My brother executed his theory perfectly; when I got in a fight on the other hand, I hit the kid in the chest as hard as I could, knocking out his breathing for a few minutes. No marks on face, no charge from teachers who arrived late.
This may be the first movie I saw in the theater. Perfectly cast, fun, inventive script, and a great message make it one of the defining films of the 80’s. And in a genre and era in which every movie required a memorable montage, the “You’re the Best…Around!” tournament sequence absolutely knocked it out the park.
Dan, your words so beautifully convey the horrible bullying I too experienced as a child, and a spot-on evaluation of one of my most beloved movies of all-time; what you wrote here was actually somewhat therapeutic to me(maybe even more than somewhat!). When Miyagi beat the shit out of the Cobra Kai bullying pricks , when Larusso took out Johnny with that beautiful crane-kick(and btw, screw the jerks with the revisionist history crap that it was an illegal kick lol), it was indeed as if they did so for all of us who could relate to being Daniel Larusso at one time or another in our youth, for all who could relate way too well to having experienced the unjust hell of being bullied in real life. (Btw, I somehow only became aware recently that the wonderful Pat Morita actually got a well-deserved Oscar nomination that year!). Thank you, good sir.
Great write Dream.
I am with your Dad; nose, then kick in the balls=fight over, bully educated and moving on to greener pastures.
LOVED the movie and still do; it is hope AND education on multi-levels.
Carlin Dead, beaten up a lot but still swinging
My brother executed his theory perfectly; when I got in a fight on the other hand, I hit the kid in the chest as hard as I could, knocking out his breathing for a few minutes. No marks on face, no charge from teachers who arrived late.
This may be the first movie I saw in the theater. Perfectly cast, fun, inventive script, and a great message make it one of the defining films of the 80’s. And in a genre and era in which every movie required a memorable montage, the “You’re the Best…Around!” tournament sequence absolutely knocked it out the park.
That montage sits right there with Rocky 4 for top 80s montage.
Dan, your words so beautifully convey the horrible bullying I too experienced as a child, and a spot-on evaluation of one of my most beloved movies of all-time; what you wrote here was actually somewhat therapeutic to me(maybe even more than somewhat!). When Miyagi beat the shit out of the Cobra Kai bullying pricks , when Larusso took out Johnny with that beautiful crane-kick(and btw, screw the jerks with the revisionist history crap that it was an illegal kick lol), it was indeed as if they did so for all of us who could relate to being Daniel Larusso at one time or another in our youth, for all who could relate way too well to having experienced the unjust hell of being bullied in real life. (Btw, I somehow only became aware recently that the wonderful Pat Morita actually got a well-deserved Oscar nomination that year!). Thank you, good sir.
--Todd Hartstein
Thank you sincerely, Todd. I appreciate writing unconventional pieces on film from time to time, so the impact is sweeter when they're appreciated.
PS--Oops, forgot it already says my name at the top of the post; forgive me for my repetitive ways in unnecessarily including it at the bottom!
totally get it. I sometimes sign off a blog written on a site with only one writer with my name or initials. Classic letter construction.