Step back Daniel-san! There be enemies lurking about! For those whom have enjoyed the Karate Kid movies, it is important to note that Daniel and the ever-lovable Mr. Miyagi could not have achieved the level of lovability and niceness that they did had there not been brutal enemies to offset their likeability. While attending the Hollywood Show in Burbank on Saturday, April 24, 2010, I had the opportunity to have run-ins with three of them, starting out with the slimiest of all…sensei John Kreese.
Strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir!
Kreese was the most evil of the three because it was his bad influence that corrupted the other students of Raseda high school. If it hadn’t been for him, maybe these chaps would have left poor Daniel-san alone. Martin Kove portrayed Kreese in the movie. I had previously gotten a signed photo of him through Bob when Kove attended a previous collector show. Even though I brought my trusty signed photo along with me, Kove – who can also be seen in the original The Last House on the Left, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Wyatt Earp – still charged me $10 to get a photo with me.
As evil as that was, he still was willing to pose in the traditional and fighting stances – and even let me gather a second photo the next day with him since the one at the top of the posting was a bit blurry.
Had he started any trouble, this is how I would have defended myself
Fear does not exist in this convention center, does it?
Kreese’s prize pupil was one Johnny Lawrence, who had muscle, good looks, and an attitude to boot. Throughout the first Karate Kid, Johnny found numerous way to pick on and torture our hero, before ultimately showing his soft side at the end of the film and in the prologue to Karate Kid Part II. William Zabka was the dude who played Johnny and he went on to play additional bullies of varying degree of aggressiveness in films such as Just One of the Guys, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and Back to School. Then he spiralled downward into 20 years of film rubbish until his appearance this year in Hot Tub Time Machine.
Sweep the leg. Do you have a problem with that Mr. Lawrence?
When I first came to his table, he apparently had just gotten there, as he embraced Ralph Macchio in a gesture of truce. Let’s not forget that Mr. Miyagi ended up saving his life at the beginning of Part II, thus leading him to this act of kindess. I just missed capturing this magic moment on film.
Daniel and Johnny seconds after Johnny congratulates Daniel on his victory at the All Valley Karate Tournament. Kreese is not pleased.
Mr. Zabka of the Cobra Kai was going to charge me an additional $10 to get a picture with him after I shelled out the $25 for his signed photo, but that was where I drew the line. I simply lifted my arms with wrists angled downward, and elevated my right knee. I got the picture with him for free. I wasn’t going to be bullied.
Get him a body bag! Yeah!
He wants to learn Karate! Well, here’s your first lesson: how to take a fall!
If you thought Johnny was a menace in the first movie, and Chozen was brutal in Part II, they were blowing nothing more than pixie dust when compared to “Karate’s Bad Boy” Mike Barnes in The Karate Kid Part III. This guy shredded through Daniel-san’s Karate the way that Mr. Miyagi karate chopped through beer bottles. He had no personal vendetta against Daniel but was a gun-for-hire employed by Kreese (once again) and his friend Terry Silver. Gosh, he was mean.
Karate’s Bad Boy
Barnes was portrayed by Sean Kanan, who went on to do very little of note outside of some television appearances in shows such as Who’s the Boss?, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and The Nanny – before settling into a five year run on The Bold and the Beautiful, and then more recently The Young and the Restless.
Tough guy or not, I scoffed in his face when he actually suggested that his signed photo would command $25 with an additional $20 for a photo with him. But when I threatened to break into a kata, he knew I meant business and gave me the entire package for $20.
Look eye. Always look eye.
The stakes just went up. Give me the Bonsai tree.
Come on, get up! Get on that line! Get on that line, F*rrell! You’re worthless! Your teacher’s nothing! Get up, man! You’re no champion! Get up! You suck, F*rrell! You suck, man! And your teacher’s karate is shit! You hear me! It’s shit!
Celebrity encounters of the April 2010 Hollywood Show will continue…
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