1984
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
May 30th
As I stated in yesterdays post, many people regard ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ as the definitive Indiana Jones film. However, in my opinion, it plays second fiddle to ‘Temple of Doom’. I emphasise “in my opinion” though, probably my only reasoning is because I remember much more about watching this film when I was a child than I did the first instalment. I wasn’t even a year old when ‘Temple of Doom’ arrived on our shores in the U.K. but judging by the length of time it used to take to get from the box office to the little screen, the terrestrial television rights probably didn’t occur in the U.K. until at least 1986-88 maybe? (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, I was young!) So that means I would have been about 4-5 years of age watching this for the first time on television. I loved every minute of it!
The opening scene, a little out of place in an action adventure movie, starts with Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) signing in a Chinese nightclub. Indiana Jones is trying to negotiate the trading of an artefact from Chinese gangsters. Things go horribly wrong, Jones and Willie end up scrambling amongst chaos to find a crystal and a life saving antidote that will cure Indy from a deadly poison fed to him by the Chinese gangsters during the negotiations. They manage to escape with the help of a little friend, 12-year-old Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), a mini Indiana Jones wannabe who adds a lot of comic relief to the film.
As they find their way out of the clutches of the gangsters they board a plane, and are left for dead mid-flight. When hey safely avoid crashing inside the plane, they find their way to a distressed Indian village. The village has been stripped of all it’s life, the people are starving and their children have been taken. The shaman tells Indy that he must recover a sacred stone that belongs to the village, that he believes will restore the village back to its natural thriving state. They discover it is one of the Sankara stones, stones that have a magical effect on whoever possesses them, hense why the village has seen such a depression since it was taken.
As they set out on their journey, they arrive at Pankot Palace and everything seems fine and they are treated like royalty. Until they stumble across the Temple of Doom where rituals of a sacrificial nature are being carried out and we find out that the village children are forced into labour underground in a mine.
Indy sets out to retrieve the stone and to free the children from slavery, in the process he meets some near death experiences including being possessed and almost having his heart ripped out by the Thuggee’s psychopathic high priest – Mola Ram (Puri).
The Chase is on!
In one of the most memorable scenes of my childhood, they break the children free after raising havoc in the Temple, and they set out to escape the clutches of the Thuggee warriors. In a wild chase they race through tunnels within the mine shafts in a small rail carriage. Closely followed by the warriors, as the warriors slowly meet their demise one by one, Mola Ram spills a massive reservoir of water that will no doubt flush Indy, Willie and Short Round out of the mines, in the aim of killing them off once and for all.
Needless to say Indy saves the day in spectacular fashion and returns safely to the village, stone in hand and children by his side. On recent viewing this film stands out as one of my favourite movies of my childhood. There were no effects, like there were at the end of Raiders which made it look its age, just simple fun. I think this film optimises, for me, the way Indiana Jones films still manage to take you out of reality and place you in suspended fantasy for a couple of hours!
For your DVD needs… (click the DVD cover for amazon listing)
 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Special Edition DVD |
The Karate Kid (1984)
May 7th
The Cobra Kai Dojo logo
Yes, that’s right, the legend that was and that will always live on in our hearts, the story of a kid who went on to defeat the giants that crossed his path.
Now, we all remember the bullies and scum that always gave us a hard time in school or at work, sometimes we may, at one point or another, have even become one of those bullies. Sadly I was one of those kids who always, more often than not, seemed to be at the brunt of the jibes and punches! Don’t get me wrong, I’m over it now and looking back, can laugh at it and even get on well with some of my antagonists.
I think this was one of the main reasons I loved the Karate Kid trilogy so much, not that Daniel Larusso (played by Ralph Macchio – Crossroads, My Cousin Vinny) was always getting beaten up or bullied in any way, he was a hard kid and in the movies he always ended up on top, but because it always gave me a sense of hope because he was such a weedy looking guy and he didn’t look like he could come out victorious, but he always did in the end!
The Karate Kid was released theatrically in 1984, only a year after I was born and I remember it well from my early childhood as one of my favourite films. Like so many films/stories before it and so many after it, The Karate Kid follows an age old formula that takes an underdog and pits him against a formidable opponent in a sort of David and Goliath rendition for generation-x.
The Main Cast
- Ralph Macchio – Daniel Larusso
- Pat Morita – Mr. Miyagi
- Elisabeth Shue – Ali Mills
- Martin Kove – John Kreese
- William Zabka – Johnny Lawrence
Daniel is uprooted when his mother gets a new job in L.A. He struggles to find his way in the new surroundings and can’t seem to get to grips with the new school and his colleagues. Obviously, like any Hollywood movie, there’s a love interest, Ali (Shue) who invites him to a beach party. The party is cut somewhat short by Ali’s jealous boyfriend, Johnny and his gang that call themselves The Cobras after their dojo ‘Cobra-Kai’. Daniel comes out bruised and battered by the gang and most prominently, Johnny.
The Cobras severely beat Daniel, until Miyagi comes to the rescue
After a few more attempts to fit in, granted some attempts may be a little too forced, let’s just say, dressing up as a shower didn’t go down too well, Daniel is almost at the point of giving up after he comes out badly hurt after another encounter with the gang. Miyagi to the rescue! Daniel starts a journey of self control and discipline, the traits that will humble him into becoming a martial arts champion and, more importantly, defeat the giants in his life.
“Wax on, Wax off” the immortal words of such a legendary character that will no doubt be remembered for years to come. The late great comedian Pat Morita portrayed such an amazing Mr. Miyagi, it would be impossible to recognise anybody else in that role ever again, this of course is one of the main reasons, in this new age of remakes/disasters (whatever you’d like to refer to them as), Hollywood should never go near a remake of The Karate Kid.
Daniel is shown how to clean cars and paint fences, the discipline that will carry him through the competition that the Cobra-Kia sensei John Kreese challenges him to partake in. However, it’s not just war between Daniel and Johnny, it’s a battle between Miyagi and Kreese and their philosophies. In the end will the “Strike First, Strike Hard, Show No Mercy” mentality win or will the Miyagi philosophy be victorious?
Miyagi and Daniel are comfronted by Kreese at the Cobra Kai dojo
After watching the trilogy (and unfortunately, the fourth instalment – The Next Karate Kid, with Hilary Swank in the lead role, in place of Macchio) again just a few months ago, I truly felt the essence of the films still had its bite and still made me go crazy when he becomes victorious at the end of each movie. And Frankly, the crane kick still kicks ass after all these years!
I’d highly recommend the first and second films, the third is also a favourite of mine but many people say it lost its edge. However, in my opinion, the villains Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) who are out for blood after Daniel and Mr. Miyagi cause John Kreese’s life to fall apart, are amazingly evil. The ending however, doesn’t pack as much punch as the first film, which is disappointing seen as the film really shows the pain Daniel is put through throughout.
I will write up reviews on each of the films in due course, but do yourself a favour, steer clear of number 4!
For more info on Karate Kid visit The Karate Kid Website. (All the pictures used in this article are taken from this website, thank you).
The legendary crane kick - come on we've all tried it whilst standing on the bed!
For the DVD… (Click the DVD cover for the amazon link)
 The Karate Kid Quadrilogy |