Karate Kid

http://imdb.com/title/tt0087538/combined

This was a huge movie of my childhood.

I wanted to do the crane technique. I wanted to wax on, wax off. I wanted to balance on a row boat.

Watching it now all I see is a movie about class.

The scrappy LaRussos moving to California from New Jersey.

The wealthy WASP Cobra Kais dressed in their homoerotic skeleton costumes.

Miniture golf as the common ground.

The movie touches on the Japanese internment, the insensitivity of the rich, and the painstaking work of killing flies using only chopsticks.

It's nice when a childhood gem holds up to adult scrutiny. I still want to learn karate after watching it. I still want a girl like Elizabeth Shue. I want a master like Mr. Miyagi.

And let me just say that Pat Morita had great comic chops. So many well delivered lines.