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The Karate Kid - Revisited
Contributed by: Jared Keller on 2/17/2006

Anybody who knows me can tell you that I'm an 80s movie geek.  In particular, I'm a big fan of The Karate Kid.  Heck...you may see me strolling around town in my Cobra Kai t-shirt from time-to-time.  What's not so well-known to many of my buddies is an aspect of my admiration for its co-star: the late Pat Morita.

In The Karate Kid, of course, Morita played Kesuke Miyagi, a wizened apartment maintenance man who befriends young Daniel Larusso, and ultimately teaches him life lessons about honor, respect, discipline, and friendship. What makes this film - and Morita's performance - so unique is that, against all odds, the film manages to reflect these things while avoiding the schmaltz that should by all rights have accumulated upon it by ever greater degrees as it progressed. It's sentimental, yes, but somehow, the relationship between Miyagi and his young student emerges as an honestly touching, genuinely moving snapshot of a friendship between a fatherless kid, floundering in strange surroundings, and a lonely, isolated old man.

It's hardly possible to view the film today - as is the case with Rocky, Jaws, or any number of other cinema icons - in a fresh light. In most cases, our reading of, and reaction to the film is heavily influenced by the myriad of imitators, satirical takeoffs, and outright parodies that have come since.

Still, the film remains startlingly moving in spots - even with the baggage of its status as a pop culture landmark. This, of course, is due, in large part to the performances of Macchio (who is outstanding in his titular role) and Morita. In particular, Morita's Miyagi - internally wounded, but unfailingly honorable, kind, and self-depracating - is a study in the art of the layered performance.

None of this, of course, is a groundbreaking acheivement when one is dealing with tier-one actors or actresses. Pat Morita, however, could never have been considered one of these, before this part. It would be rather akin to witnessing Andy Dick pick up an Oscar nod the night after wrapping shooting on Less Than Perfect. It's a whiplash-inducer. This radical transformation - from goofball sitcom sidekick and Vegas standup performer - to Oscar-nominated actor is nothing short of extraordinary - particularly given the dearth of serious roles available then (and sadly, now) to actors of Asian descent.

Morita, like his most widely-known character, held painful memories from his experiences earlier in life. He suffered from spinal tuberculosis as a child, and, upon recovering, was sent, with his family, to the Gila River Internment Camp for the duration of the Second World War. It is undoubtedly this pain that led him to his amazing performance in the "drunk" scene in The Karate Kid - a scene written, for the most part by Morita, and largely ad-libbed in its final execution. In the scene, Larusso visits his teacher, only to find him stumbling drunk, and murmuring something about his wife. Upon investigating a bit, Daniel learns that his stoic Sensei has carried the pain of his wife & unborn son's deaths - suffered in an internment camp that had no doctor available, and while he was at war, fighting for the nation that enclosed his family behind barbed wire - and that this night marked Miyagi's wedding anniversary. This little, grey-haired old man, Daniel learns, is, in fact, a war hero: a Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, and a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The power of this scene is what originally caused me to investigate the 442nd, and its sister group, the 100th Battalion, and I was blown away by what I learned. Though Miyagi was, of course, a fictional character, the 442nd and 100th produced 22 actual CMH recipients during the Second World War - far more than any other combat unit of similar size. These men volunteered - many of them from behind barbed wire - and proved their loyalty, their mettle, and their courage. I've had the honor of corresponding with several of these veterans, but two in particular - George Sakato, of the 442nd (a CMH recipient who lives here in Denver), and Saburo Nishime, a Hawaiian veteran of "Dog" Company, of the 100th Battalion - have blessed me with their time, and their stories. I'd never have so much as heard of these men, were it not for Pat Morita's portrayal of one of their brothers-in-arms.

Morita's final part was a role in an as-yet-unreleased film about the 442nd called Only the Brave, written and directed by playwright Lane Nishikawa. I sincerely hope that this film eventually finds a distributor, so that Pat Morita's final dramatic performance can be shared with so many folks who first saw him pay tribute to his friends in uniform a little more than 20 years ago, as the singular Mr. Miyagi.

So, please pardon my short break from the funny, and my venture into the world of film review.  Given Mr. Morita's recent passing, however, I'd be remiss were I not to recommend that you check out this bit of 80s nostalgia one more time, and that you watch it through fully opened eyes.  It stands as as a unique memorial to a group of folks who haven't always been given their due, and Morita's performance makes our shared experience as Americans that much more vibrant.  For that alone, we should be grateful.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Jared Keller

Littleton

Jared Keller has posted 455 stories and 62 comments since joining on 12/1/2005. Jared Keller 's average story rating is 4.85.
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