and point out the presence of actors who would later appear in Breaking Bad and The Sopranos.
- The mugging scene features very young boys in a convertible attempting to rob Dundee in a highly cliched manner
- Dundee and his friend disarm the muggers, then oddly jump on the convertible's soft top
- The scene ends with a comically large garbage pail being placed over the kids
- The movie features actors who later appeared in Breaking Bad and The Sopranos
" You know how bad a movie is when things like when the big garbage pail goes on top of these kids? You're going, wow, that is a very large garbage pail. like those are your thoughts, instead of having anything interesting in the movie. "
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