Nearly three dozen members of the cast and crew of the original 1984 "The Karate Kid" share behind-the-scenes moments and filming secrets of an all-time classic movie.
(by Alex Prewitt si.com 5-1-18)
At the end of a switchback road that winds through Sonoma Valley wine country, the wood varnish has worn from the spot where Robert Mark Kamen still practices karate on his vineyard porch each day. Now 66, the screenwriter took up martial arts after getting jumped by a gang of bullies at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. In hindsight, it was a history-altering asskicking.
His earliest instructor was a truculent Marine captain who preached raw violence, which helped on the revenge front but which left Kamen desiring a deeper spiritual connection with the craft. He branched out and discovered Okinawan Gōjū-ryū, a defensive style designed to turn aggression on the aggressor with smooth blocks and sharp counterstrikes. Kamen trained four hours each day, seven days a week, under a teacher who spoke little English but who had learned directly from the founder of Okinawan Gōjū-ryū: a sensei named Chojun Miyagi.
Sound familiar? Three and a half decades after Kamen turned his life into a 109-page draft of a script, The Karate Kid waxes on. Released in June 1984, two weeks following the premier of Ghostbusters, the film endures through an endless list of quotable catchphrases: “sand the floor. . . paint the fence. . . sweep the leg.” It inspired generations to stand up against schoolyard tormentors (pity those who did so with a crane kick), introduced a mainstream audience to the heroism of the all-Japanese 442nd Infantry Regiment from World War II, and lives on through an upcoming web series, Cobra Kai. The film’s $90 million domestic gross helped Kamen build his beloved vineyard, where he’s sitting on this sun-splashed afternoon, fielding a call from the manager of a local cinema who wants him to appear at an upcoming Karate Kid tribute night.
“I’ll wear my Mr. Miyagi T-shirt,” Kamen replies. “Or I can wear my WAX ON, F--- OFF T-shirt.”
Many of the production’s principal figures have passed away, including producer Jerry Weintraub, director John Avildsen and Pat Morita, whose turn as Miyagi earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, a first in that category for an Asian-American. But nearly three dozen other members of the cast and crew spoke with SPORTS ILLUSTRATED about the making of The Karate Kid, reliving a whopping hit that, like Daniel LaRusso’s performance in the final round of the All-Valley Under-18 Karate Championships, no one saw coming,
(more to come)
https://www.si.com/tech-media/2018/05/01/karate-kid-movie-oral-history-cobra-kai
