CROC of GOLD

Paul Hogan says he “mentally retired” after making Crocodile Dundee.

The Australian writer and actor knew he could never top the film that made him a global star. When it was released, in 1986, it was No 1 in places like Lebanon, Syria, Nicaragua and Finland. And it remains the highest-grossing Australian film 34 years later, having taken nearly A$50 million at the local box office and US$328 million worldwide. It was a bonanza for the Australian tourism industry. It blew the cobwebs off Australia’s cultural cringe. And it cost only A$11.5 million to make.

Hogan writes in his new memoir, The Tap-Dancing Knife Thrower: My Life (without the boring bits): “For your first shot at a movie, made with your mates, who were also first-timers and unknown stars, to have achieved what it did, how could I follow that up? What ever I did next was doomed to run second. It wouldn’t matter how good it was, either. It would be a step down. People often say I’m a one-hit wonder, but it was a helluva hit.”

Hogan had clearly made enough money to mentally retire. “Yeah. I’m lazy, basically,” he