There’s something about a bully movie that audiences can’t resist.
And by “bully movie,” I mean a movie in which the bully doles out some punishment early on only to get trounced by the hero in the final reel.
Nice.
The latest ’80s remake hitting theaters this weekend – a younger, hipper take on “The Karate Kid” – stands as the ultimate bully movie.
Jaden Smith takes over for Ralph Macchio, although a good friend insists a better idea for the remake is to cast Macchio again as his 40-something self and rehash the entire first movie without anyone ever mentioning his advanced years.
But I digress.
If you can’t wait until Friday to see Wee Smith whump the bully, consider these three films to tide you over:
- “My Bodyguard” – A personal favorite that holds up beautifully today. Chris Makepeace, a late ’70s/early ’80s star, plays the new kid in school who gets targeted by the slick-haired bully (Matt Dillon!). So Makepeace’s character hires the school’s misunderstood hulk (Adam Baldwin, who now blogs at Big Hollywood) to serve as his bodyguard. It all plays out beautifully, and for no extra charge you get the feisty Ruth Gordon and even Martin Mull.
- “Three O’clock High” – “You and me, we’re gonna have a fight. Today. After school. Three o’clock. In the parking lot. You try and run, I’m gonna track you down. You go to a teacher, it’s only gonna get worse. You sneak home, I’m gonna be under your bed” … ’nuff said. OK, I’ll go a few steps further. Why this one isn’t standing tall next to other ’80s gems like “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Better Off Dead” is beyond me. Just reading that quote makes me wanna watch this one again. Right now.
- “Drillbit Taylor” – Yes, it’s one of the lesser Judd Apatow creations (he’s a producer on the film) but some terrific casting (Owen Wilson at his disarming best) and some classic bully moments make this one of the better entries in the bully genre.
(Photo: Jaden Smith – Son of Will – plays the bully slayer in the 2010 remake “The Karate Kid”/Columbia Pictures)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
“My Bodyguard” is a classic, (though dated and kinda bland now if you aren’t a fan) because it was also a buddy movie. The big guy who seemed to be prime tough guy characteristics joining the weak outsider, in his outsider status, when in the beginning, baldwins character kinda sorta bullied him in the first place.
Then you had bonding, between the two of them.
“Three O’Clock High” is a classic, because It wasn’t the normal format of someone going through montages of training up to defeat the bad guy with big soundtrack at the end. It was a nice kid feeling cornered and finally lashing out.
Haven’t seen drillbit.
But agree completely with the first two.
Karate kid worked, because it wasn’t just about the training and the montages, and the soundtrack, it was more coming of age. An outsider, who found a niche, and filled it, with the help of someone who was nice, and at the end being a nice guy about it. Which is classic 80’s work.
Am I the only that sees that this remake of “That Karate Kid” as not only completely unnecessary (as most remakes these days), but also as an empty shell of a movie whose sole purpose is to serve as an obvious vehicle for Will Smith to get his son into the business?
Don’t get me wrong, I like Will Smith a lot and will belly up to a good Will Smith movie anytime (except “Wild Wild West”…that was just painfully awful), but this new remake reeks of conjuring up a project just for a simple exercise of nepotism.
The film’s producers are … wait for it … Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Don’t disagree, Jason, but I will say Jaden is a disarming young actor. My KK review will be here Friday morning with more …
Personally I find it hard to distinguish whether my distaste for most of the remakes is because they are simply bad and really aren’t in need of being remade, or because I’m older and don’t like seeing films I may hold dear being “re-imagined” and possibly surpassed by the remake.
While Smith seems to be a nice guy, if you’ve seen one Will Smith character you’ve seen every character he’s played. I wouldn’t call him an actor but more of a personality.
“My KK review will be here Friday morning with more …”
And I eagerly await to see if I am wrong.
Opus, I don’t think the distaste for remakes is an either/or thing as you described; I think it’s both. And I’m still stinging from that insidious remake of “Rollerball”; both a movie (1975 original) that I hold dear and a remake that proved to be an unnecessary, awful piece of…cinema).
When I was looking up information on the remake of Straw Dogs, I found a Rod Lurie interview (director of remake) where he says, “Yeah, the joke is that we’re [Hollywood] not running out of new ideas, we’re running out of old ones too.”
Yeah, I’d be laughing too if it weren’t so freakin’ depressing.
I agree with Jason on Rollerball. Never should have been done.
What will seriously prove the impact of the remake, besides dollars, are the names growing on the waiting lists to get into the local martial arts academy down the street.
If there isn’t a single kid karate chopping their pal as they exit the theater then this movie is a bust.
“Three O’Clock High” is a fantastic movie. A classic example of how to build a story up to the climax. Loved every minute of it.
A bit off topic but I still think Ralph Macchio is dreamy… He was one of my very first crushes… I am such a child of the 80’s! The man is now 48 and looks like he’s about 25.
Saw Macchio in an off-Broadway musical in DC a few years back … he acquitted himself nicely as a song and dance man …
AKJ – I did see two young boys throwing karate chops at each other – although no blows landed – after screening the movie.
Someone over on Big Hollywood made an interesting observation. Is the kid learning Kung Fu and not Karate? If it’s Kung Fu, then the name of the movie doesn’t fit.
Yeah, the folks behind the movie didn’t sweat the details, apparently.