To us 80s children, it was our "Rocky"...no coincidence it was directed by the same man, John Avildsen

Good call on the Oscar nomination for Pat Morita, Roger! I hope he made Gene eat those words the following year!

I like how they say if you've seen Rocky you can predict the ending. Rocky lost.

They both missed the point of the movie Daniel had no father figure Miyagi lost his family They both filled a void in each other's lives, when they needed it the most It's a tale of friendship and found family The karate is an afterthought in the story

I have now watched hundreds of these old Siskel and Ebert reviews over the last few weeks, I can't get enough of them. I've come to the conclusion that Ebert's reviews are definitely more in line with my thinking. It's not that Gene's reviews are poor, I just think sometimes he focuses too much on thematic elements, characters and other more cerebral components to a movie and sometimes misses the big picture so to speak. Roger tends to look for movies that are entertaining, which is ultimately the point of any movie, to entertain.

Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio’s best movie PERIOD!

Miyagi wasn’t a janitor, he was a handyman. Great review though!

As a kid in the 80’s I looked forward to watching Siskel and Ebert reviews Sunday mornings before church.

The movie is not too long and doesn’t need to be compressed. Every scene has relevance. It never seems like it’s two hours long.

A childhood favorite! I'll always prefer this to the Jaden Smith remake.

Siskel missed this by a mile. Thankfully Ebert got it. This was an absolute classic. And to Siskel, what is predictable about teaching karate skills by waxing cars and painting fences?? That was totally unpredictable, and is such an awesome part of the movie. 2 hours is too long? What? That added to the entire story -- he meets Ali, life in high school for a new kid, etc. May he RIP, but man Siskel, you missed the beauty of this classic movie.

"show me wax on, wax off" is one of the more cathartic scenes in movies that I can think of

Ebert was spot on. Siskel was way off the mark. Time will always tell. The Karate Kid is now regarded as one of the greatest films of the 80’s and is pretty much flawless. Gene and Roger, thank you for bringing film criticism into the limelight. May you both Rest In Peace.

Roger Ebert got it. Completely.

And siskel with his arrogant “no way” pat morita wont be nominated for an Oscar.... Morita created one of the most memorable characters in cinematic history. Say Mr. Miyagi, and everyone over 30 will know who that is

The impact of Pat Morita's role in Karate Kid is evident in the resurgent popularity of Cobra Kai. The performance and cultural impact of his role should receive an award.

Ebert generally was more accurate than Siskel

I always liked Pat Morita, and it's a shame that he wasn't allowed to shine in many more films, much earlier than this one. I'm glad he finally got his chance, even though it was late in his career.

I would love to watch their reactions to Cobra Kai, especially with the insights of time.

why are these guys sitting 2 feet from each other... dont they know there is a pandemic going on?

Janitor? He was a maintenance man. He fixed things & also became Daniel's sensai

I always liked Siskel and Ebert but watching these old clips on KZfaq my opinion of Gene Siskel as a film critic has really deteriorated. He is very pretentious and barely likes any movies. The amount of modern day classics he was wrong about is staggering. He got Shawshank Redemption correct but not much else from watching many clips from the 80s and 90s.

It's weird that they don't say "Mr. Myagi." They keep calling him "the janitor."

Ebert nails it again.

I'm totally with Ebert on this one. Karte Kid went on to be a huge success not to mention Cobra Kai series. Can't get enough!

Wanting to cut 20 minutes out of The Karate Kid is why you reviewed movies and didn’t make them.

Good movies from 1984: The Terminator Ghostbusters Footloose Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Beverly Hills Cop The Bounty This Is Spinal Tap (!) Revenge of the Nerds Romancing the Stone Top Secret! Starman Body Double

they're missing the point you got to crawl before you can walk so you got to learn the basics and have the patience in order to inherit the rest

Pat Morita was robbed of that Oscar. Everybody remembers and reveres Miyagi. Nobody ever talks about The Killing Fields.

Great find! Thanks for sharing!

I wish these guys are still around to discuss Cobra Kai. Seeing Johnny develop from a bully to Daniel’s friend

Wish they still made movies like this today

I never watched S&E till the early 90's, didn't realize they used to show half the movie during their reviews in the early days.

Ebert was usually more spot on than Siskel

Roger Ebert was a portly but kind and intelligent gentleman. RIP.

Bzzz, sorry Gene but thanks for playing!

The character of Miyagi was so well done. That alone makes the movie watchable. Something they would not have known for the review was the part where Miyagi is drinking and humming/singing in Japanese was adlibbed by Morita following something in the script to have Miyagi do those things without reason. Morita felt this was something out of character for Miyagi so he took something from his own life. The portion of Miyagi's wife and son dying in childbirth was added by Morita as he has been at Tule Lake relocation center during WWII. This fit well into the plot and enhances Miyagi's and Daniel's father-son connection.

Wow, Ebert correctly predicted that Pat Morita would get an Oscar nomination.

You guys better like this movie because it will be a classic!!!!

I really enjoy these old clips of Siskel & Ebert. the great thing about their show was you didn't have to agree with their thumbs up or thumbs down that was just their opinion oftentimes I wouldn't agree with them or wouldn't agree with one of them but they gave you a rundown of the movie and it's always nice to hear somebody's opinion of something and then you make your own judgments. In the '80s we didn't have the internet and this was a nice way to quickly see a snippet of a number of movies here an opinion of each of them, and then you'd have a general idea if the movie was something you wanted to spend your $4 to go see (oh how I missed the cost of a ticket in the '80s too) Generally I thought they were good at what they did. they were both well spoken gentlemen. I miss their show.

These John Avildsen movies carry the same message. The characters struggle in life and are the longest of long shots. They don’t have much, but they persevere. In Rocky, boxing was the metaphor. In this movie, karate was the metaphor. But the raw emotions that are delivered cannot be matched.

After this movie, anytime we had to do housework, it was an exercise in karate training. Washing the floors, car…. So funny how it influenced us as kids

It must really make you wonder what these guys would've thought of Cobra Kai, had they still been around in 2020

Holy shit talk about spoilers! Wax car paint fence!

Pat Morita DID get nominated for an Academy Award, so Gene underestimated that too. But Roger called it.

Everybody I knew in the 8th grade took a karate class. For about a month. This was huge when it came out

I guess "spoilers" wasn't really a thining back then.

5:55 Spoiler. Pat Morita DID get the Oscar nomination ;)

I think it also helps that Macchio looks like an underdog even in the final stages while Johnny looks like Ryu/Ken from Street Fighter 2. I suspect Billy Zabka might've already had some karate grounding, but if not, he killed it in looking like an authentic evil, rich, blonde Valley karate bully. Another great aspect of the movie is that Pat Morita was known from sitcoms. He was a stereotypically amusing Japanese-American guy. I remember him in Happy Days. He was very funny even in 2-3 second appearances simply w/ his stunned reactions to the hijinks taking place in Al's Diner, where he worked, so when we saw him in this film, it was a pleasant surprise how much depth he could display if given the chance. That idea of putting TV actors into serious film roles was big then. In 80, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch (of TV's "Taxi") played serious roles in the movie Ordinary People, which later won the Oscar for Best Film.

Siskel was so wrong that the movie was too long, and marginal thumbs up? It’s a classic. Ebert was right, siskel wrong

great review of a great classic movie and one of my favourite classic movies

I tell you another thing about this movie - that was the first time I heard of Japanese internment camps. I was 12 and went home and asked my parents about it. I was horrified when I was told about it.

Ebert was right, Pat Morita did get nominated for an oscar.

Janitors everywhere find the term offensive lol

I agree with siskel. The film ran a bet too long could of done some more cutting in the editing room, but with all that aside still a classic film. One of the top teenage films of the 1980s. Love this film

This is one of my favorite movies. I watched it 1984 than last week. First I watched with Daniels prospective then with Johnnys. They egg each on. But I still Love the movie

Crazy how these reviews give away so much

20/30 minutes too long?!? How about 10/20 minutes to short. Great movie

Took people 35 years to find out larusso was the bad guy in this film

The fact that Pat Morita never got the praise or won any awards is unbelievable. I honestly think this movie like Rocky 1 should’ve won best picture.

Gene always misses it.

It is funny how Ebert says he wasn't going to spoil the ending, but if you had seen "Rocky," you might be able to guess since the movie was from the same director; given that Rocky loses in the first movie, but Larusso wins, seems like he forgot the ending of "Rocky."

Very nice film.

Siskel probably hated the scene where Miyagi was drunk, mourning his wife and infant son. He probably thought that scene should have been cut, but it was that scene that got Pat Morita the nomination.

At the time did anyone ever think we’d have the mini-series Cobra Kai, a mere 34 years later which would be blooming brilliant.

Nice video

The reason people really like Karate Kid 1 is because the surrogate father/son relationship between Macchio and Noriyuki is touching. They may not realize it, but that's the heart of that movie and why attempts at re-creating it have all been shitless.

That was a simple friggin review by Siskel. It’s one of the best movies of all time.

Pat Morita was indeed Oscar nominated for Karate Kid. Gene.....wrong again

GENE ... HOPE YOU ATE YOUR WORDS... ON OF THE BEST MOVIES.. OF THE 1980S.. PAT Morita deserved the oscar.. siskel needs to open his eyes... awesome picture period

Roger Ebert was right, as Pat Morita was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Mr. Miyagi.

Great video!Thanks for posting!!

I liked Gene, but he could be a little snobby with his movie reviews where Roger would be more open and give thumbs up even for a total goofy picture....

Any possibility of a Mr. Miyagi origin story? Maybe in parallel with Johnny's karate master?

Ebert was right about the nomination.

Daniel brought some of this on himself.

What did Macchio say on the boat that they had to bleep out?

Interesting choice of clips Seemed much longer than usual reviews

Ebert got it right about Pat Morita’s Oscar nomination.

The slim dude didn’t know shit. The bigger dude was spot on and knows his shit!! I know they are siskel and ebert but I don’t who’s who lol

Stop calling him janitor!! He was a handyman for gods sake !

I too enjoyed the Karate philosophy in the TV series Kung Fu.

It's easy, and unfair really, to pick out individual misses for both guys when you have watched enough of these old reviews But something tells me if Gene was still alive today that not recognizing that Pat Morita's performance was worthy of Oscar consideration would be by his own admission one of his biggest misses.

Great movie.

If the ending is predictable, and they’re referencing the director who also directed “Rocky,” last time I checked Rocky lost at the end.

Both were accurate reviews. The movie was indeed overall predictable. But it was so well done and with so many additional facets to it that the predictability became greatly diminished in importance.

RIP pat morita

never realized the movie was over 2 hours long lol

No mention of Martin Kove?

“The Italian kid” “The Janitor” WTF with the Insensitive remarks. BTW, He wasn’t a janitor.

4:13 start of actual review. The first 4 minutes are almost entirely just clips from the movie.

Ebert was always the best

If you all get a chance read Ebert’s review on IMDB. It’s brilliant.

Gene frequently had no ability to review a movie within context, analyze who it is aimed at. Roger's reviews were typically better and more accurate.

Siskel should be in the book of world records for being wrong. Wrong again on Pat Morita being nominated. I swear my enduring hate for Siskel is not unfounded. lol Always the dong take with that guy.

the karate kid = ROCKY + ...Enter the Dragon..?? what..?!? LOL

I guess those dorks didn't know the difference between a "janitor"and a handyman..... Painful, how the Hollywood elite are so out of touch with anything that could be useful.... I was never a huge fan of these two.

God, the snowflakes in the comments crying that someone didn't like their favourite kiddy film as much as they did.

5:55 - So cool to see Roger Ebert predict a very unpredictable Oscar nominee for Par Morita and for the reliably self-important Gene Siskel to snobbishly dismiss the idea as rubbish.

Gene sounds so smug! “Balance on a boat” GTFOH!!