Pat Morita aka Mr. Miyagi

Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:24 pm

Pat Morita, best known for his role as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid films, passed away at the age of 73 of natural causes.

You can see the AP report on it here.

I'm assuming a lot of you are too young to have seen the first Karate Kid movies, or if you did you found them cheesy, but I think that they were the films that first sparked my interest in Japan. It was an interest that didn't really flourish until I was in high school, but the seed was definitely planted while watching the first three films, particularly the one which was set in Okinawa. Some of the younger folks might remember The Next Karate Kid a bit better, which had Hilary Swank in Ralph Macchio's role, and once again had the role of Mr. Miyagi played by Pat Morita.

Anyway, being a child of the 80s, I grew up loving these movies (sooo cheesy!) and Mr. Miyagi was my favorite character (Daniel was drool-worthy, but often a bit annoying), so I felt it necessary to make at least a little thread for him.

Edit: Eep, URL for the Yahoo AP article was stretching the page, sorry! Fixed the issue.

Last edited by MyleneFarmer on Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:42 pm

R.I.P. Mr. Miyagi.

Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:22 pm

Wax on. Wax off.

RIP.

Sat Nov 26, 2005 3:02 am

Oh, that's sad. :(

I loved those movies.

Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:09 am

Karate Kid movies were the bomb in their day.
Lord knows I used to love them.
Very sad that Pat passed on.
RIP

Sat Nov 26, 2005 5:44 am

Now, more than ever, I am compelled to finally hunt down "The Karate Kid, part II" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091326) eventhough it got bad reviews.

RIP, Mr. Miyagi

Sat Nov 26, 2005 5:59 am

Chanel wrote:Now, more than ever, I am compelled to finally hunt down "The Karate Kid, part II" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091326) even though it got bad reviews.

You should. I loved that one, definitely my favorite of the Ralph Macchio set (haven't seen the one with Swank, although I might now just for a bit more of Morita). Let's face it, none of the Karate Kid movies were particularly great pieces of cinema. But they still had a special magic that made just about everyone watch them, at least back in the 80s.