Topic: The Karate Kid

Foightiiiiiiing!

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Karate Kid

Teague, I just want you to know...

YOU'RE THE BEST! AROUND!

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: The Karate Kid

I'm down, but I think I can escape it!

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Karate Kid

DoctorSubmarine wrote:

YOU'RE THE BEST! AROUND!

I'm never going to get that song out of my head now.

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Re: The Karate Kid

Teague hasn't listened to this commentary apparently because as Dorkman and I make clear, this isn't really a fighting movie.

Eddie Doty

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Teague was too busy trying to make a running joke out of mentioning my name as often as possible, so he can't be expected to actually have retained any of the information that was said during the commentary.

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Re: The Karate Kid

Who are you guys?

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

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Re: The Karate Kid

LOL.

/warning! posts cannot contain only capital letters

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Re: The Karate Kid

What's the story behind Jerry Weintraub screwing Bruce Lee? Maybe it's because I'm tired but I can't recall this story at all and Google isn't giving me shit either.

Re: The Karate Kid

Gotta correct myself on this one and I'm a bit red faced about it.  It was actually FRED Weintraub (no relation to Karate Kid's Jerry) that worked with Bruce Lee. 

With that said, it wasn't so much that Fred screwed as much as it was Fred who was powerless to stop Bruce from getting screwed.  Long story short, Bruce pitched a show he developed called "The Warrior," to both Paramount and Warners, and Fred helped facilitate the pitch.  Not long after, a show called Kung Fu, starring David Carradine came on the air, and the characters backstory and old west setting were identical to what Bruce pitched.  Fred didn't have anything to do with that, but he a lot of people say he could have protected Bruce a bit more.  He went on to Produce Enter the Dragon, and my single favorite Blacksploitation film of all time, Black Belt Jones.

Eddie Doty

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Re: The Karate Kid

I actually listened to this Commentary some time ago. But, I missed out on the live chat at the time. I love the Karate Kid ('84...I will NEVER watch the bastardized remake. "Every man has his breaking point.") Recently, I rediscovered an old VHS with "SideKicks" (1992) on it.
I actually enjoyed watching it some 20 years later. Maybe it was Chuck Norris or Jonathan Brandis as the asthmatic Barry. Who, despite being the Hottest kid on the planet, is picked on and labeled a "dork."
Or it's the blatant Mr. Miyagi rip-off (who is Chinese) who trains Barry in downtown Dallas. Pushups while dangling over a park fountain is included.
I even liked Joe Piscapo, who devours all of the scenery.

If I was participating in the chats at the time, I would have asked Eddie if he had seen this film. Also, what did he think of the martial arts involved. The final tournament is no "All Valley," but there are some passable demonstrations intermixed into the finale.
And, as far as I know, Piscapo loved to pump iron. But i never thought he was into martial arts.

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Re: The Karate Kid

I've seen Sidekicks, yes, and all it is is a slightly updated Karate Kid model with a bit of wish fulfillment/revenge fanatasy mixed in.  It came out on HBO right when I started doing Martial Arts so it certainly made it into my rotation at the time.  I liked that they emphasized that the kid needed to run his ass around a few times and actually get into shape.  It's a harmless, totally forgettable movie.

As for the Martial Arts involved, it was a hodgepodge of tournament Karate (which is to say, a mix of Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, probably some Shorin-Ryu, and undoubtedly Norris' own Kuk Sul Won).  It was flashy, with no real soul and no real stakes.  Piscapo is a total caricature at this point and no matter how much gravitas Mako and Beau Bridges try to give it, it never really escapes its own trappings.

Eddie Doty

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Re: The Karate Kid

Thanks for the response, Mr. Doty.
Indeed, it is rather passable fare. But certainly indelible, given that I saw at 11 years old. And still had a thing for Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar)
I was a burgeoning recommended red belt at the time. Was a split Red/Black belt standard in Taekwondo? I always thought that two-tone belt was the coolest.

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Re: The Karate Kid

I've seen the split black belt as well as a checkerboard pattern belt.  It's all mostly horseshit. 

I got my black sash when I walked in the door one day and my Sifu threw it at me and said "Don't fuck it up."  I'm a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and got that belt the same way.  Muay Thai has no belts, so I never had to bother with that noise.

Eddie Doty

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Re: The Karate Kid

Sidekicks is a bit worrying, the kid is obviously mentally ill. Watch the Nostalgia Critic's review on the That Guy With The Glasses site, he sums it up perfectly.

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Re: The Karate Kid

A belated note about the You're the Best,

One might wonder why it opens "History repeats itself", what history? This is the first time Daniel has been in a karate tourney, right?

Well, the song was originally written for Rocky III, but was dumped, then reused for Karate Kid.

The More You Know


Loved the commentary, and love this movie. I remember seeing it in theaters and going nuts for it (I was about 9 I think).

Any chance of doing Karate Kid II in the future?

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Re: The Karate Kid

I'm sure we'll get around to it in season 3.  I like that movie just fine, and it was shot mostly in Hawaii, not far from where my reserve unit was out there.

Eddie Doty

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I just remembered this, and I'm surprised it never came up during the commentary.

Re: The Karate Kid

Indeed, considering my friend Megan Duffy was a producer for that video.

Eddie Doty

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Re: The Karate Kid

Saw this on Slate: The director has a YouTube Channel that shows lots of rehearsal footage, fills some plot holes. Thought the Doty would enjoy:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201 … more_.html

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Re: The Karate Kid

Dope!  Thanks for this.

Eddie Doty

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Re: The Karate Kid

Matt Vayda wrote:

I just remembered this, and I'm surprised it never came up during the commentary.

At first I was like, "This'll be cute. Hey, that's the principal guy." And then I was like, "That's funny. That's looks like Zabka. Wait. Holy shit, that's Martin Kove!" And then I was like, "THIS IS AWESOME! LOLBALLS!"

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries