The Reseda Kid is more than a Junior Rocky

 THE KARATE KID (1984)

An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

It is not hard to forget how good the original "The Karate Kid" was. Ralph Macchio as the vulnerable, stringbean-looking kid, Daniel Larusso (who seems he would have trouble picking up a bag of groceries let alone delivering a kick at a martial-arts tournament) gave us the rooting hero of the film, and the feeling that any kid with the mildest karate experience could learn to fight with the proper guidance. His guide is the iconic Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), an apartment handyman from Okinawa who has deep philosophies about karate and learning balance within the art itself and in life. Though some supporting characters are sidelined a bit, the movie is an uplifting, spiritual success of a picture, a way of championing the underdog and remembering life's lessons in the process too.

In the opening scenes, Larusso has reluctantly moved to Reseda, California with his Jersey-accented mother Lucille (Randee Heller) - a world of palm trees and warm weather which is a far cry from Newark, New Jersey. Daniel is invited by a neighborhood kid (Israel Juarbe, fleetingly seen during the tournament as well) who lives in the same apartment dwelling to a beach party. Talk about the 1980's - the girls have big hair and the guys love to play soccer in the sand and so we get the typical music montages. There is a sweet blonde named Ali (Elisabeth Shue, her debut role) who takes an interest in Daniel - their eyes meet and a slow romance blooms. Not if Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) can help it - he is Ali's ex-boyfriend and he destroys her radio and knocks Daniel in the sand. Daniel's brief  karate training isn't enough - he learns from a book and eventually from an unexpected teacher, Mr. Miyagi, who happens to be the handyman at the apartment Daniel lives in. Of course, we all know the rest - Daniel has to maintain a complicated high-school relationship with Ali while trying to evade Johnnie and his Cobra Kai clan. Cobra Kai is a different kind of aggressive fighting style so Daniel instead learns to adopt Miyagi's Way of the Intercepting Paint Brush and Sanding Technique (and learns about clipping bonsai trees and catching flies with chopsticks). Oh, yeah, and that famous crane kick will become useful against the Cobra Kai bullies (they are bullies, by the way, though there has been speculation that Daniel was the real bully! This is a ridiculous fact that sprung up on youtube and found its way into the spectacularly entertaining "Cobra Kai" Netflix series. I suppose Daniel shouldn't have tried to defend himself against Johnny's roundhouse kicks, huh?)

The cast is a bright bunch of personalities, not the least of which includes Randee Heller who has to push the stationwagon in order to get it started - she is credibly cast and has a smile of gratitude that one can't forget. William Zabka has too few scenes overall - a one-dimensional badass who shows some mercy for Daniel in the concluding tournament sequence (his role has been beefed up in "Cobra Kai"). Martin Kove is such a tightly coiled snake as the Cobra Kai teacher, Reese, that the scene between him and Miyagi leaves one breathless (Kove also returned in a hugely enlarged role in "Cobra Kai"). Elisabeth Shue exudes ample charm and is a good match for Daniel - why her role was ignored in the sequels is beyond my understanding (she reappears in Season 3 of "Cobra Kai"). Macchio is ideally cast as Larusso who finds his inner strength to move on and get to the next level - his character is one of the few joys to be found in any teenage movie role in the 1980's. 

The heart and soul of "The Karate Kid" is Daniel and Miyagi's relationship - they form a bond and there is unexpected depth to their characters (something the first two sequels barely touched on). Sure, Daniel is a regular kind of nice kid who wants to get along with everyone but he has no father (the screenplay wisely omits any explanation). Daniel finds a father figure of sorts in Myagi but they actually become close friends and when we learn that Miyagi lost his wife and child years back at an internment camp, we feel for the teacher because he is only human and can't quite balance this sadness unless he drinks himself into a stupor. Nevertheless their bond is lifelong and they both realize that karate helps teach that balance, and also clipping those bonsai trees. 

Say Goodnight Rambo

 RAMBO: LAST BLOOD (2019)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

What I noticed about "Rambo: Last Blood" is that Sylvester Stallone shows a little more humanity than is normally allowed for a one-man killing machine like Vietnam Vet John Rambo. Other than the fact that the film is titled Rambo, it is virtually indistinguishable from any other grossly exploitative action movie.

New character details are present at first. Rambo has shorter hair, sans bandana, and rides a horse in his Arizona ranch. Peace seems to have settled into the character, well kinda sorta. There are endless tunnels throughout the property which can only occasionally trigger his PTSD! Rambo also keeps serrated knives and a healthy supply of guns nearby. That is expected from a Vietnam Vet and especially Rambo but peace can't last for long in this idyllic setting. He has adopted a family that includes the doting Maria (Adriana Barraza) and her ambitious granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal) who wants to go to college. Rambo feels very protective of Gabrielle, seeing her as his own daughter. By the way, there appears to be no romantic partner in Rambo's life, a sight unseen since Part II.

Gabrielle wants to meet her real dad in Mexico yet this small-knit family is against it. Naturally Gabrielle ventures into Mexico and is kidnapped and placed in a sex trafficking ring lit like something out of TV's "FBI" with a garish green glow. So far, so good - a decent setup for this type of movie. Rambo gets wind of what is happening and the action, thrills and suspense start. For a while, I was actually absorbed by this movie despite featuring an army of angry, one-note Mexican villains that look virtually anonymous - not one stands out as memorably evil. Rambo's intent is to rescue Gabriella and kill all these guys in the most gruesomely violent manner possible. I was hardly appalled by the violence but watching Rambo employ horrific killing methods such as holding a beating bloody heart in his hand stops the movie cold. Did it need to be that grisly?

"Rambo: Last Blood" is not nauseating in its final brutal half-hour, just simply repetitious and numbing. Stallone has the killer presence as always yet some of his mumbling can be, well, just mumbling. I like the introduction of a Rambo retiring at his ranch but that is about as fresh as this old-hat, by-the-numbers action picture gets. Say goodnight Rambo.  

A divided country in the 1970's

 JOE (1970)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A young couple in a dingy apartment are injecting heroin in their arms. Susan Sarandon, in her film debut, plays the naive and innocent flower of a girlfriend. The guy is always out for a fix and sells pills for quick cash. In the first few moments of "Joe," you might think you are watching either an Andy Warhol film or some ultra gritty documentary about heroin users. Nothing can prepare you for what's to come. Having said that, "Joe" as a film doesn't resonate as strongly as I would've hoped after it is over and yet the substance is mostly derived from Peter Boyle's Joe who will resonate long after the film is over.

The eponymous title character is not introduced yet as we delve into a rich advertising businessman named Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick) who wants to help his strung-out daughter who's hospitalized after OD'ing (eventually she goes missing). He can't stand the way she lives nor can he stand the guy whom he accidentally kills by thrusting the guy's head against the wall repeatedly (edited with multiple dissolving frames that gives it an extra charge of brutality). After the murder, exasperated Compton walks into a bar and hears the title character Joe (Peter Boyle) talking about his intolerable hatred of blacks and hippies. The two form an uneasy alliance and come from different worlds - Compton is wealthy and Joe works in a factory. Their households and their wives couldn't be more different - Compton's wife is sophisticated and taciturn. Joe's wife is loquacious and gets on her husband's nerves. Compton has a fireplace and the luxuries of a high-rise, expensive apartment building. Joe has a smaller house and a gun collection in his basement. 

If "Joe" had stuck to these two characters and their families as an exploratory character study and their differing views of the world at large, the film would've been a powerhouse. As it stands written by Norman Wexler, we get a little too much time devoted to free-lovin' hippies where Compton and Joe cavort in and smoke grass while trying to find Compton's missing daughter. Their wallets get stolen by the hippies and all hell breaks loose in the uneventful climax that results in an unexpected tragedy. The film loses some ground because the first 2/3 suggests anything but the climax we get. The two main characters of Joe and Compton are so fascinating and so intricately layered that the story demands something more than the sum of its parts. 

"Joe" existed during a time of the Nixon-era when the hippies and their lifestyle were starting to wane and the counter culture was evaporating fast. Working class guys like the bigoted Joe were all too common, sensing that their worth only came down to dollars and cents whereas blacks could go on welfare and make the same amount of money (it is important to illustrate that these are his observations which were shared by many at the time...and still are). Compton makes far more money yet Joe respects him mainly for taking charge and for their mutual agreement on warfare against the free-thinking, free-lovin' liberals. A lot of this could've used more of a clear focus, to gauge their beliefs by putting them into practice beyond a semi-cop out ending. What we get leading to that shocking finale is some sex at a hippie hangout that goes awry and the aftermath of a violent shootout (all too common ending in controversial 1970's films). Still, "Joe" is an intriguing film that is worth seeing particularly for the on-the-nose and superior performance given by Peter Boyle - his early scene at the bar and other significant moments of observation are so damn riveting that I will never forget them. His character could still resonate today and that is scary to think about.