The Next Karate Kid
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| The Next Karate Kid | |
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| Directed by | Christopher Cain |
| Produced by | Jerry Weintraub Susan Ekins (associate producer) R.J. Louis (executive producer) |
| Written by | Mark Lee Robert Mark Kamen (characters) |
| Starring | Hilary Swank Pat Morita Michael Ironside Constance Towers Chris Conrad |
| Music by | Bill Conti |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 12th, 1994 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,000,000 |
| Preceded by | The Karate Kid, Part III |
| IMDb profile | |
The Next Karate Kid is a 1994 film starring Hilary Swank and Pat Morita. It is the fourth movie in The Karate Kid series.
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[edit] Plot summary
During a commendation for Japanese soldiers fighting in the United States Army during World War II, Kensuke Miyagi (Pat Morita) meets Louisa Pierce (Constance Towers), the widow of his commanding officer, Lt. Jack Pierce. He gets to know Pierce's granddaughter, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank), an angry teenager full of pain over the death of her parents in a car accident. Her anger has led to problems with her grandmother and fellow pupils. In order to quiet her spirit, Miyagi takes her to a monk sanctuary and teaches her karate.
Early on she meets and befriends Eric McGowen (Chris Conrad), a pledge for a group known as the Alpha Elite. The members of this organization are taught to strictly enforce the school rules, using force if necessary by a stern and relentless Colonel Dugan (Michael Ironside). In this group is Col. Dugan's strongest student Ned (Michael Calaveiri).
After returning from the sanctuary, Eric asks Julie to go to a school dance. Julie agrees but then goes to Mr. Miyagi and tells him that she can't dance. When she returned home from school, Mr. Miyagi has moved the furniture in his living room and he tells Julie that that are going to have a karate lesson. During the lesson, Mr. Miyagi secretly teaches Julie to dance, (just like he did with Daniel's karate in the previous three movies.)
During the dance, Ned and his fellow elite members disrupt the dance by jumping from the ceiling of the school gymnasium. Eric goes to confront Ned but Julie stops him and they both walk away from the dance. As Eric drives Julie home, Ned shows up and damages Eric's car with a baseball bat. Ned then challenges Eric to a fight.
At the fight, Ned is joined by Col. Dugan and the rest of the Alpha Elite. They set fire to his car and severely beat up on Eric. Eric is saved by Julie and Mr. Miyagi. As they start to leave, Ned challenges Julie to fight. Julie fights using the karate she has learned until Ned fights dirty by throwing mud in Julie's face. Julie ends up defeating Ned and they start to leave again. This prompts Col. Dugan to tell the rest of his group to continue the fight. Mr. Miyagi then speaks up and he challenges Dugan to fight. Mr. Miyagi ends up winning the fight and the three walk off.
[edit] Possible goofs
- Miyagi tells Julie that he taught her grandfather karate as a gift for saving his life in World War II. But when Daniel asks Miyagi if he has ever taught anyone karate before in The Karate Kid, he tells him that he has not.
[edit] Trivia
- Hilary Swank was set to star in the movie to replace an aging Ralph Macchio who was 33 years old.
- Conforming to the title changes of the first, second and third Karate Kid films for their releases in Japan, The Next Karate Kid was renamed Best Kid 4 (ベスト・キッド4/Besuto kiddo 4); the major and obvious change is that this movie's translated title now explicitly identifies it as the fourth in the series.
- According to the TV Guide Channel, The Next Karate Kid received the unusually low rating of one star.
- A then unknown Hilary Swank ended up becoming a prominent and successful actress.
- U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) appeared as himself in this film
[edit] Quotes
"Never trust spiritual leader, who cannot dance." - Mr. Miyagi
"Fighting not good. Somebody always get hurt." - Mr. Miyagi
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The Next Karate Kid part of The Karate Kid Series |
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| The Karate Kid | The Karate Kid, Part II | The Karate Kid, Part III | The Next Karate Kid |
