The 80s action comedy ‘Crocodile Dundee’ was set in the Australian Outback and in New York City, and starred Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee and Linda Kozlowski as journalist Sue Charlton. Inspired by the true-life exploits of Rod Ansell, the film was made on a budget of under $10 million as a deliberate attempt to make a commercial Australian film that would appeal to a mainstream American audience, but proved to be a worldwide phenomenon. Released on 30th April 1986 in Australia and on 26th September 1986 in the United States, it was the highest-grossing film of all-time in Australia, second-highest-grossing film in the United States in that year and went onto become the second-highest-grossing film worldwide at the box office as well, with an estimated 46 million tickets sold in the US.

Film Poster: Crocodile Dundee

When the creator of otsoNY.com visited New York City in May 2009, there was one ‘Must See’ location on his list. “I can’t claim credit for finding this one, as it was already mentioned on several online sources,” said Mark Rogers, matter-of-factly. “But I was determined to see it for myself.” What Mark was referring to was the bar at 10 Avenue B on the corner of East 7th Street. “At the time, I think it was called Vazacs, but now goes under the name 7B Horseshoe Bar. Its location is perhaps not the most desirable place in Manhattan, and as it was my first visit to New York, I didn’t feel too comfortable in the area, especially as I was walking around with an SLR camera, a camcorder and my location map which pretty much made me standout like a naive tourist!”

A scene from Crocodile Dundee starring Paul Hogan

Paul Hogan as Mick Dundee in Fifth Avenue

The bar was no stranger to appearances in movies, and had previously appeared in the 1982 film ‘Verdict’ starring Paul Newman, as well as ‘The Godfather Part II’, but it was the film ‘Crocodile Dundee’ that finally put it on the map with one memorable scene taking place inside the bar when Mick mistakes a glamorously dressed woman who turns out to be drag queen. The idea to make the film came to Paul Hogan when he was in New York after he wondered what it would be like if a Northern Territory bushman arrived in town. “Crocodile Dundee is a classic 80s movie, and one of which you can watch over and over again and still not get tired of watching it,” says Mark. “There were a few other locations in the film that I posted on otsoNY in 2011, that included the lamp post scene on Fifth Avenue between East 52nd and 53rd Streets, and as well as the scene that takes place in Cortlandt Alley.”

7B Horseshoe Bar featured in Crocodile Dundee

7B Horseshoe Bar at Tompkins Square

In the sequel, Paul Hogan’s character returns to the bar on Avenue B in search of a job after deciding to stay in New York City having settled into a relationship with Sue. Other film productions such as ‘Begin Again’, ‘The Night Before’, ‘Angel Heart’, ‘Rent’, and more recently ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows’ have since used the bar for scenes.

Click HERE for a full list of film locations from Crocodile Dundee

In the next article of this series, Mark talks about the film, ‘The Girl in the Park’, and how by chance he managed to find the cafe in which the two main characters of the film first meet.