The Karate Kid is one of those great movies that became popular during the 1980s, then a joke in the 1990s before finding some love and attention again during the 2010s. In There’s Something About Mary, Matt Dillon’s character used the movie as a joke saying it’s a classic, but now 40 years later, he’s right. It is a classic and still amazing.
Recently, on CBS Sunday Morning, Ralph Macchio said the film franchise meant so much to him that he turned down repeated requests to appear again as Daniel LaRusso until he was approached to do Cobra Kai, a series that has proven that you can still mix legacy and nostalgia with fresh, new stories and characters.
Daniel moves from New Jersey with his widowed mother to the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles. Being a teen having to start over, Daniel is worried about fitting in and doesn’t really lik,e being there. At the apartment complex, he meets some peers who invite him to a beach part the next day. But Daniel finds himself getting into a fight with the more popular Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) when he gets jealous seeing his ex-girlfriend Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) getting too friendly with the new kid.
Daniel learned karate from the YMCA but Johnny has better moves and Daniel finds himself beaten and humiliated. He lies to his mother, Lucille (Randee Heller), about what happened. But both she and the complex maintenance man, Niroyoshi Miyagi (Pat Morita), believe Daniel got roughed up. Daniel soon learns Johnny and his friends are students at a Karate dojo, Cobra Kai, operated by Vietnam vet John Kreese (Martin Kove) who believes the only way to train students in martial arts is to show “No mercy.”
Johnny and his friends, on dirt bikes, run Daniel off the road while riding his bicycle. And he has a mental breakdown at his home and tosses his bike into the dumpster. But he doesn’t realize Miyagi has overheard his conversation with his mother. He fixes Daniel’s bike up for nothing and they become friendly. But Daniel still avoids Johnny and the others which include Bobby (Ron Thomas) who seems to be the most empathetic toward Daniel, Tommy (Rob Garrison), Dutch (Chad McQueen) and Jimmy (Tony O’Dell).
At a Halloween school dance, Daniel gets back at Johnny by placing a garden hose over the bathroom stall as Johnny tries to roll a cannabis joint. He hooks the hose up to the faucet and turns it on. Upset that he got wet and ruined the joint, Johnny and the others chase Daniel back to his complex where they beat him up. But despite Bobby’s pleas that Daniel has had enough, Johnny and the others want to do more harm. And Miyagi comes to Daniel’s rescue taking down all of them as they are dressed up as skeletons.
Miyagi treats Daniel’s wounds and the next day they go to the Cobra Kai dojo where Miyagi talks Kreese into settling the beef between Daniel and his students at the All-Valley Karate Tournament which is scheduled six weeks away. Working on Kreese’s narcissism, Miyagi gets him to agree to have it all settled at the tournament and to ensure none of the Cobra Kai students will bother Daniel in the meantime.
Miyagi begins to train Daniel every day. But at first, all Daniel thinks he’s doing is work around Miyagi’s house, which including waxing a collection of older cars, painting his house and wood fencing and sanding the wooden floors around his koi pond in the backyard. But what Miyagi has been showing Daniel is ways he can movie his arms to deflect blows and kicks to defend himself. Over time, the two form an unlikely close bond as Daniel learns that Miyagi was a World War II vet who got the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, while he was serving, his wife was interned in the Manzanar camp where she died during childbirth and the baby couldn’t be saved.
Despite appearing to be super in his skills, Daniel observes Miyagi getting drunk one night as he grieves what has happened. Reportedly, this scene was ordered to be cut, but John G. Avildsen, as director, argued for it to be left in. It’s been cited as the scene that earned Morita, who had been known mostly for his comedy roles on Happy Days and Mr. T and Tina, a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as well at the Golden Globes.
It makes Miyagi a more developed character. Even though he seems for the first half to be a friend and mentor to Daniel, it shows how more meaningful their relationship becomes. Miyagi becomes the father figure Daniel needs and Daniel becomes the child Miyagi never had. He tells Daniel he learned karate from his father as if was the culture in his native home of Okinawa, Japan.
At first Miyagi doesn’t want to train Daniel. But after seeing the way Kreese treats his students, he realizes he has to show Daniel to the true meaning. Miyagi tells Daniel “there is no such thing as a bad student only a bad teacher.” Yet, Miyagi isn’t infallible. And when Daniel sees him grieving after many years, he sees Miyagi more affectionally. When Miyagi gives Daniel the option of choosing whatever car he wants, Daniel thanks calling him “the best friend I ever had.”
It’s not just an underdog story but about the bond between two unlikely people from different parts of the world and different cultures. When Daniel makes it to the tournament, he works his way up to the final with Johnny. Kreese tells Bobby to “sweep the leg” knowing it will put Daniel out of commission. It will disqualify Bobby but Daniel won’t be able to compete against Johnny who wins by forfeit. Bobby does as he is told but instantly regrets it apologizing to him. Miyagi manages to do a pain suppression technique for Daniel to compete.
Even Johnny begins to see how brutal and vicious Kreese is during the match. At the end when Daniel wins, Johnny shows some gratitude toward Daniel. But it’s Miyagi smiling as Daniel is excited in which we see these two have both accomplished more than they intended.
An alternative ending that was later used for the beginning of the sequel written by Robert Mark Kamen had Miyagi standing up to Kreese in the parking lot and saving Johnny and the others from his violence. In the Cobra Kai series, we’ve seen just how bad Kreese really is which makes him the true villain of the whole franchise as he was able to manipulate Johnny, Tommy, Bobby and Dutch into doing his dirty work.
The first movie would be famous for increasing interest in karate and other martial arts in America. After the first sequel, both Macchio and Morita found themselves being typecast in roles. Both the first two movies were massive hits, each grossing about $130 million world wide.
However, by the time the third movie dropped in the summer of 1989, audiences weren’t impressed. Mainly it was because it was still set in 1985 and it was harder for Macchio, who was 27 at the time of filming, to play someone 10 years younger. Macchio also questioned the casting of Robyn Lively, who was 16 at the time of filming. Her character was supposed to be his new love interest but the role was rewritten where she is just a close friend. Thomas Ian Griffiths who plays the antagonistic Terry Silver is actually younger than Macchio in real life but had to play a Vietnam vet about 20 years older.
And while Morita received great praise for his role in the first movie, he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Best Supporting Actor. Morita would also voice the character in an animated series and appear alongside Jay Leno in Collision Course, which would become notorious for being abandoned unfinished by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and only completed to cash in on Leno being hired as host of The Tonight Show.
Morita would revive the role as Miyagi in The Next Karate Kid in 1994 alongside a young Hillary Swank. But the movie was a critical and commercial failure. Macchio would work throughout the years, most notably in My Cousin Vinny. However, fandom for the franchise continued throughout the years with even the fan theory that Johnny isn’t the bad guy he really is but it’s Daniel.
In 2010, a remake was made with Jackie Han and Jaden Smith, which was a commercial and critical success. Reportedly, Macchio has agreed to appear in a movie scheduled for 2025 that will combine both the original and remake.
Time will tell how it’ll be received.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 