The Karate Kid | |
---|---|
Directed by | John G. Avildsen |
Produced by | Jerry Weintraub |
Written by | Robert Mark Kamen |
Starring | |
Music by | Bill Conti |
Cinematography | James Crabe |
Edited by | |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | |
Running time | 127 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $8 million[2] |
Box office | $91 million[3] |
The Karate Kid is a 1984 American martial artsdrama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in The Karate Kid franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita, and Elisabeth Shue.[4][5]The Karate Kid follows Daniel LaRusso (Macchio), a teenager taught Gōjū-ryū karate by Mr. Miyagi (Morita) to help defend himself and compete in a tournament against his bullies, one of which is the ex-boyfriend of his love interest Ali Mills (Shue).
Kamen was approached by Columbia Pictures to compose a film similar to Avildsen's previous success Rocky (1976), after signing the director. Kamen drew inspiration from his own life when writing the film.[6] As a result, he maintained strong opinions regarding cast, and petitioned heavily for Morita's inclusion.[7] Preparations for the film began immediately after the final edit of the script was complete, and casting took place between April and June 1983. Principal photography began in September 1983 in Los Angeles, and filming was complete by December 1983.
The Karate Kid was theatrically released in the United States on June 22, 1984. The film received universal acclaim from critics, many of whom praised the action sequences, writing, storyline, acting performances, and music. The film was also a commercial success, grossing over $91 million worldwide, making it among the highest grossing films of 1984.
The Karate Kid is a movie starring Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, and Taraji P. Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home, the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master.
The film is also notable for kickstarting the career of Macchio, as well as revitalizing the acting career of Morita, who was previously known mostly for comedic roles, and earned Morita a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[8]The Karate Kid subsequently launched a media franchise, and is credited for popularizing karate in the United States.[9][10]
17-year-old Daniel LaRusso moves with his mother Lucille to Reseda, Los Angeles, California from Newark, New Jersey at the start of the school year. Their apartment's handyman is an eccentric, but kindly and humble Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi.
Daniel befriends Ali Mills, an attractive high school cheerleader, which draws the attentions of her arrogant ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence, a skilled practitioner and top student from the 'Cobra Kai' dojo, where he studies an unethical and vicious form of karate. Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang continually torment Daniel, savagely beating him up on Halloween until Mr. Miyagi intervenes and single-handedly defeats them with ease. Amazed, Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him karate. Miyagi refuses, but agrees to bring Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo to resolve the conflict. They meet with the sensei, John Kreese, an ex-Special ForcesVietnam veteran who callously dismisses the peace offering. Miyagi then proposes that Daniel enter the All-Valley Karate Championships, where he can compete with Johnny and the other Cobra Kai students on equal terms, and requests that the bullying cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the terms, but warns that if Daniel does not show up for the tournament, the harassment will continue on both Daniel and Miyagi.
Daniel's training starts with menial chores that he believes only makes him Miyagi's slave. When he becomes frustrated, Miyagi demonstrates that these actions have helped him to learn defensive blocks through muscle memory. Their bond develops and Miyagi opens up to Daniel about his life that includes the dual loss of his wife and son in childbirth at the Manzanarinternment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe, where he received the Medal of Honor. Through Mr. Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns not only karate but also important life lessons such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons that Miyagi has taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali. On Daniel's birthday, Miyagi presents him the uniform he will wear at the tournament and his own car as his birthday gifts.
At the tournament, Daniel surprises everyone by reaching the semi-finals. Johnny advances to the finals, scoring three unanswered points against Darryl Vidal. Kreese instructs his second best student Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, severely injuring Daniel and getting disqualified in the process. Daniel is taken to the locker room, with the physician determining that he can't continue, but Daniel believes that if he does not continue, his tormentors will have gotten the best of him. He convinces Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique to allow him to continue. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Daniel returns to fight. The match is a seesaw battle, as neither is able to break through the other's defense.
The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor leg technique to trip Johnny, delivering a blow to the back of the head and giving Johnny a nose bleed. Kreese directs Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg, an unethical move. Johnny looks horrified at the order, but reluctantly agrees. As the match resumes, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and delivers a vicious blow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the 'Crane' stance, a technique he observed Mr. Miyagi performing on a beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and delivers a front kick to Johnny's face, winning the tournament. Johnny, having gained newfound respect for his nemesis, presents the trophy to Daniel himself, as Daniel is carried off by an enthusiastic crowd.
The Karate Kid is a semi-autobiographical story based on the life of its screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen. At age 12, after the 1964 New York World's Fair, Kaman was beaten up by a gang of bullies. He thus began to study martial arts in order to defend himself.[6] Kamen was unhappy with his first teacher who taught martial arts as a tool for violence and revenge. So he moved on to study OkinawanGōjū-ryū karate under a Japanese teacher who did not speak English, but was himself a student of Chōjun Miyagi.[6]
As a Hollywood screenwriter, Kamen was mentored by Frank Price who told him that producer Jerry Weintraub had optioned a news article about the young child of a single mother who had earned a black belt to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. Kamen then combined his own life story with the news article and used both to create the screenplay for The Karate Kid.[6] Additionally, given John G. Avildsen's involvement with both films, Sylvester Stallone often joked with Kamen that the writer had 'ripped off' the Rocky films with The Karate Kid.[6]
A number of actors were considered for the part of Daniel, including Robert Downey Jr., Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards, and Eric Stoltz.[6] Ultimately, Ralph Macchio was cast due to his performance in The Outsiders (1983).[6] Macchio later commented that, 'the character was originally named Danny Weber. As soon as I walked in the room, it changed to LaRusso.'[6] The studio originally wanted the role of Mr. Miyagi to be played by Toshiro Mifune, who had appeared in the films Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), and The Hidden Fortress (1958), but the actor didn't speak English.[6]Pat Morita later auditioned for the role, but was rejected for the part due to his close association with stand up comedy, and for the character Arnold on Happy Days.[6] After a few failed attempts, Morita grew a beard and patterned his accent after his uncle, which led to him being cast in the role.[11]
Crispin Glover was considered for the role of Johnny, but the studio later opined for William Zabka. After his audition, Zabka saw Macchio, who noted '[Zabka] scared the shit out of me' during his audition to the studio.[6]Demi Moore was also considered for the role of Ali, but Elisabeth Shue was cast based partly on a Burger King commercial that became widely popular in the early 1980s. The film marks the debut roles of both Zabka and Shue.[6] Late in production, Valerie Harper was considered for the role of Lucille, but the studio later instated Randee Heller for the role.[6]
Filming began on October 31, 1983,[12] and wrapped on December 16, 1983.[13] Additionally, Columbia Pictures needed to obtain permission from DC Comics to use the Karate Kid title due to DC's existing ownership of the character, Karate Kid.[14]
The musical score for The Karate Kid was composed by Bill Conti, a frequent collaborator of director John G. Avildsen since their initial pairing on Rocky (1976). The instrumental score was orchestrated by Jack Eskew and featured pan flute solos by Gheorge Zamfir. On March 12, 2007, Varèse Sarabande released all four Karate Kid scores in a 4-CD box set limited to 2,500 copies worldwide.[15]
A soundtrack album was released in 1984 by Casablanca Records containing many of the contemporary songs featured in the film. Of particular note is Joe Esposito's 'You're the Best', featured during the tournament montage near the end of the first film. Originally written for Rocky III (1982), 'You're the Best' was rejected by Sylvester Stallone in favor of Survivor's hit song 'Eye of the Tiger'. Coincidentally, Survivor also performed the main theme ('The Moment of Truth' Music & Lyrics: Bill Conti, Dennis Lambert, Peter Beckett) for The Karate Kid.
Bananarama's 1984 hit song 'Cruel Summer' also made its U.S. debut in The Karate Kid but was excluded from the film's soundtrack album. Other songs featured in the film but left off the album include 'Please Answer Me' performed by Broken Edge and 'The Ride' performed by The Matches.
The Karate Kid ranked #40 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[16]
The film received an approval rating of 88% on review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes based on 43 reviews, its consensus reads: 'Utterly predictable and wholly of its time, but warm, sincere, and difficult to resist, due in large part to Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio's relaxed chemistry.'[17]
On its release, Roger Ebert called the film one of the year's best, gave it four stars out of four, and described it as an 'exciting, sweet-tempered, heart-warming story with one of the most interesting friendships in a long time.'[18]Janet Maslin of The New York Times also gave a positive review.[19]
Upon release of the 2010 remake, Dana Stevens wrote,
'The 1984 original .. may have seemed like a standard-issue inspirational sports picture at the time, but (as with another box-office hit of the same year, The Terminator) a generation of remove reveals what a well-crafted movie it actually was. Rewatched today, the original Kid, directed by Rocky's John G. Avildsen, feels smart and fresh, with a wealth of small character details and a leisurely middle section that explores the boy's developing respect for his teacher.'[20]
Year | Award | Category | Result |
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1985 | Academy Awards[21] | Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Pat Morita | Nominated |
Golden Globes[22] | Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Pat Morita | Nominated | |
Young Artist Awards[citation needed] | Best Family Motion Picture - Drama | Won | |
Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama - Elisabeth Shue | Won | ||
Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Musical, Comedy, Adventure or Drama - William Zabka | Nominated |
The first film led to The Karate Kid franchise.
The original 1984 film 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 revitalized the acting career of Morita, previously known mostly for his comedic role as Arnold on Happy Days, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Miyagi. Morita reprised his role in three subsequent sequels, while Macchio returned for two.[23]
The music video for the song 'Sweep the Leg' by No More Kings stars William Zabka (who also directed the video) as a caricature of himself and features references to The Karate Kid, including cameo appearances by Zabka's former Karate Kid co-stars.[26]
Kove and Zabka[27] appeared on an episode of Tosh.0 as their original characters for 'Board Breaker Web Redemption'.
I recommend setting it back to 12 before doing a new mod merge if you've changed it at any point, this will keep your mod folder at 13, easy to remember if you stop playing the game for an extended period of time. Also, if you have mods, or intend to put them back in, don't have the package.mft files in your Patch folder and your mod folder set to the same number, your patch folder should always be lower. Dragon age inquisition patch 12. Just remember that the version number is baked into your saves, so you will always have to have a version number equal to or greater than what you're using in order to play those saves, so if you set it to a high number, remember that number. Some areas in the game (mostly DLC areas, also one area in the main game) do not like certain mods (or types of mods), some people find it easiest to remove their mod folder in these instances. This will require either modifying the package.mft file or, as many people do, creating an empty mod merge (with just the patch folder selected, remember to move your 'proper' mod folder out of the Update directory before doing the merge), which can be switched out with your mod folder whenever you come across one of these locations, negating the need for package.mft editing.
Macchio and Zabka made a guest appearance as themselves in the How I Met Your Mother episode 'The Bro Mitzvah'. In the episode, Macchio is invited to Barney Stinson's bachelor party, leading to Barney shouting that he hates Macchio and that Johnny was the real hero of The Karate Kid. Towards the end of the episode, a clown in the party wipes off his makeup and reveals himself as Zabka.[28]
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