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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1980s
    Movies - 1980s Movies - K 2 Mins Read

    Karate Kid, The (1984)

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    Ralph Macchio played Italian kid Daniel Larusso, a weakling adolescent who was forced to leave his friends and school in Newark and move to California when his mother took a new job there in a rocket computer company.

    karatekid_004

    Daniel was bullied by a local gang called the Cobras, who worked out in a karate school, and so became determined to learn self-defence.

    Aiding him in this goal were his two new friends: a pretty girl named Ali (Elisabeth Shue) – who was not only the most popular girl in the new high school, but also the ex-steady of the karate team’s aggressive head honcho – and Mr. Myagi, a kindly old Japanese handyman (Noriyuki Morita ) who dispensed philosophy between instructions in spiritual enlightenment.

    Through expert coaching, Daniel learned balance, touch, control, and spiritual as well as physical maturity, while the other boys in the karate school only learned kicks and punches as a way of pulverising their opponents.

    karatekid_019

    The script was woefully formulaic and yet managed to press all the right emotional buttons with audiences.

    The Karate Kid was a teenage Rocky (John G Avildsen directed both films) with the same flaws and the same uplifting underdog hero values.

    A 1986 sequel followed, imaginatively named The Karate Kid: Part II.

    Daniel
    Ralph Macchio
    Miyagi
    Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita
    Ali
    Elisabeth Shue
    Kreese
    Martin Kove
    Lucille
    Randee Heller
    Johnny
    William Zabka
    Bobby
    Ron Thomas
    Tommy
    Rob Garrison
    Dutch
    Chad McQueen
    Jimmy
    Tony O’Dell
    Freddy
    Israel Juarbe
    Mr Mills
    William Bassett
    Jerry
    Larry B. Scott
    Susan
    Juli Fields
    Barbara
    Dana Andersen

    Director
    John G Avildsen

    Video

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