![]() ![]() This was also Ralph Macchio's defining movie, and that sentence is funny enough in itself. Miyagi teaches Daniel-San karate and life lessons in the "Karate Kid" saga. When Morita passed away last week, it practically felt like a family member died. Miyagi? That character was so well-written it garnered Pat Morita (best-known at the time as Arnold from "Happy Days") a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, which was the 1985 equivalent of Dennis Haskins or Joe E. Miyagi's character was a stroke of genius at the time, a cross between Mickey from "Rocky," Pop from "The Longest Yard" and Confucius. You can't ask for a better '80s plot: Lovable loser Daniel moves to California, feuds with a band of moped-riding karate bullies, gets his butt kicked repeatedly, turns to a Japanese maintenance man for guidance, learns karate, learns about life, falls in love with a girl who is roughly 900 miles out of his league, enters a tournament against those same bullies, gets injured in the semifinals on a cheap shot, rallies back to fight his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend in the finals, improbably gets the win. Here's a closer examination of the three films, in order: And since that trilogy ran the gamut from "superb" to "awkward" to "wait a second this isn't really happening, is it?" let's recap the LaRusso Era once and for all. For my money, the "Karate Kid" franchise lived and died with the immortal Ralph Macchio as Daniel LaRusso, remaining the most memorable Sports Movie Trilogy ever to this day. Miyagi's new student), but as far as I'm concerned, that movie never happened. Sure, there was allegedly a fourth installment ("The Next Karate Kid," featuring Hilary Swank as Mr. Which brings us to the "Karate Kid" trilogy. 22: The Bad News Bears and The Bad News Bears Breaking Training In no particular order, Bill Simmons presents his "72 Best Sports Movies Of The Past 33 Years." Here's what we have so far: Sports Guy's definition for a movie trilogy: "A series of three dramas in which the first movie did so well, they couldn't help themselves, so they brought everyone back to make more money in an uninspired sequel, only that one did pretty well, too, so they brought everyone back again for a third movie, just to beat the dead horse completely into the ground." Webster's definition for a trilogy: "A series of three dramas or literary works or sometimes three musical compositions that are closely related and develop a single theme." On the heels of Pat Morita's emotional death, I'm updating that column with a few extra jokes and comments - after all, I've probably watched it another 10 times since then - then ranking it in the Top 73 once and for all. 30, 2002, well before I launched the "Best Sports Movies" series in 2004. Note to reader: I wrote the first version of this column on Aug. ![]()
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