Crowe blasts US legal system

Hollywood hardman Russell Crowe has blasted the US legal system for making a big deal of his phone assault in a New York City hotel last year.

The Gladiator star managed to escape serious criminal charges with a conditional discharge in a Manhattan court last November after pleading guilty to the third-degree assault of Mercer Hotel employee Nestor Estrada with a telephone handset.

Speaking on US TV show 60 Minutes, the actor said the incident wouldn't have been treated so seriously in his native Australia.

He says: "Where I come from, a confrontation like that, as basic and simple as that, would have been satisfied with a handshake and an apology…

"Your legal system is very open to be misused."