Grab your TurtleWax and a bucket of paint, because
The Karate Kid is the Greatest Movie EVER!
This movie contains:
Young Love.
The World’s Evil-est Karate Instructor and his Aryan Horde.
Johnny. Evil, or Just Misunderstood?
An Academy Award Nominated performance by Noriyuki “Pat” Morita.
COMING SOON!
The Tingler is loose in the theater! Scream, SCREAM FOR YOUR LIVES!
The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast 
Is it wrong for me not to feel any nostalgia for this film even though I was born in 85?
I think I just couldn’t stand the Daniel character.
Yes! The Tingler! You should do The Last Man on Earth Too! (that was for ‘Hollywood’)
Seriously, Great podcast on The Karate Kid. I could talk about that movie all day. I have no disagreements for you though, sorry. Though i did hear the worst of the worst, new Scientologist Will SmiF wants to remake it with him and his kid. Worse casting than John Larraquette.
This is in my irony free opinion a great movie. The panflute is fantastic and it’s got the guy from Hard Time on Planet Earth which was a show I think only I watched.
I haven’t watched Karate Kid in a while but that music montage at the end still gets me pumped. I also remembered parts of Karate Kid part II being in the 1st (namely Miyagi honking the sensei’s nose). I also remember the MAD magazine spoof of Karate Kid (The KaRocky Kid)
One cool thing I heard is that Pat Morita himself came up with several parts of the drunken Miyagi scene.
I also had a hapkido teacher who was called Sabunim. But he was all show so now I’m in a kung fu school where the master is called Sifu, but he’s the real deal with the terrible English and everything.
Karate Kid was a film I DID see in the theaters when I was just 7 or 8 years old back in ’84, and though I hardly remember much of it now (or it’s sequels), it’s a film I definitely put up there with Bill & Ted as that defining 80’s film we’ve all have shared our experiences in. The whole “Wax On, Wax Off” hadn’t really occurred to me at all, but thanks for the heads up if I choose to watch this again.
Thinking of something else today’s kids are missing out on, check out these links to actual MTV footage from sometime in the fall of 1983!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5905210375134304831
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5141974708608716448
Really, you just wanna go back after seeing this!
I’ve often thought that we each have our own personal heaven, or at least we see the same place in different ways. And when I die, whenever that is, my own personal heaven will look a lot like the 1980s.
Chris, at least, MTV still played music.
I, too, remember The Karocky Kid. Those were the days when I’d go to the public library to read their entire MAD Magazine archives dating back years before I was born. But you couldn’t take the latest issue. You had to read it there. Was MAD Magazine still considered somewhat cutting edge in the 80s? Dick DeBartolo sure was a guest on Nickelodeon’s “Don’t Just Sit There” rather often. And now he’s a podcaster with Leo Laporte. I rest my case.
Although I’m not too sure whether Karate Kid is in keeping with what I’ve invented in my mind as the “scope” of GME!, I must say that Sean totally brought his A-game this time around. Most of the time he–and well, most every cohost–is in the position of having to review movies that Paul’s forced them to watch, and whether they like them or not, the films haven’t been bouncing around in their heads long enough to truly become part of their being. But here we finally had one where, regardless of me thinking “is this REALLY GME! material?”, it was still permanently engraved into the souls of all involved.
It’s always best to find the people with a long-term bond to a film whenever possible, but you can’t always get that. It could however be successfully argued that some films, such as Crank or Rambo (GO SEE RAMBO IN THE THEATER RIGHT NOW), have the ability to form an instantaneous bond.
A year or two ago some friends of mine decided to make an intentionally awful short film for a convention contest. I’m about a half-decade removed from most of them, but the importance of The Karate Kid shines through all the same:
Special cameo by yours truly as the narrator. Note: contains its fair share of inside jokes regarding Florida anime fandom personalities.
The actor who plays the kid is now an editor for marvel comics. did marvel zombies etc
proof
I was about twelve or so when we saw this one in the theater, and yeah — we all ran out and took martial arts lessons from a dude in American flag motif weight lifter pants ( get your own pair!). And to this day, “You’re the Best” gets me going almost as much as “Eye of the Tiger.”
We used to arrange karate tournaments in the changing room of the pool where I was a lifeguard.
Incidentally, the way is now clear. You have reviewed Karate Kid. Sean has mentioned Ernie Reyes Jr. There is only one place to go from here…get The Glow, Paul, get The Glow.
After hearing the podcast I went trivia hunting on IMDB. I found out that David schwimmer is somewhere in this movie. I must watch it and search for him.
I recently watched a movie called Blood Tide, because I’m all classy, that starred the evil sensei as the good guy. It wasn’t working though, and I kept waiting for him to sweep James Earl Jones’ leg.
James Earl, for his money, spends most of the movie shirtless and bellowing, “Woman! Bring me a melon!” which sounds pretty awesome when being bellowed by James Earl Jones.
Keith, I am sick and tired of hearing these bullshit Superman stories about the wassa legendary Bruce Leroy catching bullets with his teeth. Catches bullets with his teeth?
We’ve been meaning to do The Last Dragon for some time now. Alas, some podcast upstart and purveyor of edible leg-clothing beat us to the punch.
He also covered Roadhouse and Shakes the Clown. When I guest on his podcast with Daryl Surat in the near future, I will express my unbridled fury. FURY, I TELL YOU!
If you ever get confused about The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid Part II, you should check out this 1980s The Karate Kid Part II Storybook:
http://www.brandedinthe80s.com/index.php?post_id=201719
Now, you will know that Daniel-san is a wimp on two continents.