The Karate Kid
Short description
Daniel LaRusso, a teenager from New Jersey, moves to Los Angeles with his mother and tries to settle into a new school. He starts seeing Ali, which brings him into conflict with Johnny, her ex-boyfriend, and Johnny's friends, who train at a karate school called Cobra Kai under the harsh instructor John Kreese. The group targets Daniel repeatedly, and he finds help from an unexpected source: Mr. Miyagi, a repairman who is also a martial arts master. Miyagi takes Daniel on as a student, teaching him karate for self-defense and self-confidence rather than aggression, and prepares him to face the Cobra Kai in competition.
John G. Avildsen directed the film, working from a screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, with Jerry Weintraub producing. It followed Avildsen's Neighbors (1981) and preceded The Karate Kid Part II (1986), For Keeps (1988) and The Karate Kid Part III (1989) among the films he directed. Ralph Macchio plays Daniel, with Pat Morita as Miyagi, Elisabeth Shue as Ali, William Zabka as Johnny, Martin Kove as Kreese and Randee Heller as Lucille.
Made for about 8 million dollars, the film took in roughly 91 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from 239,334 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from 4,878 votes. A critics' rating of 7 out of 10 from 46 reviews places professional assessments close to the audience scores, indicating broad agreement across viewers and critics.
What's left behind the scenes
- The song sung by a drunken Mr. Miyagi is actually fragments of an authentic Japanese folk song that Pat Morita often heard as a child.
- In one of the early script drafts, after defeating Daniel at the tournament, Bobby approached his teacher, Kreese, removed and threw his belt on the floor, thereby leaving Cobra Kai.
- The studio's initial choice for the role of Mr. Miyagi was Toshiro Mifune, but screenwriter Michael Kamen was strongly opposed to this. Another potential candidate was Mako, who was unavailable at the time due to contractual obligations to participate in the sequel to 'Conan the Destroyer' (1984).
- Pat Johnson, a karate master and former student of Chuck Norris, refereed the final match. He was also the fight choreographer for the film and its sequels and has repeatedly worked as a karate instructor for many Hollywood stars.
- At the time of filming, Ralph Macchio, the lead actor, was 22 years old. Many of his colleagues on set simply couldn't believe him when he stated his age.
- The role of Daniel LaRusso could have gone to Kyle Eastwood.
- In the very first version of the script, Daniel had congenital spinal problems.
- “Karate Kid” was the name of one of the characters in DC Comic's Legion of Superheroes. At the request of the film studio, DC Comics provided special permission to use this name as the film's title, which was reflected in the credits (acknowledgement).
- The championship scenes were filmed indoors at California State University, Northridge.
- Actor and former world karate champion Chuck Norris assisted the film's producers in finding genuine martial arts masters who participated in the filming. Ultimately, three black belt holders – Pat Johnson, Darryl Vidal, and Ron Thomas – took part in the project.
- Mr. Miyagi's yellow car, which Daniel worked on to train his technique, was gifted to Ralph Macchio after filming and he still has it.
- The Cobra Kai dojo exists in reality, but teaches jiu-jitsu, not karate.
- William Zabka had no experience in martial arts before the film, although he was a fairly skilled wrestler. Later, however, he earned a black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.
- The final sweeping kick that was delivered to Daniel before Mr. Miyagi saves him actually hit Ralph Macchio and even injured the actor.
- The film studio wanted to cut the scene where Mr. Miyagi gets drunk and Daniel learns about his past, believing it slowed down the plot. Director John G. Avildsen insisted on keeping it, and later expressed confidence that it was this scene that earned Pat Morita an Oscar nomination.
- The very first scene filmed was the one on the beach, where Daniel first meets Ali and the members of Cobra Kai.
- In the first episode of the sixth season of the series "Futurama" (1999-2013), the scene with the fly and chopsticks is parodied. Professor Hubert Farnsworth catches a fly with something like tweezers at the beginning of the episode.
- To film the opening shots of the film, where Daniel and his mother leave New York, at the right angle, director John G. Avildsen had to climb a water tower.
- It was repeatedly reported that the role of Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese was offered to Chuck Norris, who declined the offer because he believed the character was too stereotypical and negatively portrayed martial arts. Years later, Chuck Norris refuted this information.
- Elizabeth Shue's first role, for which she temporarily interrupted her studies at Harvard. Her younger brother, Andrew Shue, also appears in the film as a member of Cobra Kai.
- "Crane Technique" does not exist in any form of karate or kung fu. It was specifically invented for the film by karate master Darryl Vidal, who appears as one of the semi-finalists defeated by Johnny. Vidal held a first-degree black belt at the time, but has since reached a seventh-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and has his own Kenpo Karate school in California. According to Vidal himself, the practical application of the "Crane Kick" is very limited in reality. Vidal also doubled for Pat Morita in the beach scene where Mr. Miyagi practices the Crane Technique standing on a small post driven into the sand.
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