1001 Movie Collection

John G. Avildsen not only directed Rocky, he tried remaking it over the years in a dozen different ways. One of them was this popular 1984 drama about a new kid (Ralph Macchio) in town targeted by karate-wielding bullies until he gets a new mentor: the handyman (Pat Morita) from his apartment building, who teaches him self-confidence and fighting skills. The screen partnership of Macchio’s motor-mouth character and Morita’s reserved father figure works well, and the script allow Read more…

A sizable hit with both teen audiences and sports-themed movie enthusiasts, 1984’s The Karate Kid had the right combination of heart and action to spawn three sequels of varying quality between 1986 and 1994; all four features have been packaged together in this three-disc set. Though plot elements varied from film to film, the core story (and the series’ greatest strength) remained the same–the relationship between a wise Japanese martial arts teacher (skillfully underplayed b Read more…