The series A posteriori le cinéma is intended to be an opportunity to celebrate the 7the art by revisiting flagship titles that celebrate important anniversaries.
In the cinema, certain films attract crowds in their time, but then sink into oblivion: an ephemeral success, like fashions. On the other hand, there are others who cross the ages, and whose legacy, from one succession to the next, remakes, seems eternal. Released 40 years ago this month, The Karate Kid (The moment of truth), by John G. Avildsen, belongs to the second category. As proof: this sixth season, no less, of the popular series Cobra Kai, created from the universe of the original film, expected soon. The fact is that this story celebrating resilience in the face of bullying, surpassing oneself, first love and, above all, the importance of friendship, had, and continues to have, everything to please.
The Karate Kid relates the difficult acclimatization of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio, chosen ahead of Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage), a teenager from New Jersey who recently moved to California. As soon as he arrives, Daniel becomes the target of a gang of bullies, led by the arrogant Johnny (William Zabka). The bullies in question practice karate under the aegis of a sadistic sensei, Kreese (Martin Kove), of the Cobra Kai dojo.
Fortunately for Daniel, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), the fifty-year-old janitor of his building, decides to take him under his wing and teach him karate. At the same time, Daniel courts the beautiful Ali (Elisabeth Shue)…
It all culminates in a championship during which Daniel confronts his bullies, to the sound of the earworm You’re the Bestby Joe Esposito, song originally intended for the film Rocky III.
Moreover, upon its release, The Karate Kid was often compared to Rocky, also directed by John G. Avildsen. In the work The Directors: Take Twothe filmmaker remembers:
“When I was sent Robert Mark Kamen’s script, I said to myself […] that people were going to call the film The KaRocky Kid. »
If there are undeniable similarities, moreover inherent in the formula of the disadvantaged hero triumphing in adversity (or “ underdog ), the two films turn out to be distinct upon examination. Among other examples, unlike Rocky Balboa, Daniel LaRusso wins the victory at the end, not without having found himself on the mat many times.
It is shaky, but determined, that he overcomes Johnny. Johnny who, when handing the trophy to Daniel, reveals himself against all expectations to be a good player, formulating these memorable congratulations: “You’re strong, LaRusso! » (“ You’re all right, LaRusso “, in original version).
We bet that this final burst of fair play on Johnny’s part is one of the reasons that allowed the public to accept the idea of this antagonist as a hero decades later in the series Cobra Kai.
A part of autobiography
Robert Mark Kamen based the plot on his own experiences. Indeed, like Daniel, Kamen learned karate as a means of defense after being attacked by a group of thugs during his adolescence. Reproaching the values of violence and revenge favored by his first sensei (who inspired the character of Kreese), the future screenwriter chose a second (the model of Mr. Miyagi), with a pacifist approach.
In the film, Daniel wants to learn karate not to fight, but “to not have to fight”.
In interview at Uproxx, in 2021, Kamen returns to the Gōjū-ryū style of karate, from Okinawa, used in the film: “Karate in Okinawa has a different meaning than in the rest of Japan, or in Korea or elsewhere. Karate is part of the culture there. When I was in Okinawa, the thing that struck me the most was that people didn’t say, “Ah, this guy is a great fighter.” It was more like, “He trains very hard.” »
Hence the importance given, in the film, to the “discipline” component, when Mr. Miyagi instills in Daniel the basics of karate in an indirect, but effective, way. In this regard, how can we forget car polish? “Buff, scrub, polish, scrub…”
To specify Avildsen in The Directors: Take Two : “I was very impressed by Robert’s script, because just like Sylvester’s [Stallone, pour Rocky] didn’t really talk about boxing, The Karate Kid wasn’t actually talking about karate. The subject was this young boy suffering from bullying, and who meets this father figure, Mr. Miyagi, everyone’s dream father. »
In fact, Daniel’s biological father is missing from the equation. As in several popular films from the first half of the 1980s, the teenager is raised by a single mother: see also The Fog (Fog), ET, the extra-terrestrial, Max Dugan Returns (The return of Max Dugan), Footloose, Fright Night (Vampire, did you say vampire ?), or The Lost Boys (Lost Generation). In this case, a sub-theme of financial insecurity enriches the plot, with poverty constituting an additional obstacle for Daniel, particularly because Ali and Johnny come from a bourgeois background.
As for Mr. Miyagi, he will become the young hero’s best friend. The heart of the film, and heart is the right word, lies in this magnificently written relationship, directed, and played by Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, the latter very complicit. As summarized by Craig Simpson in an essay published by Slant in 2009 :
“Due to the differences in ages, cultures and temperaments, the friendship between Daniel and Miyagi is more unusual, and therefore more interesting. It begins with a teacher-student relationship, a mentor-protege dynamic, from which kindness, generosity and respect slowly develop […] Individually, each character has appealing eccentricities. Macchio immediately attracts sympathy with his cute habit of talking to himself, emphasizing the character’s solitude without begging for pity. »
From respect to deference
Further on, Simpson continues, with regard to Pat Morita’s unforgettable composition:
“Morita’s approach—from trying to catch flies with chopsticks to deflating Daniel’s arrogance—makes Miyagi damn funny. He is also deeply human, imperfect, and haunted by a “Dark secret from the past” that the actor embodies with total conviction. I’ve never seen a scene of drunken depression like the one in The Karate Kid : a pivotal moment in the film that likely earned Morita his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. »
This poignant sequence, where a drunk Mr. Miyagi remembers with melancholy how his wife and their newborn son perished in the American concentration camps where Japanese-American citizens were interned during the Second World War, at the very time when he was in front in the American army (Medal of Courage in support), helped to highlight a page of inglorious history of the United States.
Under the pretext that this passage slowed down the action, the studio asked that it be cut. In the same way that he had fought for the little-known Pat Morita to obtain the role of Miyagi, which the studio intended to offer to Toshirō Mifune (a favorite actor of Akira Kurosawa), Avildsen flatly refused.
A wise decision, since it is at the end of this infinitely moving sequence, which ends with Daniel tucking in Mr. Miyagi, that the teenager’s respect towards his elder turns into deference.
A timeless theme
Ultimately, John G. Avildsen was correct in asserting that The Karate Kid doesn’t “actually talk about karate.” What the famous Roger Ebert also understood.
In 1984, the influential critic gave the film a perfect score while admitting, repentantly, to having gone to the cinema reluctantly:
“The appeal of this film lies not in the fight sequences, but in the interpersonal relationships […] The Karate Kid is one of the great surprises of the year: an exciting, tender and heartwarming story, with one of the most interesting friendships in a long time. »
No doubt the unwavering affection that the film enjoys comes from this: from the fact that a friendship, a true one, never goes out of style.
The film The Karate Kid is available on VOD on most platforms.