The Karate Kid (1984)

Before Cobra Kai had six seasons. Before Jaden Smith. Before Hilary Swank. Before Terry SIlver, before Dynatox Industries, before Snake, even before they printed a flyer about karate’s bad boy, Mike Barnes. Before any of that, there was a kid, in New Jersey. And that’s why the movie’s called The Jersey Kid. Wait, sorry, he’s barely in New Jersey at all, he immediately moves out west to The Valley. And that’s why the movie’s called The Valley Kid. Wait, sorry, still feels wrong…?

Ah right, it’s called The Karate Kid, on account of all the fence-painting, of course! It’s a tale as old as time. Boy moves to town. Boy meets girl from Encino, a slightly wealthier part of The Valley than the part he lives in. Boy gets beaten up several times, like probably more times than you remember. Boy befriends the old depressed maintenance man in his apartment building. Boy wears a shower curtain to a school dance. Boy gets beaten up some more. Boy spends a lot of time waxing, painting, and sanding things - again, probably way more time than you remember. That’s pretty much the whole movie. Oh, right, then at the end there’s a tournament with a little bit of karate, and someone is declared “the best around” by karate champion Joe Esposito!

80s classics don’t come much more 80s or classic than this. Morita, Macchio, Shue, Kove, Zabka, and of course Chad McQueen, Steve McQueen’s son, as Zabka’s sidekick Dutch. Pretty sure the title The Karate Kid refers to Dutch? We’ll check on that. In the meantime, sweep a leg or two and join Mike, Kevin and Bill for The Karate Kid!

Written by: Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, Conor Lastowka, Sean Thomason, Jason Miller, and Zach Shatzer