Of all the unbelievable things about The Karate Kid – and there are many, so get rid of it – nothing beats that it is still going on right now, today, enough 40 years later. Filming began a fortnight ago on the fourth season of the Netflix TV series Cobra Kai, starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso and, yes, Billy Zabka as Johnny Lawrence. Martin Kove John “No Mercy” Creese’s big square head sensi is still there, and Elizabeth Shue even came back for Ali Mills ’story arc in season three.
Cobra Kai is the latest version of a three-part film to date, a remake of Jackie Chan, a Broadway album ready to be released before Covid hit, a web series, animated series and novel all have been in the name since it first landed in 1984. It has been the inspiration for a hip-hop tune called Sweep the Leg that was the first video on YouTube for week in 2007. He made up a full episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother in 2013. He Will Never Die.
Perhaps we should not be surprised. As we know, a man who catches a fly with a chopstick accomplishes anything. But even allowing a sports film art franchise, all that much life, this lasting success – it’s all a memorable stretch. Of course that was not the expectation of either director John Avildsen or writer Robert Mark Kamen back in the day.
Avildsen had been making films for 15 years before that, and most of them had swum on a ship between inaccessible and uninspiring.
“John and I went to a test screen at the Baronet Theater on Third Avenue in New York,” Kamen told Sports Illustrated in 2018. “After that, we went around the corner and smoked jointly, and foam car included. I said, ‘Here’s the headline in the Daily News tomorrow: Writer and director for The Karate Kid arrested. ‘
“Then we went into a bar and got two pictures of tequila and talked about the audience’s opinions. The people called in publicity and asked us to come back outside. Boys in suits were trying to kick the mast. Only then did we know. We had something. ”
Pendulum
They had a blow, that’s what they had. Avildsen had been making films for 15 years before that, and most of them had swum on a ship between inaccessible and uninspiring. Either way, they were treated accordingly at the box office. But it had also removed the same megahit that made everything else irrelevant. He had led Rocky.
The whole thing was the kind of subdued story that made other subdued stories look lazy. Avildsen made Rocky for $ 1.1 million in 1975 and went on to raise $ 225 million at the box office. Not only that, he was nominated for 10 Oscars, taking home three at night. He defeated the President’s Taxi, Men and Taxi Driver to the Best Picture award, while Avildsen saw off Ingmar Bergman and Sidney Lumet among others for Best Director.
You make a beat, the beat makes you. Avildsen’s next film after Rocky Slow Dancing in the Big City is a dance dance story that the New York Times dismissed as “Rocky on the hoof”. He directed Marlon Brando in a thrush in World War II called The Formula and John Belushi’s last film, Neighbors, without much praise. Film by film, her stock was falling and Rocky looked more and more like a flash in the pan.
Man who catches a fly with a chopstick: Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio in the Karate Kid
Next thing you know, the script was sent to John Avildsen who could immediately see what it was – Kamen had Rocky written in a karate suit
Meanwhile, Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub was watching the local news one night when he saw something about a nine – year – old child who picked up karate because he was being bullied. He thought there might be a movie and asked around if anyone knew of a screenwriter who would be interested. Kamen ‘s name came up as a possibility, and it was only when they sat down together that it became clear that he should do it.
That same story had largely happened to Kamen, 20 years in advance. He was beaten at the World’s Fair in New York, joined a karate club, brought up by a Japanese teacher and learned how to defend himself. The teacher was nothing but a secret surrogate father like Mr. Miyagi but, when Kamen sat down to write the script, it made perfect sense that he should be.
Deise Karate
So, two days after the birth of his first daughter, Allessandra (hence Ali as Daniel-San’s love interest), Kamen got writing. Next thing you know, the script was sent to John Avildsen who could immediately see what it was – Kamen had Rocky written in a karate suit. Avildsen had no problem with that. This was its landscape type.
“Sylvester Stallone and I joke about that all the time,” Kamen said in that Sports Illustrated piece. “It says: ‘You ripped me off from my film.’ I have an Italian baby, old man – yeah, you know what? You are absolutely right. You had one great idea and I deleted it! ”
Make the bar: Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid
Macchio, who was 21 at the time, had to be bought as the 16-year-old Daniel-San, who continued to get the blow out of it with a motorcycle gang in his new area.
Next thing you know, the script was sent to John Avildsen who could immediately see what it was – Kamen had Rocky written in a karate suit
At the takeaway, all 37 years later, it’s easy to be wise after the event and say that the Karate Kid was always intended to be a classic. But that kind of analysis avoids one important fact: the film is silly. Most sports movies have to stop disbelief somewhere along the way. The Karate Kid asks you to believe at least five completely unbelievable things in order for it to work at all.
1. You had to buy Macchio, who was 21 at the time, as the 16-year-old Daniel-San who kept getting the beat out of it with a motorcycle gang in his new area. Okay, he wasn’t the brawniest 21-year-old on the planet but there are times when it looks like he could have a job, a wife and a mortgage application in the future.
2. You had to buy Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. Morita was very funny in standing at the time, as she is best known as the Happy Days character. It was a huge leap to give him the emotional heart of the film. Equal today would be someone like the actor who plays Jonah in Veep. Morita ended up with the same Oscar nomination at the Karate Kid, for Best Supporting Actress.
3. You would have to buy Mr. Miyagi a lethal weapon of such martial arts that he could hit up five straps ne’er-do-wells that are 40 years younger (and all good feet higher than e) when he jumps them on Halloween. Two of them bring it down with left and right jabs simultaneously to the stomach and knees to the head. It only takes 12 seconds to bury all five of them. Unlikely.
4. You would have to buy that wax, wax off is a valid coaching method. Same for sand-the-floor, same for fence-paint. Another thing, an old boy is getting a child to spend a week dick up his house, his deck, his fence and his collection of old cars to teach him four basic protective blocks. That’s a 90-minute, top-notch class.
5. Above all, you had to buy a kick. Ancient karate martial art can be traced back to 14th century Chinese Tang dynasty and yet, because of this film, there is no more famous movement in the sport than standing on one foot with your arms up and your wrists flexed. , waiting for a surrendering opponent to stick his head into the small window you created, there to kick in the chin. In real life, the kick of the tree has two main attractions. One, it’s pretty simple for an opponent to take your balance off and finish you off. Two, it is illegal in a competition and you would be disqualified from trying.
And yet, and yet. For those of us at a certain age and most likely, now, a special beauty, there is strength in the face. The Karate Kid is without a doubt one of the smallest, slowest films that this series has touched on but, at the same time, it would be so hard for you to find one with a heavier presence in a major culture. very popular.
Mgr Miyagi. Daniel-san. Cobra Kai. Yes, Sensei. No, Sensei. Wax on, wax off. Squish as grape. A man who takes flight with a chopstick. You start a fortune. You’re the best around, gonna never keep you down. Without mercy. Sweep the leg. Get him a body bag. Kick the mast. Point, winner!
You’re right, LaRusso.