The Karate Kid: 1984

I look back on this movie fondly. I think the film industry had began to realise there was a lot of young men at that time growing up without fathers. This had become a new phenomenon in a world that was becoming increasingly safer. For instance maybe 200 years ago it was normal for a parent to die, but now it's quite rare.

And due to the rising divorce rate between men and women as we were slowly moving further and further away from devout religion, many young men were finding themselves fatherless in a cruel world with little to no guidance. This wasn't the case for Daniel though, his dad died by a terminal illness when he was 8 years old. However, the situation is the same.

I loved Karate Kid because I was one such little boy pitted against the cruel mean world with no-one to help me. I had a mother that thought I should be able to defend myself and anytime someone "came at me" I was often found to be fighting them on my own. This is why this film was so dear because it gave me the idea to learn to fight and defend myself. I'll never forget the look on one of my bullies eyes as I round house kicked him.

The story is a story as old as time itself. Probably the situations have changed and the way that it is done has, but the story is similar to ones that are told back in ancient times. Boys getting themselves in trouble over girls. That's it, Daniel and his bullies are fighting over a girl, and because Daniel doesn't know how to defend himself then they always end up beating him up and leaving him in bruises and black eyes.

One day they go too far though and that's where the local landlord of his new apartment building steps in and dispels the fight. Mr Miyagi, an old Japanese karate master war veteran beats up the five lads and sends them packing, running away for their safety. That's where he takes Daniel back into the house, cleans him up and fixes his bike.

He vows to train Daniel in the art of self-defence and teach him how to defend himself against the bullies. That's also where he finds that the bullies Sensei is a deranged psycho hell-bent on reliving his war-time ideals (kill or be killed) and is passing this mentality onto his children. Strike first, no mercy. Completely at odds with what Mr Miyagi was taught.

But in aid to train Daniel, Mr Miyagi makes a deal with the psycho Sensei so that Daniel can have some peace. The deal is set to the old valley state karate championship where Daniel will compete to be the state champion - a far sight to his battle readiness at the moment.

I watched this film only quite recently, and it was very interesting the way in which people talked to each other and handled situations. We were very much a more violent and archaic culture than what we are now. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Who knows!

But anyway, again, another one of my all time favourites. Five full massive stars from me. I would recommend watching all three Karate Kids and then following up with the Cobra Kai series that aired recently!!