From: sog@craycos.com (Steve Gombosi)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: karate Kid III
Date: 23 Jul 92 17:45:32 GMT
Organization: Cray Computer Corporation

In article <1992Jul23.133540.13867@sei.cmu.edu> psc@sei.cmu.edu (Peter Capell) writes:
>
>Okay so KKIII just came to TV and I watched it finally.  It was panned so
>badly in reviews that I didn't bother with it when it came out.  I really
>didn't mind it so much though, even though it's weaknesses were aplenty. And
>so I have some questions:
>
>	1) Why hasn't Ralph Macchio's karate improved over the years?

Because he's just another klutzy gaijin...

>I found it really disconcerting to see him getting his butt kicked all the
>time, even though he has been under the care and tutelage of a master for
>years presumably.

Well...if they'd had a car-waxing competition he would've aced it!

>	2) I haven't been to tournaments, so perhaps some of you can fill
>	   me in: is it common to have "light contact" tourneys and then
>	   allow big take downs and full-force strikes without consequences?
>
>I also found it disconcerting not only at how bad Ralph Macchio was, but how
>*much* worse he was than the competitor in the competition.  Clearly
>Macchio/Larruso did not deserve a title, at least not on the basis of skill.
>
>My rewrite of the sequel would have placed the hero on a much higher level if
>possible.  Hell, they make Morita look really great (even though he knows no
>martial arts), certainly they could have done the same with the lad.  

Fumio Demura is too short and stocky to double for "Chubs" Macchio, the way he
did for Morita ;-). I've been in kobujutsu seminars with Demura-sensei -
if you think he was impressive in the movies, you should see him in real 
life! Wow!

>	3) I am also curious if any of you have had experience with a truly
>	   evil instructor, like the character (Kreese) in the movie?

I've met some real con artists and some abusive, sadistic jerks - but
nobody *that* cartoonish.

>So many people are looking for "Kwai Chang Caine," but I wonder how many times
>that ends up being a some real low life.  I think there are innumerable
>sheisters out there.  

Yeah, and they all talk a *really* good line, too...

My favorite lines are:
1) The secret fight-to-the-death tournament fable
2) The "I was adopted by a ninja/a samurai family/the Chen family/a wandering
   Taoist"  story (especially when it comes from someone with a pronounced
   Brooklyn accent)
3) I was abandoned as an infant at a secret monastery...(really a variant of 2)
4) I teach a secret martial art...
5) I am the highest ranking (whatever-the-hell-that-means) martial artist
   in the world...
6) I learned this art when I lived in Tibet...
7) And, of course, the "32nd generation descendant of Miyamoto Musashi" story
   babbled by that guy Marty ran into in Milwaukee.

Haven't run into anyone lately who claimed to be raised by a Tengu, but I'm
sure they're out there somewhere.

People who claim to have been trained in Japan/Okinawa/Hong Kong/Taiwan
but can't quite remember the exact names of their teachers or their
teachers' teachers are a little suspicious, too.

A *lot* of very odd people get attracted to the martial arts. 

If I may offer an observation from Sensei Fred Tart, who teaches Karate and
Kenjutsu in Albuquerque, "I think there's an inverse correlation between
the number of patches somebody wears and the quality of his instruction."

Now *that* ought to provoke some responses ;-)

Steve
Organization: Comp & Comm - Telecommunications, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA