Hungry Like the Wolf the door in America for the New Romantic/synth rock crossover." Stewart Mason, also from Allmusic, called "Hungry Like the Wolf" a "spectacular pop single", and "the finest song Duran Duran ever wrote", adding that it was a "much more kinetic and exciting song than earlier flop singles like 'Planet Earth'." In 1982, music video director Russell Mulcahy, who had directed the band's first video "Planet Earth," was brought back to make the music video for "Hungry Like the Wolf" and two other songs for the band's 1983 video album. The band had a vision of jungles and exotic women, and
Hungry Like the Wolf chase, Le Bon has his face mopped by a young boy and overturns a bar room table, culminating in a final chase and struggle in a jungle clearing, which is sexually suggestive. In the meantime, the other band members hunt for Le Bon. Less than 2 months after the shoot of the video, the American cable television network MTV put "Hungry Like the Wolf" into heavy rotation, playing it four times a day. The exposure eventually helped propel the single into the top 5 of the "Billboard" Hot 100, and the "Rio" album into the top 10 of the albums