# The "Karate Kid" Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401 "2004-07-22T20:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/41 "2004-07-26T02:46:06Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > …and yet, the only DVD version of the movie is the long-outdated, pan-and-scan, no-features-added release from 1998. ☹ > > Box set, dammit! There’s a PAL/R4 box set available in [Australia.](http://www.dvd.net.au/goto.cgi?http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=1736) Other countries sometimes get special edition DVDs faster than the U.S., so maybe there’s hope?? > [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > You know, this is kind of funny because IIRC Daniel does use it again against his antagonist in KKII and it doesn’t work! So there must be SOME defense against in the movie world His opponent saw the first movie and worked out a defense. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/42 "2004-07-26T02:47:31Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > … > > His opponent saw the first movie and worked out a defense. 🙂 :smack: I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/43 "2004-07-26T04:41:41Z")
The Crane is like the Picard Maneuver; it only works once. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/44 "2004-07-26T05:04:46Z")
Terry Silver is my hero. Also, Snake and Dennis. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/45 "2004-07-29T04:25:57Z")
Can anybody point me to some relatively current _non_-IMDb images of Ralph Macchio online? (For some reason, the full-sized images in the IMDb galleries do not load for me. Can anybody help me with _that?_ Damn annoying. :mad: ) Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/46 "2004-07-29T11:26:05Z")
> [@Optihut](#): > > Because of Karate kid I painted my room with a brush. It took me 5 hours and looked amazing! > > That is, until I came back the next day when the paint was dry - I started over with one of those rolling brushes: it took me half an hour and everything looked A-Ok afterwards. :smack: Yeah, but I bet you were totally awesome at blocking the low-kick. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/47 "2004-07-29T11:32:08Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > You know, this is kind of funny because IIRC Daniel does use it again against his antagonist in KKII and it doesn’t work! So there must be SOME defense against in the movie world (or else Daniel is doing it wrong?). This got to me a little. But, then I realized that he was using it on a guy from Okinawa – a guy who had obviously seen it before. Of course the guy wasn’t too aware of the “swinging drum”, so I could be wrong. I also think that versions of the crane were used in Shrek and maybe Matrix. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/48 "2004-07-29T12:24:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Can anybody point me to some relatively current non-IMDb images of Ralph Macchio online? (For some reason, the full-sized images in the IMDb galleries do not load for me. Can anybody help me with that? Damn annoying. ) stalker ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/49 "2004-07-29T13:33:01Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > I just watched Rambo: First Blood Part II, Kove is in that as well. I loved his character in the Karate Kid movies. > > For those of you who have seen Karate Kid, Part III, which is my favorite of the series, I want to point out that the evil karate instructor Terry Silver is supposed to be a Vietnam veteran terrorizing an 18-year old Ralph Macchio. However it should be noted that Ralph was 26 during the making of that movie; Thomas Ian Griffith, who played Silver, was 25! > > This sounds cryptic in text format here, but anyone who has seen this movie and who has seen Macchio and Griffith standing next to each other in the dojo scenes will attest to the weirdness of it. That was a hysterically bad movie. The most ridiculous part was the one where Pat Morita comes into the dojo, kicks three guys’ butts… and then has to stand there as the guys he’s just beaten up laugh at him! You wouldn’t think 3 guys who’d just been pushed around by a senior citizen could still do such maniacally villainous laughs! ---
**Author:** ![ryanbobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ryanbobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryanbobo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/50 "2004-07-29T13:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was a teen I studied martial arts for a short time and one day a friend tried the “Crane Technique”(which he saw on Karate Kid) while sparring with the instructor. The instructor made very short work of him and then commented, “Don’t ever bring some movie BS in here again”. It’s still funny to me 15 years later. Pardon my total ignorance of martial arts, but is “The Crane Technique” an actual manouver at all, or is it based on a real manouver? I’m not talking about the “impossible to defend” part, just does it have any basis in reality. I’m guessing no, because a) like I said I don’t know any martial arts, but it looks rather easy to defend b) it seems you would start out in a very vulnerable position (on one tip-toe) and end up in a very vulnerable position, and c) it doesn’t look like a very powerful kick. I’ve just always been curious and would like to know for sure. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/51 "2004-07-29T18:15:05Z")
> [@ryanbobo](#): > > Pardon my total ignorance of martial arts, but is “The Crane Technique” an actual manouver at all, or is it based on a real manouver? I’m not talking about the “impossible to defend” part, just does it have any basis in reality. > > I’m guessing no, because a) like I said I don’t know any martial arts, but it looks rather easy to defend b) it seems you would start out in a very vulnerable position (on one tip-toe) and end up in a very vulnerable position, and c) it doesn’t look like a very powerful kick. I’ve just always been curious and would like to know for sure. > > Thanks. While there is a Crane style of kung fu, it bears little resemblance to the Crane technique of Karate Kid. Your hands are formed like Ralph Macchios, but you use them for striking, like the beak of a crane. You _could_ do a kick like that, I suppose, but you’d do it all at once, not just stand there on one foot, with your arms out of position to defend, and hope your opponent ran into your foot. And “impossible to defend”? ::snort:: I think circling around behind the doofus on one leg would be sufficient. – Justin ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/52 "2004-07-29T23:27:58Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > This got to me a little. But, then I realized that he was using [the Crane Technique] on a guy from Okinawa – a guy who had obviously seen it before. > > Of course the guy wasn’t too aware of the “swinging drum”, so I could be wrong. No, I think the whole thing with it not working on the second guy was that he was way off balance. I remember, he set it up really quickly without getting prepared first, and almost tipped over while he was doing it. I think Miyagi tells him in the first one that balance is the most important part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401/53 "2004-07-31T06:19:27Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > While there is a Crane style of kung fu, it bears little resemblance to the Crane technique of Karate Kid. Your hands are formed like Ralph Macchios, but you use them for striking, like the beak of a crane. > > You _could_ do a kick like that, I suppose, but you’d do it all at once, not just stand there on one foot, with your arms out of position to defend, and hope your opponent ran into your foot. The Crane technique is also one of the twelve basic techniques of hsing-i, and there you do kick that way. From what I’ve seen, it’s _pretty_ close to the _Karate Kid_ technique. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-karate-kid-questions/256401.md?page=2)