FAQ for
The Karate Kid (1984) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Karate Kid can be found here.

No. The Karate Kid was taken from a script by screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first in a series of four Karate Kid movies, including The Karate Kid, Part II (1986), The Karate Kid, Part III (1989), and The Next Karate Kid (1994). The Karate Kid movies have no relation to the DC Comics superhero also known as "Karate Kid".

Ali (Elisabeth Shue) knew that Johnny (William Zabka) and his goons were coming by the sounds of their bikes, so she kicked the ball away, hoping that Daniel (Ralph Macchio) would go after it, thus keeping him from getting beat up. Unfortunately, it didn't work too well.

Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) considers himself to be Japanese. Morita was actually an American citizen, born in California of Japanese parents. To play the role of Mr Miyagi, Morita had to adopt a Japanese accent, since he spoke perfect English. In the film, Miyagi tells Daniel that he is from Okinawa, a chain of islands south of Japan, and mentions to Daniel that he was part of the 442nd Infantry, which was an all Japanese-American Unit from World War II, one of the units most highly decorated for valor (so explaining why Miyagi has an Army Medal of Valor amongst his possessions). It was also indicated that his wife and unborn child were held in the Manzanar camp in California while he was deployed. In the film, Miyagi does mention to Daniel that he learned karate from his father, an Okinawan fisherman.

In the Japanese language, -san is a polite title that is used after a person's name, the equivalent of Mr., Mrs., or Miss. Daniel could just as easily refer to Mr Miyagi as "Miyagi-san".