The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

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
Patrick R. Posada	...	Man #1
C. Darnell Rose	...	Delivery Man
Glenn Medeiros	...	Himself
Gabriel Jarret	...	Rudy (as Gabe Jarret)
Doc Duhame	...	Security Guard
Randell Dennis Widner	...	Sparring Partner #1
Raymond S. Sua	...	Sparring Partner #2
Garth Johnson	...	Spectator #1
E. David Tetro	...	Spectator #2
Helen Lin	...	Tahitian Girl #1
Meilani Figalan	...	Tahitian Girl #2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rob Garrison	...	Tommy (archive footage)
Chad McQueen	...	Dutch (archive footage)
Tony O'Dell	...	Jimmy (archive footage)
William Zabka	...	Johnny (archive footage)
John Timothy Botka	...	Spectator (uncredited)
Sandy Shimoda	...	Dancer (uncredited)

Directed by
John G. Avildsen

Writing credits (WGA)
Robert Mark Kamen		(characters)
Robert Mark Kamen		(written by)

Produced by
Karen Trudy Rosenfelt	....	co-producer
Sheldon Schrager	....	executive producer
Doug Seelig	....	associate producer (as Douglas Seelig)
Jerry Weintraub	....	producer

Original Music by
Bill Conti

Cinematography by
Steve Yaconelli		(director of photography) (as Stephen Yaconelli)

Film Editing by
John G. Avildsen
John Carter

Casting by
Caro Jones

Production Design by
William F. Matthews

Art Direction by
Christopher Burian-Mohr

Set Decoration by
Catherine Mann

Makeup Department
Del Acevedo	....	key makeup artist
Ron Berkeley	....	makeup artist
Shanon Ely	....	hair stylist
Cheri Ruff	....	key hair stylist

Production Management
Lester Wm. Berke	....	unit production manager
Linda Landry-Nelson	....	production manager: Introvision

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Clifford C. Coleman	....	first assistant director
Hope R. Goodwin	....	second assistant director
David N. Schrager	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Elijah Bryant	....	swing gang
Richard Evans	....	property assistant
Joseph C. Fama	....	construction foreman
Sam Gordon	....	property master
Dick Lasley	....	illustrator
Richard Leon	....	property assistant
Michael Muscarella	....	construction coordinator
Terry Shugrue	....	swing gang
Carl J. Stensel	....	set designer
Jerry Wax	....	lead man
Ronnie Sue Wexler	....	swing gang
Robert Wittenberg	....	construction painter

Sound Department
Eddie Becker	....	foley editor
William C. Carruth	....	adr editor
Don Digirolamo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dean Drabin	....	foley mixer
Jack Dronsky	....	adr assistant
Susan Dudeck	....	foley editor
Robert Glass	....	sound re-recording mixer
Scott Hecker	....	supervising sound editor (as Scott A. Hecker)
Robert Knudson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert Mackston	....	dialogue editor
Dan O'Connell	....	foley artist
Kay Rose	....	adr editor
Victoria Rose Sampson	....	supervising adr editor
Clem Sheaffer	....	cable person
Mary Ruth Smith	....	adr editor
Alicia Stevenson	....	foley artist
Barry Thomas	....	sound mixer
Joel Valentine	....	sound effects editor
Forest Williams	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Dennis Dion	....	special effects foreman
Walter Dion	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
John Coats	....	producer: visual effects (as John Coates)
Gene Dobrzyn	....	production coordinator: visual effects
Tim Donahue	....	art director: visual effects
John P. Mesa	....	visual effects cameraman
William Mesa	....	director of visual effects (as Bill Mesa)
Andrew Naud	....	producer: visual effects
David Stump	....	camera: visual effects
Marcus Tate	....	producer: visual effects
Chris Dawson	....	model maker (uncredited)
Stephen Lebed	....	model maker (uncredited)

Stunts
Clarke Coleman	....	stunts
Fumio Demura	....	stunts
Thomas Dewier	....	stunts (as Thomas De Wier)
Pat E. Johnson	....	stunts choreographer
Carol Neilson	....	stunts
Debby Lynn Ross	....	stunts
Tony Snegoff	....	stunts
Billy Morts	....	stunt rigger (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ron Batzdorff	....	still photographer (as Ronald Batzdorff)
Mike Benson	....	camera operator (as Michael Benson)
Jeffrey R. Clark	....	first assistant camera
Gary R. Dodd	....	best boy
Gary R. Dodd	....	grip
Jim Dunford	....	best boy
Jim Dunford	....	grip
Scott Fieldsteel	....	best boy
Jack N. Green	....	aerial camera operator
Frank Keever	....	key grip
William Kenney	....	dolly grip
Ross A. Maehl	....	gaffer
Stan McClain	....	aerial camera operator
Edward Morey III	....	camera operator
Ralph Nelson	....	still photographer (as Ralph Nelson Jr.)
Jeffrey Norvet	....	first assistant camera
Joe A. Ponticelle	....	second assistant camera
David St. Onge	....	best boy
Elizabeth Ziegler	....	Steadicam operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Michael Chavez	....	key costumer
Thomas E. Johnson	....	costume supervisor: men (as Tom Johnson)

Editorial Department
Douglas Brumer	....	assistant film editor
Gary Burritt	....	negative cutter
Phil Hetos	....	color timer
David Holden	....	additional editor
Jere Huggins	....	additional editor
David Jansen	....	apprentice film editor
Thomas G. Jingles	....	apprentice film editor
Trevor Jolly	....	first assistant editor
Frederika Kesten	....	apprentice film editor
Kevin Lindstrom	....	assistant film editor
Russell Paris	....	post-production coordinator
Mark Sadusky	....	assistant film editor
Rex Stewart	....	assistant film editor
Merry Tigar	....	apprentice film editor
Rick Tuber	....	assistant film editor
Stanley Wohlberg	....	assistant film editor (as Stan Wohlberg)

Music Department
Brooks Arthur	....	music supervisor
Jack Eskew	....	orchestrator
Stephen A. Hope	....	music editor
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer
John Rotondi	....	scoring engineer: Y4 (uncredited)
Celia Weiner	....	music editor (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Richard Belyeu	....	transportation captain (as Richard C. Belyeu)
James E. Foote	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Paula Abdul	....	choreographer
David Bandler	....	assistant: John G. Avildsen
James Barrett	....	advisor: bonsai plants
Howard Brandy	....	unit publicist
James Crabe	....	the Karate Kid family will miss our dear friend (as Jimmy Crabe)
Richard Davis Jr.	....	location manager
Patricia L. DeShields	....	production accountant
Thomas Dewier	....	rappelling advisor (as Thomas De Wier)
Joyce Wilson Fetherolf	....	assistant: John G. Avildsen
Sonny P. Filippini	....	script supervisor
Craig Hosking	....	helicopter pilot
Pat E. Johnson	....	martial arts choreographer
Kathryn J. McDermott	....	assistant: Shel Schrager
Roy Nagatoshi	....	advisor: bonsai plants
Karyn Saffro	....	production associate
Joyce Warren	....	production coordinator (as Joyce M. Warren)
Jamie Weintraub	....	assistant: Jerry Weintraub
Jody Weintraub	....	assistant: Jerry Weintraub
Julie Weintraub	....	assistant: Jerry Weintraub
Sarah Weintraub	....	assistant: Jerry Weintraub
Anne Marie Yantos	....	production associate
Lynette Katselas	....	dialogue coach (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Weintraub International Group

Distributors

• Columbia TriStar Films (1989) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (video)

Special Effects

• Introvision International

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:

In real life, Thomas Ian Griffith is a year younger than Ralph Macchio.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Towards the end, in the training sequence of both Daniel LaRusso and Mike Barnes, the first two clips shown of Mike Barnes, Terry Silver, and John Kreese (where Mike is breaking bricks with his hands) are the same exact clips, just played twice. The second clip of Mike is about half-a-second longer than the first.

Quotes:

Terry Silver: A man can't stand, he can't fight.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

HIGH WIRE

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 :)