FAQ

Okinawa-trained karate master Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) and his student Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) open a bonsai shop in Reseda (California). Meanwhile, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), ruthless businessman, martial arts expert, and owner of John Kreese (Martin Kove)'s failing Cobra Kai dojo, sets out to win the All Valley Karate championship back from Daniel.

"The Karate Kid, Part III" is the third movie in the "Karate Kid" franchise, preceded by The Karate Kid (1984) (1984) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986) (1986). All three films were scripted by Robert Mark Kamen, directed by John G. Avildsen, and have novelizations to their credit by B.B. Hiller.

A fourth movie in the series - The Next Karate Kid (1994) - was released in 1994, scripted by Mark Lee, and directed by Christopher Cain. The "Karate Kid" movies bear no connection to the same-named DC Comics superhero.

Just over nine months has passed since Daniel won the All-Valley Karate Tournament, trouncing Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) from the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel and Mr Miyagi have just returned to L.A. following their trip to Japan (seen in The Karate Kid: Part II).

No. Yukie (Nobu McCarthy) remains in Okinawa in a new house that Miyagi built for her. Daniel explains to his mother that Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) has taken a job with a dance company in Tokyo.

After taking a job in Fresno (in Karate Kid II) that allowed Daniel to travel to Okinawa with Miyagi, Lucille Larusso (Randee Heller) is now staying with Uncle Louie, who has come down with a bad case of emphysema. Consequently, Daniel moves in with Miyagi for the time being.

Piecing together their backstory from the movie, John Kreese and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) served together in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, and Kreese saved Silver's life on numerous occasions; their experiences in Vietnam are explored further in Cobra Kai (2018). Terry, also a karate master, comes from a wealthy background and helped Kreese establish Cobra Kai after they left the Army. Grateful to Kreese for saving his life in Vietnam, Terry makes it his priority to help Kreese get revenge on Daniel and Miyagi in retaliation for them defeating Cobra Kai at the All-Valley Tournament.

The mansion used in Karate Kid III for the Terry Silver scenes is the Ennis House, located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924. The most extensive filming of the mansion was done in the 1959 Vincent Price movie, House on Haunted Hill (1959). Since then, it has appeared in a number of movies and television shows such as The Day of the Locust (1975) (1975), Blade Runner (1982) (1982), The Thirteenth Floor (1999) (1999), and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) TV series.

It's the day of the All Valley Tournament. Daniel is fighting to defend his title. Cobra Kai is represented by Mike "Bad Boy" Barnes (Sean Kanan). After a rousing speech about honesty, compassion, and fair play (and a large donation) by Dynatox president Terry Silver, the match begins. The plan is for Mike to win a point then lose a point, keeping the score 0-0 until the sudden death round when he is to pulverize Daniel. Mike wins the first point but then loses it when he kicks Daniel in the family jewels. Mike wins another point with a blow to Daniel's ribs but then loses it when he fires off an illegal punch between rounds. Mike now begins to get some hard punches into Daniel, getting no points for them but reducing Daniel to mush. Daniel is fearful of going on, but Mr Miyagi reminds him to focus. They enter the sudden death round, and Daniel both regains his focus and confounds Mike by beginning to perform the kata. He proceeds to flip Mike to the ground and punch him down, thus winning the All Valley Tournament again. In the final scenes, Cobra Kais throw away their shirts, and Daniel and Mr Miyagi hug each other.

According to their bios, Macchio was born on 4 November 1961 and Griffith on 18 March 1962, making Macchio four months older than Griffith. Macchio was 27 at the time of filming.