@@GD-tt6hl He made the comparison to Rocky because the same director made The Karate Kid. John G Avildsen didn't make the other Rocky movies. The only one he made is the one where Rocky loses.
@@nocturneJOJO They mention that there will be a karate fight, and then immediately after they mention that they say they won't go beyond that - the only thing left is who wins.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
@@usafdirtboyz2797 I always felt like Ebert was pretty good at meeting movies where they were. He wasn't perfect, and I'm sure there are some counterexamples, but he could appreciate almost any kind of movie, as long as it did something worthwhile.
They both missed the point of the movie Daniel had no father figure Miyagi lost his family They both filled a void in each other's lives, when they needed it the most It's a tale of friendship and found family The karate is an afterthought in the story
I have now watched hundreds of these old Siskel and Ebert reviews over the last few weeks, I can't get enough of them. I've come to the conclusion that Ebert's reviews are definitely more in line with my thinking. It's not that Gene's reviews are poor, I just think sometimes he focuses too much on thematic elements, characters and other more cerebral components to a movie and sometimes misses the big picture so to speak. Roger tends to look for movies that are entertaining, which is ultimately the point of any movie, to entertain.
I think you're being too kind. It's not that Siskel has bad opinions, as those are subjective. I just find his opinions based on faulty logic and a horrible overall approach to reviewing movies.
Sometimes I think part of the show was to have some sorta of disagreement even if they both liked the film just to make the show more interesting. No one really likes boring movie reviews so the banter back and forth make the show interesting
Agreed! I’ve seen Karate kid dozens of times and had no idea it was 2 hours long lol. It definitely feels shorter. That’s one sign of a good movie in my opinion.
That's kind of like saying Goodfellas is too long. When it's a great movie, like both of these flicks, the length of time is irrelevant. Both tell a great story, both have interesting plots, and fun dialogue. I never agreed too much with Gene Siskel anyway.
@@yourallbrainwashed The same when I saw it in the theater. I couldn't even hear what Johnny said to Daniel when he handed him the trophy. I didn't know until I saw it again later on VHS.
Siskel missed this by a mile. Thankfully Ebert got it. This was an absolute classic. And to Siskel, what is predictable about teaching karate skills by waxing cars and painting fences?? That was totally unpredictable, and is such an awesome part of the movie. 2 hours is too long? What? That added to the entire story -- he meets Ali, life in high school for a new kid, etc. May he RIP, but man Siskel, you missed the beauty of this classic movie.
Fun fact. The scene where Miyagi gets drunk & Daniel put him to bed was almost cut from the film. The producers thought it forced into too serious a territory and that it adding a back story to Miyagi would take away from the focus being on Daniel. All I can say is thank God they left it in because it’s the only scene where Daniel takes care of Miyagi. It showed Daniel was really growing to love Miyagi like a father. It showed that their relationship was not just a guy doing a favor to a kid in his building.
@@bfettrulez6734 yes, thank goodness they kept that scene, It's one of the best scenes in the whole movie! Daniel finds that Miyagi was a war hero, but was very humble about it and never let anyone know that he was awarded VALOR. Daniel turns and bows, and the music score in the background really makes the scene. another great scene is when he tells Miyagi he's the best friend he's ever had.
@@commonsense3055 well they complement each other. Miyagi once had a family but was taken from him & he sorta sees that chance to have a family again with Daniel. Daniel looked for a teacher but found a father. This scene goes beyond a man teaching a kid karate & establishes that this friendship is deeper than that of just a teacher student relationship. When u rewatch the film, u start to pick up these little nuances.
If only they didn't call it Karate Kid, because Jaden doesn't learn Karate, he learns Kung Fu. Perhaps if they called it the Kung Fu Kid, it would not only have been more accurate, but also spared it the curse of being compared to the original, allowing it to be seen on its own merits. But keeping the inaccurate name only served to the film's detriment and acted as a distraction from the film itself.
And siskel with his arrogant “no way” pat morita wont be nominated for an Oscar.... Morita created one of the most memorable characters in cinematic history. Say Mr. Miyagi, and everyone over 30 will know who that is
if you around at that time, Pat Morita was known as the "Hip Nip" in stand up comedy, and as a very minor character of Arnold in Happy Days. It's not surprising that people didn't think he could act at this particular time.
@@jimchabai3163 Jamie Foxx and Monique were known as comedians and they won Oscars for dramatic roles. And Jennifer Hudson was a singer who never acted in a movie prior to the one she won an Oscar for. Frank Sinatra was a musician before he was an actor. Gene "Dumb Ass" Siskel saw the movie and couldn't tell that P.M. gave a great performance? I mean to be so smug and confident that he wouldn't even be nominated. F him.
Ebert was spot on. Siskel was way off the mark. Time will always tell. The Karate Kid is now regarded as one of the greatest films of the 80’s and is pretty much flawless. Gene and Roger, thank you for bringing film criticism into the limelight. May you both Rest In Peace.
@@TempleofAmon666 Or how about Home Alone 3, where Ebert's love for it was so dumbfounding that Siskel looked like he was about to have an aneurysm on screen.
The movie I disagree with Ebert the most about (that we never got to hear Siskel’s opinion on, sadly) is Gladiator. Like, I’m fine if people don’t like that movie, but Ebert’s review of it was just nonsensical and nitpicky as hell.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
Generally, yes and I agreed more with Roger. A few standouts where he was wrong and Gene was right - Full Metal Jacket, The Thing, Escape From NY and Die Hard.
The impact of Pat Morita's role in Karate Kid is evident in the resurgent popularity of Cobra Kai. The performance and cultural impact of his role should receive an award.
Good movies from 1984: The Terminator Ghostbusters Footloose Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Beverly Hills Cop The Bounty This Is Spinal Tap (!) Revenge of the Nerds Romancing the Stone Top Secret! Starman Body Double
I always liked Pat Morita, and it's a shame that he wasn't allowed to shine in many more films, much earlier than this one. I'm glad he finally got his chance, even though it was late in his career.
I remember the VHS copy of The Karate Kid had Ebert's 4 star review on it, and I was shocked that a movie I loved as a kid could also be considered great by a real critic.
Haing Ngor was brilliant in The Killing Fields but the thing is, that was a LEAD performance nominated in supporting. So it wasn’t fair to Morita and also Adolph Cesar, so incredible in A Soldier’s Story.
I always liked Siskel and Ebert but watching these old clips on UA-cam my opinion of Gene Siskel as a film critic has really deteriorated. He is very pretentious and barely likes any movies. The amount of modern day classics he was wrong about is staggering. He got Shawshank Redemption correct but not much else from watching many clips from the 80s and 90s.
Siskel was always a bit of a snob. He hated action movies, and he didn't look objectively enough at a film to really see if it might appeal to others. He had some good views on some things though, but overall he was always quite negative.
After this movie, anytime we had to do housework, it was an exercise in karate training. Washing the floors, car…. So funny how it influenced us as kids
I think it also helps that Macchio looks like an underdog even in the final stages while Johnny looks like Ryu/Ken from Street Fighter 2. I suspect Billy Zabka might've already had some karate grounding, but if not, he killed it in looking like an authentic evil, rich, blonde Valley karate bully. Another great aspect of the movie is that Pat Morita was known from sitcoms. He was a stereotypically amusing Japanese-American guy. I remember him in Happy Days. He was very funny even in 2-3 second appearances simply w/ his stunned reactions to the hijinks taking place in Al's Diner, where he worked, so when we saw him in this film, it was a pleasant surprise how much depth he could display if given the chance. That idea of putting TV actors into serious film roles was big then. In 80, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch (of TV's "Taxi") played serious roles in the movie Ordinary People, which later won the Oscar for Best Film.
Lokey racism. Siskel and Ebert were very fair minded people and not racist this is just the kind of bias that you can pick up as a person living in racist society. And yes we have it today still.
To boot, watch the reviews they did for part 2 & 3. Siskel starts off pronouncing it right, and Ebert keeps saying Miya-jee, and then Siskel starts doing it, despite that being a running gag in the 1st movie, and the beginning of part 2 with the mailman. There are many comments by people annoyed and even enraged about it, as I am.
I sincerely agree with "portly" and "intelligent" but I don't know how kind he was all the time. He did, however, see the strength of this movie and how worthy it was far more than Gene could.
@@krisblunt6293 You're reading too much into it. I was addressing the fact that some ppl tend to look down on fat people and he was one of them. I just wanted to show some kindness and respect for the dead. You are correct that I shouldn't have used "but" as a conjunction. It was misleading. Sorry.
The character of Miyagi was so well done. That alone makes the movie watchable. Something they would not have known for the review was the part where Miyagi is drinking and humming/singing in Japanese was adlibbed by Morita following something in the script to have Miyagi do those things without reason. Morita felt this was something out of character for Miyagi so he took something from his own life. The portion of Miyagi's wife and son dying in childbirth was added by Morita as he has been at Tule Lake relocation center during WWII. This fit well into the plot and enhances Miyagi's and Daniel's father-son connection.
These John Avildsen movies carry the same message. The characters struggle in life and are the longest of long shots. They don’t have much, but they persevere. In Rocky, boxing was the metaphor. In this movie, karate was the metaphor. But the raw emotions that are delivered cannot be matched.
I really enjoy these old clips of Siskel & Ebert. the great thing about their show was you didn't have to agree with their thumbs up or thumbs down that was just their opinion oftentimes I wouldn't agree with them or wouldn't agree with one of them but they gave you a rundown of the movie and it's always nice to hear somebody's opinion of something and then you make your own judgments. In the '80s we didn't have the internet and this was a nice way to quickly see a snippet of a number of movies here an opinion of each of them, and then you'd have a general idea if the movie was something you wanted to spend your $4 to go see (oh how I missed the cost of a ticket in the '80s too) Generally I thought they were good at what they did. they were both well spoken gentlemen. I miss their show.
The reason people really like Karate Kid 1 is because the surrogate father/son relationship between Macchio and Noriyuki is touching. They may not realize it, but that's the heart of that movie and why attempts at re-creating it have all been shitless.
I tell you another thing about this movie - that was the first time I heard of Japanese internment camps. I was 12 and went home and asked my parents about it. I was horrified when I was told about it.
Siskel probably hated the scene where Miyagi was drunk, mourning his wife and infant son. He probably thought that scene should have been cut, but it was that scene that got Pat Morita the nomination.
It is funny how Ebert says he wasn't going to spoil the ending, but if you had seen "Rocky," you might be able to guess since the movie was from the same director; given that Rocky loses in the first movie, but Larusso wins, seems like he forgot the ending of "Rocky."
I agree with siskel. The film ran a bet too long could of done some more cutting in the editing room, but with all that aside still a classic film. One of the top teenage films of the 1980s. Love this film
This is one of my favorite movies. I watched it 1984 than last week. First I watched with Daniels prospective then with Johnnys. They egg each on. But I still Love the movie
5:55 - So cool to see Roger Ebert predict a very unpredictable Oscar nominee for Par Morita and for the reliably self-important Gene Siskel to snobbishly dismiss the idea as rubbish.
GENE ... HOPE YOU ATE YOUR WORDS... ON OF THE BEST MOVIES.. OF THE 1980S.. PAT Morita deserved the oscar.. siskel needs to open his eyes... awesome picture period
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
I wonder which scenes he would have cut out because to me every scene was very good and important to the story. It flowed very nice and it was a great movie.
It's easy, and unfair really, to pick out individual misses for both guys when you have watched enough of these old reviews But something tells me if Gene was still alive today that not recognizing that Pat Morita's performance was worthy of Oscar consideration would be by his own admission one of his biggest misses.
Both were accurate reviews. The movie was indeed overall predictable. But it was so well done and with so many additional facets to it that the predictability became greatly diminished in importance.
The predictability came from the remake and all the spoiling from people. The first time people watched it opening night it wasn’t predictable people thought Daniel San was doing it for respect no one actually thought he was really learning karate.
Siskel should be in the book of world records for being wrong. Wrong again on Pat Morita being nominated. I swear my enduring hate for Siskel is not unfounded. lol Always the dong take with that guy.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
@ He kinda did though, when you think about it. He was messing with Ali, bucked up against an Alpha to impress her, and the hose in the toilet stall. I would've destroyed Daniel.
Nowadays we have come to realize that characters are neither all good or all bad. When we look back at KK now, we consider Johnny’s perspective. That’s what has made Cobra Kai so popular.
I like how they say if you've seen Rocky you can predict the ending.
Rocky lost.
Ah ha! Maybe to throw you off?lol
It was more like you can predict that there will be an important fight as the final part of the movie, not so much of who would have won. :)
84 man, there were more than 1 rocky movie... there were 3 of them.
@@GD-tt6hl He made the comparison to Rocky because the same director made The Karate Kid. John G Avildsen didn't make the other Rocky movies. The only one he made is the one where Rocky loses.
@@nocturneJOJO They mention that there will be a karate fight, and then immediately after they mention that they say they won't go beyond that - the only thing left is who wins.
Good call on the Oscar nomination for Pat Morita, Roger! I hope he made Gene eat those words the following year!
Oh, I'm sure he did. Roger Ebert lived for that...
I looked it up. Morita did get nominated for best supporting actor but lost to Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
Gene! Gene! Gene!
Will you ever learn?
@@usafdirtboyz2797 I always felt like Ebert was pretty good at meeting movies where they were. He wasn't perfect, and I'm sure there are some counterexamples, but he could appreciate almost any kind of movie, as long as it did something worthwhile.
They both missed the point of the movie
Daniel had no father figure
Miyagi lost his family
They both filled a void in each other's lives, when they needed it the most
It's a tale of friendship and found family
The karate is an afterthought in the story
Yep, you nailed it.
Plus a lot of good life lessons on friendship, standing up for yourself, working hard, etc.
I doubt they missed it. Siskel mentioned that Macchio and Morita have a great father/son relationship.
And Daniel was a character you cared about.
Read Ebert's written review for the Chicago Tribune - he gets it
I'd say the karate was incidental, more so than an afterthought.
I have now watched hundreds of these old Siskel and Ebert reviews over the last few weeks, I can't get enough of them.
I've come to the conclusion that Ebert's reviews are definitely more in line with my thinking. It's not that Gene's reviews are poor, I just think sometimes he focuses too much on thematic elements, characters and other more cerebral components to a movie and sometimes misses the big picture so to speak.
Roger tends to look for movies that are entertaining, which is ultimately the point of any movie, to entertain.
Gene was always much harder on movies, IMHO.
I think you're being too kind. It's not that Siskel has bad opinions, as those are subjective. I just find his opinions based on faulty logic and a horrible overall approach to reviewing movies.
Give me a pound on that one!
Sometimes I think part of the show was to have some sorta of disagreement even if they both liked the film just to make the show more interesting. No one really likes boring movie reviews so the banter back and forth make the show interesting
I think Gene was just more of a cynic than Roger was. Roger always seemed to go in with more of an open mind.
The movie is not too long and doesn’t need to be compressed. Every scene has relevance. It never seems like it’s two hours long.
Exactly
This movie is like mediation. Yeah it's long but the point is to breathe and take it in. Enjoy silence and empty spaces.
Agreed! I’ve seen Karate kid dozens of times and had no idea it was 2 hours long lol. It definitely feels shorter. That’s one sign of a good movie in my opinion.
That's kind of like saying Goodfellas is too long. When it's a great movie, like both of these flicks, the length of time is irrelevant. Both tell a great story, both have interesting plots, and fun dialogue. I never agreed too much with Gene Siskel anyway.
Yeah, this is a classic, I never thought it was too long, the story is so good, you really don't notice it.great review tho.
To us 80s children, it was our "Rocky"...no coincidence it was directed by the same man, John Avildsen
For me, it’s better than Rocky
@@nathanslay6342 people cheered like crazy at the end at the drive-in
@@yourallbrainwashed The same when I saw it in the theater. I couldn't even hear what Johnny said to Daniel when he handed him the trophy. I didn't know until I saw it again later on VHS.
@@ashwitmoro Johnny: "You're alright Larusso"
Daniel: "thanks"
@@yourallbrainwashed At the drive-in? Everyone must of been pretty damn loud to hear that. I wish I got to see it at the drive-in.
Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio’s best movie PERIOD!
The outsiders?
@@dallastexas5653 Do it for Johnny man!
"show me wax on, wax off" is one of the more cathartic scenes in movies that I can think of
As a kid in the 80’s I looked forward to watching Siskel and Ebert reviews Sunday mornings before church.
As a film lover, Siskel and Ebert WAS church
Miyagi wasn’t a janitor, he was a handyman. Great review though!
Same thing
@@chadbest5411 Daniel's mom called him the fix-it guy
He was the maintenance man.
Same thing. Lol.
Who cares what he was handyman janitor it means the same damn thing guys relax
Siskel missed this by a mile. Thankfully Ebert got it. This was an absolute classic. And to Siskel, what is predictable about teaching karate skills by waxing cars and painting fences?? That was totally unpredictable, and is such an awesome part of the movie. 2 hours is too long? What? That added to the entire story -- he meets Ali, life in high school for a new kid, etc. May he RIP, but man Siskel, you missed the beauty of this classic movie.
He probably didn't like the scene were Miagi was drunk and morning his wife.
Fun fact. The scene where Miyagi gets drunk & Daniel put him to bed was almost cut from the film. The producers thought it forced into too serious a territory and that it adding a back story to Miyagi would take away from the focus being on Daniel. All I can say is thank God they left it in because it’s the only scene where Daniel takes care of Miyagi. It showed Daniel was really growing to love Miyagi like a father. It showed that their relationship was not just a guy doing a favor to a kid in his building.
@@bfettrulez6734 yes, thank goodness they kept that scene, It's one of the best scenes in the whole movie! Daniel finds that Miyagi was a war hero, but was very humble about it and never let anyone know that he was awarded VALOR. Daniel turns and bows, and the music score in the background really makes the scene. another great scene is when he tells Miyagi he's the best friend he's ever had.
@@commonsense3055 well they complement each other. Miyagi once had a family but was taken from him & he sorta sees that chance to have a family again with Daniel. Daniel looked for a teacher but found a father. This scene goes beyond a man teaching a kid karate & establishes that this friendship is deeper than that of just a teacher student relationship. When u rewatch the film, u start to pick up these little nuances.
Siskel is usually wrong. So I'm not surprised here that Ebert got it right.
A childhood favorite! I'll always prefer this to the Jaden Smith remake.
Honestly, I don't hate that version. It changes it enough, and fleshes out the ideas a bit more, while maintaining the same charm as the original.
Not even close this is a real classic
@@ALT_RIGHT I totally agree...
If only they didn't call it Karate Kid, because Jaden doesn't learn Karate, he learns Kung Fu. Perhaps if they called it the Kung Fu Kid, it would not only have been more accurate, but also spared it the curse of being compared to the original, allowing it to be seen on its own merits. But keeping the inaccurate name only served to the film's detriment and acted as a distraction from the film itself.
The remake was Horrible. Though I really like Jackie Chan
And siskel with his arrogant “no way” pat morita wont be nominated for an Oscar.... Morita created one of the most memorable characters in cinematic history. Say Mr. Miyagi, and everyone over 30 will know who that is
Siskel was never the brightest one out of the two.
if you around at that time, Pat Morita was known as the "Hip Nip" in stand up comedy, and as a very minor character of Arnold in Happy Days. It's not surprising that people didn't think he could act at this particular time.
@@jimchabai3163 Jamie Foxx and Monique were known as comedians and they won Oscars for dramatic roles. And Jennifer Hudson was a singer who never acted in a movie prior to the one she won an Oscar for. Frank Sinatra was a musician before he was an actor. Gene "Dumb Ass" Siskel saw the movie and couldn't tell that P.M. gave a great performance?
I mean to be so smug and confident that he wouldn't even be nominated. F him.
Yeah... I believe it was Henry Winkler that said that.
That prediction alone was one of the many reasons I loved Ebert more than Siskel, may they both Rest In Peace.
Ebert was spot on. Siskel was way off the mark. Time will always tell. The Karate Kid is now regarded as one of the greatest films of the 80’s and is pretty much flawless. Gene and Roger, thank you for bringing film criticism into the limelight. May you both Rest In Peace.
Ebert generally was more accurate than Siskel
He was but has a movie or two where he missed the boat. For me it’s full metal jacket. Siskel loved it, ebert did not.
@@TempleofAmon666 Or how about Home Alone 3, where Ebert's love for it was so dumbfounding that Siskel looked like he was about to have an aneurysm on screen.
The movie I disagree with Ebert the most about (that we never got to hear Siskel’s opinion on, sadly) is Gladiator. Like, I’m fine if people don’t like that movie, but Ebert’s review of it was just nonsensical and nitpicky as hell.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
Generally, yes and I agreed more with Roger. A few standouts where he was wrong and Gene was right - Full Metal Jacket, The Thing, Escape From NY and Die Hard.
The impact of Pat Morita's role in Karate Kid is evident in the resurgent popularity of Cobra Kai. The performance and cultural impact of his role should receive an award.
Wanting to cut 20 minutes out of The Karate Kid is why you reviewed movies and didn’t make them.
I agree the miniature golf and dancing scenes should have been edited out.
Great find! Thanks for sharing!
Roger Ebert got it. Completely.
He usually does. Siskel however, is predictably negative. Even when he's giving praise, there's always a "but..."
Good movies from 1984:
The Terminator
Ghostbusters
Footloose
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Beverly Hills Cop
The Bounty
This Is Spinal Tap (!)
Revenge of the Nerds
Romancing the Stone
Top Secret!
Starman
Body Double
Don't forget Police Academy.
And you can't forget Gremlins!
@@chrisdigitalartist Or A Nightmare on Elm Street and The NeverEnding Story.
Sixteen Candles
Amadeus!
I always liked Pat Morita, and it's a shame that he wasn't allowed to shine in many more films, much earlier than this one.
I'm glad he finally got his chance, even though it was late in his career.
Well he was well known with Happy Days.
Janitor? He was a maintenance man. He fixed things & also became Daniel's sensai
why are these guys sitting 2 feet from each other... dont they know there is a pandemic going on?
Don’t be stupid!!!
😐
And no masks either.
You Idiot. They were tested negative and got the covid vaccine before facing each other.
@@edic7790 yea but they should be wearing 17 mask... and im not an idiot, my mom had me tested... 2 times
I wish these guys are still around to discuss Cobra Kai. Seeing Johnny develop from a bully to Daniel’s friend
I think Karate Kid is such a great movie. It aged like fine wine and has so much more emotion than most teen movies of the 80’s
they're missing the point you got to crawl before you can walk so you got to learn the basics and have the patience in order to inherit the rest
I remember the VHS copy of The Karate Kid had Ebert's 4 star review on it, and I was shocked that a movie I loved as a kid could also be considered great by a real critic.
I'm totally with Ebert on this one. Karte Kid went on to be a huge success not to mention Cobra Kai series. Can't get enough!
great review of a great classic movie and one of my favourite classic movies
Pat Morita was robbed of that Oscar. Everybody remembers and reveres Miyagi. Nobody ever talks about The Killing Fields.
Haing Ngor was brilliant in The Killing Fields but the thing is, that was a LEAD performance nominated in supporting. So it wasn’t fair to Morita and also Adolph Cesar, so incredible in A Soldier’s Story.
Haing S Ngor was also a real prisoner of the Khmer Rouge. That was why they gave him the Oscar. Still a great film.
I never watched S&E till the early 90's, didn't realize they used to show half the movie during their reviews in the early days.
I always liked Siskel and Ebert but watching these old clips on UA-cam my opinion of Gene Siskel as a film critic has really deteriorated. He is very pretentious and barely likes any movies.
The amount of modern day classics he was wrong about is staggering. He got Shawshank Redemption correct but not much else from watching many clips from the 80s and 90s.
Siskel was always a bit of a snob. He hated action movies, and he didn't look objectively enough at a film to really see if it might appeal to others. He had some good views on some things though, but overall he was always quite negative.
@@nebularain3338 He often got comedies though which roger baby was unable to get his stuffy head around.
Wish they still made movies like this today
After this movie, anytime we had to do housework, it was an exercise in karate training. Washing the floors, car…. So funny how it influenced us as kids
No mention of Martin Kove?
Ebert nails it again.
I think it also helps that Macchio looks like an underdog even in the final stages while Johnny looks like Ryu/Ken from Street Fighter 2. I suspect Billy Zabka might've already had some karate grounding, but if not, he killed it in looking like an authentic evil, rich, blonde Valley karate bully. Another great aspect of the movie is that Pat Morita was known from sitcoms. He was a stereotypically amusing Japanese-American guy. I remember him in Happy Days. He was very funny even in 2-3 second appearances simply w/ his stunned reactions to the hijinks taking place in Al's Diner, where he worked, so when we saw him in this film, it was a pleasant surprise how much depth he could display if given the chance. That idea of putting TV actors into serious film roles was big then. In 80, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch (of TV's "Taxi") played serious roles in the movie Ordinary People, which later won the Oscar for Best Film.
It's weird that they don't say "Mr. Myagi." They keep calling him "the janitor."
True
Lokey racism. Siskel and Ebert were very fair minded people and not racist this is just the kind of bias that you can pick up as a person living in racist society.
And yes we have it today still.
To boot, watch the reviews they did for part 2 & 3. Siskel starts off pronouncing it right, and Ebert keeps saying Miya-jee, and then Siskel starts doing it, despite that being a running gag in the 1st movie, and the beginning of part 2 with the mailman. There are many comments by people annoyed and even enraged about it, as I am.
Roger Ebert was a portly but kind and intelligent gentleman. RIP.
I sincerely agree with "portly" and "intelligent" but I don't know how kind he was all the time. He did, however, see the strength of this movie and how worthy it was far more than Gene could.
"Portly but kind"?
@@krisblunt6293 Well, a lot of people referred to Siskel and Ebert as "the fat guy and the other one" I wanted to be a little more eloquent
@@DarkEagle-vx9hd It just sounded like, "Dismiss the usual disposition of portly people. This one was kind."
@@krisblunt6293 You're reading too much into it. I was addressing the fact that some ppl tend to look down on fat people and he was one of them. I just wanted to show some kindness and respect for the dead. You are correct that I shouldn't have used "but" as a conjunction. It was misleading. Sorry.
I would love to watch their reactions to Cobra Kai, especially with the insights of time.
Honestly, they probably wouldn't be fans
@@dynamicvoltage9765 I think Ebert would be a fan. The writing on the show is very good, and the acting is pretty good too.
The character of Miyagi was so well done. That alone makes the movie watchable.
Something they would not have known for the review was the part where Miyagi is drinking and
humming/singing in Japanese was adlibbed by Morita following something in the script to have
Miyagi do those things without reason. Morita felt this was something out of character for Miyagi
so he took something from his own life.
The portion of Miyagi's wife and son dying in childbirth was added by Morita as he has been at
Tule Lake relocation center during WWII.
This fit well into the plot and enhances Miyagi's and Daniel's father-son connection.
Roger Ebert was right, as Pat Morita was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr. Miyagi.
Everybody I knew in the 8th grade took a karate class. For about a month. This was huge when it came out
Great video!Thanks for posting!!
Wow, Ebert correctly predicted that Pat Morita would get an Oscar nomination.
Very nice film.
Ebert was usually more spot on than Siskel
The fact that Pat Morita never got the praise or won any awards is unbelievable. I honestly think this movie like Rocky 1 should’ve won best picture.
I guess "spoilers" wasn't really a thining back then.
Siskel: no way Pat gets an Oscar nomination
Morita : 🤣
These John Avildsen movies carry the same message. The characters struggle in life and are the longest of long shots. They don’t have much, but they persevere. In Rocky, boxing was the metaphor. In this movie, karate was the metaphor. But the raw emotions that are delivered cannot be matched.
5:55 Spoiler. Pat Morita DID get the Oscar nomination ;)
I really enjoy these old clips of Siskel & Ebert.
the great thing about their show was you didn't have to agree with their thumbs up or thumbs down that was just their opinion oftentimes I wouldn't agree with them or wouldn't agree with one of them but they gave you a rundown of the movie and it's always nice to hear somebody's opinion of something and then you make your own judgments.
In the '80s we didn't have the internet and this was a nice way to quickly see a snippet of a number of movies here an opinion of each of them, and then you'd have a general idea if the movie was something you wanted to spend your $4 to go see (oh how I missed the cost of a ticket in the '80s too)
Generally I thought they were good at what they did.
they were both well spoken gentlemen.
I miss their show.
I remember them giving First Blood and Halloween II a thumbs down and never trusted them again.
What did Macchio say on the boat that they had to bleep out?
There was nothing to bleep. He said, "Yeah, but it was nothing like my problem, right?" Most likely a glitch in the video.
The reason people really like Karate Kid 1 is because the surrogate father/son relationship between Macchio and Noriyuki is touching. They may not realize it, but that's the heart of that movie and why attempts at re-creating it have all been shitless.
Any possibility of a Mr. Miyagi origin story? Maybe in parallel with Johnny's karate master?
Bzzz, sorry Gene but thanks for playing!
Crazy how these reviews give away so much
I tell you another thing about this movie - that was the first time I heard of Japanese internment camps. I was 12 and went home and asked my parents about it. I was horrified when I was told about it.
It must really make you wonder what these guys would've thought of Cobra Kai, had they still been around in 2020
At the time did anyone ever think we’d have the mini-series Cobra Kai, a mere 34 years later which would be blooming brilliant.
Pat Morita DID get nominated for an Academy Award, so Gene underestimated that too. But Roger called it.
Siskel probably hated the scene where Miyagi was drunk, mourning his wife and infant son. He probably thought that scene should have been cut, but it was that scene that got Pat Morita the nomination.
Janitors everywhere find the term offensive lol
It is funny how Ebert says he wasn't going to spoil the ending, but if you had seen "Rocky," you might be able to guess since the movie was from the same director; given that Rocky loses in the first movie, but Larusso wins, seems like he forgot the ending of "Rocky."
You guys better like this movie because it will be a classic!!!!
If you all get a chance read Ebert’s review on IMDB. It’s brilliant.
Holy shit talk about spoilers! Wax car paint fence!
That’s what I was thinking too. Spoilers!
Interesting choice of clips
Seemed much longer than usual reviews
I agree with siskel. The film ran a bet too long could of done some more cutting in the editing room, but with all that aside still a classic film. One of the top teenage films of the 1980s. Love this film
This is one of my favorite movies. I watched it 1984 than last week. First I watched with Daniels prospective then with Johnnys. They egg each on. But I still Love the movie
4:13 start of actual review. The first 4 minutes are almost entirely just clips from the movie.
Ebert got it right about Pat Morita’s Oscar nomination.
5:55 - So cool to see Roger Ebert predict a very unpredictable Oscar nominee for Par Morita and for the reliably self-important Gene Siskel to snobbishly dismiss the idea as rubbish.
Siskel was so wrong that the movie was too long, and marginal thumbs up? It’s a classic. Ebert was right, siskel wrong
Siskel wrong as always.
That was a simple friggin review by Siskel. It’s one of the best movies of all time.
Nice video
Ebert was right, Pat Morita did get nominated for an oscar.
Pat Morita was indeed Oscar nominated for Karate Kid. Gene.....wrong again
Gene always misses it.
Starting Over He liked the movie though.
Sometimes, but generally he's coming from a good place.
He didn't miss it with Batman, Last of the Mohicans and various other movies while Roger did.
I think it really mattered what kind of a mood Gene was in when he walked into the theater..
Back when there was movie theaters.
@@willemverheij3412 Batman wasnt great
20/30 minutes too long?!? How about 10/20 minutes to short. Great movie
Does Siskel overlook classics??
“The Italian kid” “The Janitor” WTF with the Insensitive remarks. BTW, He wasn’t a janitor.
never realized the movie was over 2 hours long lol
That's because it was a very good movie. It flew by because every scene was important and interesting. He was wrong.
that's because it feels like 90 minutes. It's incredibly well paced
GENE ... HOPE YOU ATE YOUR WORDS... ON OF THE BEST MOVIES.. OF THE 1980S.. PAT Morita deserved the oscar.. siskel needs to open his eyes... awesome picture period
He got a nomination, not the Oscar.
@@davidbroughall3782 he deserved it and got ripped off Siskell is clueless... this picture still showing 35 years later.. a great movie
Ebert was right about the nomination.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
I wonder which scenes he would have cut out because to me every scene was very good and important to the story. It flowed very nice and it was a great movie.
It's easy, and unfair really, to pick out individual misses for both guys when you have watched enough of these old reviews
But something tells me if Gene was still alive today that not recognizing that Pat Morita's performance was worthy of Oscar consideration would be by his own admission one of his biggest misses.
The slim dude didn’t know shit. The bigger dude was spot on and knows his shit!! I know they are siskel and ebert but I don’t who’s who lol
Slim dude = Siskel
Bigger dude = Ebert
Took people 35 years to find out larusso was the bad guy in this film
Stop calling him janitor!! He was a handyman for gods sake !
something wrong with being a janitor?
@@rollotomassi4768 No, there is nothing wrong. He was not a janitor, he was a handyman. It’s just facts.
Both were accurate reviews. The movie was indeed overall predictable. But it was so well done and with so many additional facets to it that the predictability became greatly diminished in importance.
The predictability came from the remake and all the spoiling from people. The first time people watched it opening night it wasn’t predictable people thought Daniel San was doing it for respect no one actually thought he was really learning karate.
I agree with Siskel though on Heller her and Daniel felt like a mother son who’s father left them.
If the ending is predictable, and they’re referencing the director who also directed “Rocky,” last time I checked Rocky lost at the end.
I'm surprised neither mention the movie is set in an alternate universe where a karate tournament sells out a sports arena.
Karate tournaments are usually very popular. My dojo regularly participates in them and they are always packed.
Someone is out of touch because Karate is not in their reality.
Siskel should be in the book of world records for being wrong. Wrong again on Pat Morita being nominated. I swear my enduring hate for Siskel is not unfounded. lol Always the dong take with that guy.
I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....
5:59 no way, Siskel?
Oh Gene, you have a lot to learn if you're going to make it as a big time film critic!
Daniel brought some of this on himself.
The Cobra Kai effect is strong here, I see! 😂😂😂
@
He kinda did though, when you think about it. He was messing with Ali, bucked up against an Alpha to impress her, and the hose in the toilet stall. I would've destroyed Daniel.
Nowadays we have come to realize that characters are neither all good or all bad. When we look back at KK now, we consider Johnny’s perspective. That’s what has made Cobra Kai so popular.
@@chachiarcola3208 Johnny was an a hole tho in kk no doubt about it.
I too enjoyed the Karate philosophy in the TV series Kung Fu.
Gene frequently had no ability to review a movie within context, analyze who it is aimed at. Roger's reviews were typically better and more accurate.