September 26, 1986: The film Crocodile Dundee premieres. Directed by Australian filmmaker Peter Faiman, it stars Paul Hogan as Michael J. "Mick" Dundee, a "bushman" in the Northern Territory of Australia, famous for hunting crocodiles.
Linda Kozlowski plays Sue Charlton, a features writer for Newsday, a New York-based paper. (In real life, the paper does exist, and was trying to crack the New York City market at the time, but ended up failing, and returned to its usual coverage area, adjoining Long Island.) Her father runs the paper, and sends her to Australia to do a story on Dundee.
She finds out that Mick's legend is exaggerated, but not by much. After he saves her life, she falls for him, and invites him to come to New York with her. He is "a fish out of water," perplexed by local behavior and customs, but he uses his survival skills, ability to improvise, and innate common sense to good-naturedly overcome problematic or even dangerous situations.
At one point, 3 muggers accost the 2 of them, one of them wielding a switchblade. Sue tells Mick, "Give him your wallet!" He says, "What for?" She says, "He's got a knife!" He scoffs: "That's not a knife." He pulls out the machete he uses on crocodiles, and says, "That's a knife!" He slices the switchblade-wielder's leather jacket like he's Zorro, and lets them run off. She ends up breaking her engagement to her boyfriend to be with Mick.
Mick was compared to other action heroes of the 1980s, such as Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo, various characters played by Chuck Norris, and eventually to Bruce Willis' John McClane. Hogan said, "Mick's a good role model. There's no malice in the fellow, and he's human. He's not a wimp or a sissy, just because he doesn't kill people."
The film allowed Hogan to succeed "Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr as the most famous Australian person in the world, until Steve Irwin started appearing on American television. Hogan was hired to star in commercials for Australian tourism -- "Come and say G'day! I'll put an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya!" meaning a barbecue grill -- and for Foster's beer, which, as it turns out, is Australia's answer to Coors: Little more than barley-flavored water.
There were 2 sequels: In 1988, Crocodile Dundee II featured a South American drug dealer kidnapping Sue, to keep her from publishing evidence against him, and Mick has to rescue her. In 2001, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles told of Sue, now his wife, getting hired as a newspaper bureau chief in Los Angeles, and Mick becomes a private investigator. In 1990, Hogan and Kozlowski starred as different characters in Almost an Angel.
Kozlowski took Hogan away from his wife, which was a bit of a scandal in Australia. They were married from 1990 to 2014, and had a son, Chance.
The character was based on Rod Ansell, a cattle grazier and buffalo hunter in the Northern Territory, who got stranded in the bush for 56 days with limited supplies, making him briefly world-famous before the movie revived interest in him. Unfortunately, his story did not have a happy ending: He suffered from mental illness, and was killed in a shootout with police in 1999. He was 44 years old. He was 15 years younger than Hogan, who, as of September 26, 2022, is still alive, as is Kozlowski.
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September 26, 1986 was a Friday. This was also the day that a high school football game on the Jersey Shore was prematurely ended by a lightning bolt striking one of the light towers. I was there. I have a separate entry for that event.
These Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Walt Terrell outpitched Ron Guidry. Chet Lemon hit a home run in the 9th inning. Claudell Washington hit one for the Yankees. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Don Mattingly also went 1-for-4.
The Yankees were now 8 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, with 9 games to go. In other words, this lost meant they were just about knocked out.
* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Sid Fernandez outpitched Stan Fansler. Howard Johnson hit a home run. Rookie Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Marvin Freeman allowed 1 hit in 6 innings, a single by Tim Raines in the 4th inning, and Kent Tekulve finished the 1-hit shutout. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jesse Barfield hit a home run in the top of the 12th inning. He hit it off Calvin Schiraldi, who was trying to relieve Roger Clemens -- a foreshadowing of what would happen a month later, in Game 6 of the World Series. Mark Eichhorn was the winning pitcher, in relief of Jimmy Key.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Pete Vuckovich allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, and Bill Wegman with 2 innings and Mark Clear with 1 completed the 3-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Boddicker. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4. Eddie Murray went 0-for-3. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 8-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs.
* The California Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 8-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Brian Downing went 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. Reggie Jackson pinch-hit, and stayed in as the designated hitter, and went 0-for-2.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mike Krukow pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Scott Garrelts finished the 3-hi hit shutout, outpitching Orel Hershiser.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Brook Jacoby drove in 2 runs with a triple in the top of the 12th inning.
* The Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The White Sox swept, 5-2 and 4-3. Ozzie Guillén, later to manage the White Sox to a title, singled Daryl Boston home with the winning run in the nightcap.
* And the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics were rained out at the Oakland Coliseum. This game was also made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The A's swept, 6-3 and 9-6.
