The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)

Director:

John G. Avildsen

Writers (WGA):

Robert Mark Kamen (characters)
Robert Mark Kamen (written by)

Release Date:

30 June 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Family | Sport

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.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Martial Arts | Vietnam | Master | Homoeroticism

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

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

Trivia:

This is Thomas Ian Griffith's movie debut.

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.

Quotes:

Terry Silver: [in steam filled bathroom talking to John Kreese on phone] I'm telling you, we will be up and running.
John Kreese: [getting back massaged] What about the winners?
Terry Silver: Those two jerk offs are taking up all my time. But you just relax. For the boy he will compete. I'm telling you too, that he is going to be begging me to be his teacher. And what he's going to learn from me is pain in every part of his body. And fear in every part of his mind. But here's the kicker he's going to thank me for it later. Then I'm going to think he's invincible. But then when he steps out into the ring of the tournament, he's really going to find out what pain's all about.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

THIS COULD TAKE ALL NIGHT

Horrible, terrible conclusion to the trilogy.

Ya just gotta ask, "What were they thinking?" The first movie was a classic - a genuine piece of pop culture, and a great "underdog" movie. While the second wasn't as good, it was still a decent movie which expanded on the story of Daniel & Mr. Miyagi. But this one stunk up the joint... first off the new bad guy Terry Silver (the millionaire mogul/karate expert) is laughable as a villain - his performance is *so* over the top it's ridiculous. It's obvious they got someone who knew his karate, but didn't know jack about acting. It's also ironic that he's actually younger than Ralph Macchio

Robyn Lively - she's attractive enough, but belongs in sitcoms. Also, what's with Daniel *never* getting the girl in the long term???

As for Macchio - I don't know... he seemed to be *way* too enthusiastic. Was he this much of a motormouth in the first two movies? It's almost as if he was trying too hard to compensate for the fact that he is five years older, trying to portray a character that is only one year older.

The pacing of this movie is all wrong. They spend way too much time on trivialities such as the Macchio/Lively relationship. What was the point of that anyway? There was hardly any time spent on the training and actual fight (and as any fan of the Rocky movies could tell you, that's the most important part!)

As for the karate itself, it's L A M E. The Karate Kid series has always been more about the philosophy behind martial arts rather than the physical aspect. All of Mr. Miyagi's wise platitudes are dead-on, but the "crane technique" would be easily countered by any half-competent black belt. Even so, it worked in the first two flicks. But in this one, it's just ridiculous. The final fight, the "bad boy of karate" is whipping Daniel like a government mule, then in sudden death Daniel decides to break into his "Secret Miyagi family kata", which causes both his opponent and his partners to suddenly back away in fear! This is so absolutely ridiculous it's pathetic. Once again, any competent karate student would simply look at Daniel with a bit of confusion, then continue on with the business of kicking his butt. It just seemed all too anti-climactic.

I'm really surprised they made a fourth movie after this stinker, but at least it gave us our first look at Hillary Swank. Yum :)