Did You Know?

The referee in the final match is Pat E. Johnson, a karate expert and former student of Chuck Norris. He instructed many movie stars in karate. He is credited as the "fight instructor/choreographer" for the film.

Martin Kove, who played the John Kreese character, was rumored to have replaced Chuck Norris, who allegedly turned down the role of Kreese because he didn't want karate trainers to be shown in an unsympathetic light. Norris has since said he was never offered the role but that if he had been, he would've declined for similar reasons.

Elisabeth Shue interrupted her studies at Harvard to be in this movie.

The last spin kick that Daniel is hit with before he is saved by Mr. Miyagi actually hit Ralph Macchio and hurt him.

William Zabka (Johnny) had no martial arts experience prior to being cast in the film. However, he was an accomplished wrestler.

The long, continuous shot from the moment Daniel exits the locker room at the tournament until the panoramic view of the entire gymnasium took over 35 takes to get right, according to Ralph Macchio.

Daniel's original last name in the script was "Webber" according to the DVD commentary.

Surprisingly, during filming in late 1983, Ralph Macchio was age 22. Some of the cast did not believe him when he was asked about his age.

The yellow classic automobile that Daniel polishes in the famous "wax-on/wax-off" training scene, then later offered by Mr. Miyagi as Daniel's birthday gift, was actually given to Ralph Macchio by the producer, and he still owns it.

The legendary Toshirô Mifune auditioned for the role of Mister Miyagi. Although he was great in the audition (according to director John G. Avildsen in the DVD Commentary), it was felt that his version of Miyagi was "too serious" and played much like the samurai warriors he played in the Akira Kurosawa movies. Because of this, he was turned down.

During the scene where Mr. Miyagi is drunk and celebrating an "anniversary," he reveals that he served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, an Asian American unit composed of mostly Japanese Americans (many of whom had been in internment camps) who fought in Europe during the Second World War and soon became the most highly decorated unit in the history of the American military.

The "Crane Technique" while basically fictional, is based on a stance called the crane stance that is used in several traditional Karate kata.

Charlie Sheen turned down the role of Daniel LaRusso.

According to black belt karate instructor William (Bill) J. DeClemente in "Black Belt" magazine dated May 1994, DeClemente believed he was the inspiration for The Karate Kid character. He was 17 years old when he started training in karate in 1963 in Queens, New York, the same neighborhood where screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen started training in karate in 1965. Kamen came to watch DeClemente teach in 1965 before enrolling at a karate school in Queens taught by Ed McGrath. Kamen has acknowledged in a sworn deposition that the tough ex-marine he depicted as John Kreese in the film was patterned after Ed McGrath, who was also a friend of DeClemente. DeClemente also said Kamen probably based Mr. Miyagi after Okinawan karate legend Chojun Miyagi. However, Kamen refused to acknowledge DeClemente as the basis of the karate kid character, in which DeClemente is the owner of the registered nationally trademark name "The Karate Kid" since the mid-1960s and was known locally in Queens, Brooklyn, and Florida and to his business associates. This led to DeClemente suing Columbia Pictures Industries, Jerry Weintraub Productions, and Jerry Weintraub on July 29, 1994 for trademark infringement, violation of his right of publicity claims, and seeking damages for three Karate Kid films. [Case: DeClemente v. Columbia Pictures, 860 F. Supp. 30 (E.D.N.Y. 1994)]. DeClement's case was dismissed, ruling in favor of the defendants. The court viewed the films did not damage the plaintiff, DeClemente, in a legal sense and that his public personality as the Karate Kid was not notorious enough that the public identified him exclusively with this persona as well as no evidence adduced that the defendants knew the plaintiff, until the year 1990. On his official website, DeClemente still maintains the claim that he is the inspiration for screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen of the films that bears his registered nationally trademarked name, "The Karate Kid".