The Karate Kid

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The Karate Kid is a 1984 John G. Avildsen film starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. It is a youth-oriented karate movie and an "underdog" story much in the model of a previous Avildsen smash, the 1976 boxing picture Rocky. It was a massive commercial hit and retains a popular following to this day. It also garnered a favorable critical reception, even earning Pat Morita an Academy Award Best Supporting Actor nomination.

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Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Karate Kid is about a teenage boy, Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), who moves with his mother from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, California, in the San Fernando Valley district of L.A. The handyman of their apartment building is a kindly and humble Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Kesuke Miyagi (Morita).

The last night of summer, Daniel and his new friends are at the beach, and Daniel has his eye on Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his friends pull up on motorbikes, Johnny and Ali begin arguing, and Ali blasts a radio. Angered, Johnny throws the radio to the ground. Daniel moves to pick it up, and ignores Johnny's warning not to get involved. Soon Daniel and Johnny fight, but Daniel loses. Unwittingly, Daniel has made an enemy of one of Cobra Kai karate dojo's best students. The Cobra Kai dojo preaches a sadistic, macho, and prideful form of martial arts, perhaps a symbolic representation of the "dark side" of martial arts.

Johnny and his cronies torment Daniel as much as they can. When Daniel retaliates with a prank at a Halloween dance (where Johnny is seen rolling and lighting a marijuana cigarette), he is pursued by Johnny and his friends, who proceed to beat him until he can barely stand. Just then, Mr. Miyagi intervenes and rescues Daniel in a surprising display of karate (stunt work by Fumio Demura). Daniel, upon learning this, asks Mr. Miyagi to be his teacher (sensei).

With some persuasion, Miyagi agrees to accompany Daniel to confront the sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo and insist that he tell his students to stop their harassment of Daniel. However, the sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove), is a vicious fighter (later revealed in the sequels as a Vietnam veteran) who regularly barks out condemnations of mercy or restraint. To settle the matter, Miyagi announces Daniel will enter a Valley-wide tournament where Cobra Kai students can fight Daniel on equal terms (much to Daniel's surprise and chagrin). Miyagi also requests that Johnny and his friends stop bullying Daniel in the interim while the boy is trained. Kreese assents and orders his students to leave Daniel alone, but threatens that if Daniel does not appear at the tournament, the harassment will resume and Miyagi himself will be targeted as well.

Mr. Miyagi becomes Daniel's surrogate father, but Daniel is impatient and sometimes puzzled by Miyagi's teaching methods and behavior. For instance, instead of standard instruction, Miyagi initially has Daniel spend the day performing laborious chores (most famously, waxing the car) which he insists must be done with specific hand and arm movements ("Wax on, wax off"). Eventually, Daniel angrily confronts Miyagi about this labor and Miyagi shows him that in doing those chores with those movements, Daniel has in fact been subconsciously learning his defensive blocks, the vital first step in karate training. As the training continues, Miyagi instructs Daniel in such techniques such as the famous arms-spread-like-wings one legged kick to the chin called the Crane Kick. As the story and the training move on, Daniel learns from Miyagi not only karate, but also about life, and the role of such values as balance. This reflects the belief that martial arts training is about training of the spirit as much as the body.

At the tournament, Daniel is still an underdog, yet manages to progress through the tournament successfully. Kreese, intent on seeing his dojo succeed and his star pupil win the tournament, instructs another of his students in the semi-finals to perform an illegal attack that injures Daniel, seemingly to the point of making him unable to continue the competition. Miyagi has trained him well, however; in a final scene made in true Avildsen fashion, an injured Daniel, barely able to stand, beats his final opponent, none other than Johnny, by using the Crane Kick. At the end of the movie, Johnny acknowledges Daniel respectfully while Miyagi looks on approvingly. Template:Endspoiler

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Impact

The Karate Kid spawned an entire franchise of related items and memorabilia, such as action figures, head bands, posters, T-shirts, etc. It also had three sequels, and it launched the career of Macchio, who would turn into a teen idol featured on the covers of magazines such as Tiger Beat. It vitalized the acting career of Morita, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his performance as Mr. Miyagi; he had previously been best known from his role on Happy Days as Arnold, the owner of the local hamburger hangout. ESPN's Bill Simmons once called his nomination "the 1984 equivalent of Mr. Belding from Saved By The Bell being nominated for an Oscar in 2005" (1) Morita made several other movies including the three sequels; additionally, it launched the career of Elisabeth Shue. It has also been credited with renewing youth interest in martial arts, with an emphasis on personal discipline rather than the often gratuitous and cinematic violence that martial arts films are known for. The characters of Daniel and his mother are also noteworthy as positive media portrayals of Italian Americans.

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Quotes

  • "Always look eye!" (Miyagi)
  • "Must be take a worm for a walk week!" (Tommy)
  • "You are wet behind ear!" (Miyagi)
  • "Yeah! Get him a body bag!" (Tommy)
  • "Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?" (Kreese)
  • "Wax on, wax off!" (Miyagi)
  • "Show me, paint the fence!" (Miyagi)
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Music

This soundtracks to the Karate Kid series enjoy somewhat of a cult following, where original recordings on CD can cost $40-$120.00. They were written by Bill Conti and orchestrated by Jack Eskew.

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Sequels

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Trivia

  • Since the film was to be called The Karate Kid, Columbia Pictures had to get permission from DC Comics for usage of the name. Although the film version did not resemble the original comics creation, DC did get acknowledgement during the end credits.
  • Because of his boyish looks, Ralph Macchio was able to convincingly play a high school student although he was actually 21 years old during the filming of The Karate Kid. However, at 28, Macchio is less convincing playing a Daniel in Karate Kid III that is only supposed to be one year older than in the original.
  • The Karate Kid III is the only Macchio-led Karate Kid edition in which Daniel fails to keep his love interest through the movie's end. At the onset of Karate Kid II and III, Daniel must explain the conspicuous absence of his girlfriend from the previous movie. Ali (Elisabeth Shue) wrecks Daniel's car at prom and professes her love of a UCLA football player. Kumiko, whose cultural differences make her an even less likely longterm match for Larusso than Ali, more predictably finds a career opportunity in dance.
  • The role of Sensei Kreese was originally written for Chuck Norris. Rumors emerged that Norris turned down the part since he would not consider having his name associated with a villainous character and did not like the idea of a karate dojo being depicted as villains. However, when asked about the story on The Adam Carolla Show on February 9, 2006, Norris insisted that he didn't turn down the role - he wasn't actually offered the role. Norris noted that he was already playing leading roles by the time the movie was in production.
  • In Japan, The Karate Kid was retitled Best Kid (ベスト・キッド/Besuto kiddo). Part II and Part III were renamed Best Kid 2 and Best Kid 3, respectively, and The Next Karate Kid was renamed Best Kid 4.
  • According to the special edition DVD commentary, the studio originally wanted the role of Mr. Miyagi to be played by Toshiro Mifune. But writer Robert Mark Kamen was opposed to that casting choice.
  • David Schwimmer, famous for his role in Friends, makes a quick walk-on appearance as a student.
  • Thomas Ian Griffith(Terry Silver)actually practices martial arts
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External links

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