IMDb > The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
The Karate Kid, Part III
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The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 3)
The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) -- Daniel and Miyagi once again tangle with the Cobra Kai and Daniel risks losing it all by putting pride before principle when a beating threatens to bust their bonsai business.
The Karate Kid, Part III (1989) -- A bad guy from KK1 attempts to gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the aid of an old army buddy.
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Overview

User Rating:
4.3/10   10,595 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 43% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
John G. Avildsen
Writers (WGA):
Robert Mark Kamen (characters)
Robert Mark Kamen (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Karate Kid, Part III on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 June 1989 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Family | Sport more
Tagline:
First it was teacher to student. Then it was father to son. Now, it's man to man.
Plot:
A bad guy from KK1 attempts to gain revenge on Daniel and Miyagi, with the aid of an old army buddy. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
5 nominations more
User Comments:
Part III? What for? more (82 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ralph Macchio ... Daniel LaRusso

Pat Morita ... Mr. Kesuke Miyagi (as Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita)

Robyn Lively ... Jessica Andrews

Thomas Ian Griffith ... Terry Silver

Martin Kove ... John Kreese

Sean Kanan ... Mike Barnes
Jonathan Avildsen ... Snake
Randee Heller ... Lucille

William Christopher Ford ... Dennis (as Christopher Paul Ford)
Pat E. Johnson ... Referee
Rick Hurst ... Announcer
Frances Bay ... Mrs. Milo
Joseph V. Perry ... Uncle Louie
Jan Triska ... Milos
Diana Webster ... Margaret
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
112 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Certification:
Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:AL | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Australia:PG
Filming Locations:
Ennis-Brown House - 2655 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA
Company:
Columbia Pictures Corporation more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This movie was part of a wave in the late 80's/early 90's to introduce wide screen letterbox movies to the general public. The first printing of the VHS are all in letterbox. (re-prints from 1994 claim to be in wide screen but are pan & scan). (Ghostbusters II (1989) was another big title movie released in letterbox only in the first printing, many video stores got complaints about these titles because customer's thought that there was half of the picture missing, many video store owners called RCA/Columbia to find out if there was a printing problem to only be told that they were meant to be this way.) more
Goofs:
Continuity: It's the dead of night when Daniel goes into the Cobra Kai dojo to talk to Terry, but daylight can be seen coming in through the shutters of the windows. more
Quotes:
Mike Barnes: Sir, you said if I come down here and beat this LaRusso kid, I can have 25 percent ownership in you new dojos? Well, to perform my best, which I fully intend to do, I'm gonna need 50 percent.
Terry Silver: Whoa... I'm afraid I can't give you any more than 35!
Mike Barnes: I guess I'll be on my way, then... nice meeting everybody.
[turns to leave]
Terry Silver: Hey...
[Mike turns around]
Terry Silver: ... you fight as hard as you negotiate?
Mike Barnes: Harder.
Terry Silver: All right, you got it. 50 percent.
Mike Barnes: And I can get that in writing?
[...]
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) more
Soundtrack:
LISTEN TO YOUR HEART more

FAQ

Is "The Karate Kid" based on a book?
Is it true that Ralph Macchio was older than Thomas Ian Griffith when this movie was filmed?
Do Yukie and Kumiko come back from Japan with Daniel and Mr Miyagi?
more

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful.
Part III? What for?, 14 April 2008
5/10
Author: Max_cinefilo89 from Italy

Rumor has it Tom Cruise was offered the chance to reprise his signature '80s role in two (!) Top Gun sequels, but refused because he didn't want to do the same thing over and over. He has a point: some films, like Star Wars or Indiana Jones (even Rocky or Rambo, to a reasonable extent), can and in fact deserve to have follow-ups, because the people who made them genuinely think there is more to tell about those characters (Rocky V is too much, though); others, like Top Gun or The Karate Kid, are crippled from the beginning by the fact that they are indelibly connected to the decade that spawned them, and also suffer from having fairly basic scripts and characters that wouldn't really benefit from any continuation of the story. Sadly, Ralph Macchio never realized this, and so here we are: The Karate Kid, Part III.

Whereas the first film dealt with a recycled subject (young boy gets revenge on those who humiliated him) from a new angle, Part III resurrects the revenge theme with all its clichés. The "driving force" (assuming there is one) of the screenplay (if you can call it that) is John Kreese (Martin Kove), the sadistic karate teacher whose students got their asses kicked by Daniel Larusso (Macchio). Broke and lonely, Kreese decides to ask an old army buddy, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), to help carry out a diabolical plan that will make Daniel and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) suffer like never before. Getting them to fight back, however, will prove harder than usual, as Miyagi is more interested in opening a bonsai shop and Daniel refuses to act violently since he is - what a surprise, this - in love.

Love, vengeance, honor, blood and gratuitous butt-kicking are all thrown in the mix, though hardly any of them work to full effect. As a matter of fact, the more explicit violence suffocates the franchise's trademark comedy bits, leaving a few underwhelming Daniel/Miyagi moments with the duty of lightening the tone. Even worse, though, is the over-the-top behavior of the villains: Griffith does nothing but stare manically, shout and laugh, while Kove, who was funny in the first installment of the series, transforms Kreese into a grotesque parody of his earlier work. Only when the dead-certain final battle arrives, there is a sense of the trilogy regaining whatever it lost from Part II onwards. But the question remains: how many people will still be paying attention at that point?

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Mr. Myagi's Little Trees. Rename the bonsai store. patkav6
**Striderwind's Terry Silver Sound Board now ready** ventasclothes
Terry Silver Questionnaire ventasclothes
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