The Karate Kid The Rewatchables
The Karate Kid poster
The Karate Kid

Most Rewatchable Scene

'You're the Best' tournament montage; soccer tryout scene

In the discussion (24)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:24Read transcript
  • The first beach fight opens the list; nobody knows how the moped gang got to a beach at least 40 minutes from where they live, or who rides mopeds on the beach.
  • Daniel's soccer juggling on the beach is presented as forward-thinking but is basic stuff; Johnny smashes Ali's radio with uncomfortable, unexplored O.J.-Nicole vibes, and none of her friends stand up for her.
  • Daniel lands one cheap-shot punch before being finished off, and Freddy and his friends immediately drop him.
  • Starting to work out took a lot longer than age eight; the movie's first scene has Daniel boasting he can teach Freddy karate, and it is unclear whether the film wants viewers to think he can hang with Johnny or is just laying a foundation so his tournament rise is less absurd. — Ryen Russillo
  • Johnny's red jacket is dated to a nine-month fad; the beach is Elisabeth Shue's first scene, and she belongs on a Mount Rushmore of 80s movie crushes with Kelly Preston and Apollonia, and she is said to have later won an Oscar.
  • The Halloween fight: Daniel hoses Johnny while he rolls a joint wearing a Walkman, is too slow to escape over the fence, and gets run down to the 'Danger' song; 'I'll decide when he's had enough' is called one of the best lines ever.
  • Miyagi 'goes hero ball' like Kobe in 2006; the double punch and the tummy-slap finish on Johnny are questioned as unrealistic, though Zabka's footwork is praised.
  • The hosts cite a Sports Illustrated oral history in which Macchio says the scene was filmed at 4 a.m. and Zabka, meant to fake a roundhouse, really hit him in the jaw; Zabka says Macchio leaned into it.
  • The episode exists partly because a son demanded it after re-bingeing Cobra Kai; they watched the movie on day two of the quarantine.
  • In Miyagi's visit to the Cobra Kai dojo, a background student does knuckle push-ups through every take; the favorite line is 'no one touches the prima donna until after the tournament.'
  • The hosts point out Andrew Shue, Elisabeth Shue's brother from Melrose Place, as an unheard Cobra Kai in the scene, along with Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds, whose toughness is hard to believe.
  • The Kreese actor reportedly stayed in character on set, and he was not one of only three real black belts in the movie.
  • The All Valley Karate Championships poster is visible; reproductions are on eBay, but only an original would be worth buying.
  • After roughly ten minutes of Daniel remodeling Miyagi's house, the wax-on/wax-off confrontation reveals the chores were karate training; it is ridiculous but still enjoyable, and kids said 'wax on, wax off' to each other for years.
  • The country club scene is not a top-five scene: it is unclear why Ali would date Daniel, her parents are an extreme cliché, and a whole dining room laughing at the spaghetti collision is called absurd.
  • A scene said to have been cut had Daniel sit on blueberry pie; the spaghetti coverage looks painted on.
  • Daniel's unfunny flirting is compared with Serpico's painful dating phase; the couple is said to have fought like hell for each other.
  • The training montage on the pier and the boat, with its music, is praised as high-level for the mid-1980s.
  • The declared pick is the tournament montage that kicks into Joe Esposito's 'You're the Best'; it is ranked with the opening of Rocky 3 (Eye of the Tiger) as the best movie music montage, and it is on-sight viewing whenever it airs.
  • The hosts say 'You're the Best' was originally meant for Rocky 3 and was also in play for Flashdance; the tournament was shot with about six cameras like live theater, with a real crowd, and Zabka's mother was upset by the booing.
  • The referee Pat Johnson, described as a real black belt, brings authentic intensity; the hosts say the tournament was staged as a real event at Cal State Northridge's arena with 500 to 1,000 spectators and a couple hundred competitors.
  • An alternative is the whole last stretch, from Daniel asking Miyagi to fix his leg through 'sweep the leg', 'get him a body bag', the crane kick and the trophy presentation.
  • Asked for a pick between the two or something else, the answer is the soccer tryout where Daniel is thrown off the team; the slide tackle was vicious, Daniel was right to punch back, and the coach just did not like him.
  • The segment ends with 'You're the Best' named as most rewatchable.