Growing up in the 80's
By carpenter5
@carpenter5 (6782)
United States
June 12, 2007 8:44am CST
Over the weekend, I walked into my girls bedroom to find them watching Karate Kid II on of all things AMC (American Movie Classics). It made me feel old to think that they would consider that a classic. I guess it is after all a 21 year old movie now though!
I remember the first time I saw KKII. I was with my friends Cheryl, Chris and Kevin. We waited in line for 40 minutes at 5 p.m. to get tickets to the 9:00 p.m. show because the 7:00 was sold out already. It was opening night!
As we watched Ralph Macchio (anyone know what happened to him BTW?) fight this evil Japanese teenager, the crowd cheered and booed. When he defeated him at the end...the screen got a standing ovation!
It was fun and a night that I still remember vividly from the summer of 1986! God, I am old! lol
Here's what struck me as funny when I watched it again with my girls this weekend. It looked cheaply made, strung together, the dialog seemed strained and rehearsed, and you could tell that Ralph's karate kicks were coming no where near their target!
What happened? This is not the same movie that I remember cheering on on that night so long ago!
8 people like this
12 responses
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
13 Jun 07
i caught the first karate kid movie on tv the other day. i couldn't resist sitting down and watching it.
you're right, some of the movies i loved when i was younger i watch now and i think "wow... this doesn't seem quite how i remember it"
2 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
We were coming home from church the other night, and tuned into a radio station and they were having an 80's pop reunion.
Air Supply, Journey, Chicago, Foreigner, Loverboy....and most of the songs were the Theme songs from all of these movies that we've been talking about here.
Talk about great music!
@Shaun72 (15959)
• Palatka, Florida
12 Jun 07
I know what you mean it makes me feel old too. I was about 14 when it came out. I wonder what happed to Ralph also. I use to love watching him in the Karate Kid and he also played in a few other movies but to me Karate Kid is the best.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
16 Jul 07
I don't have it either. We don't have any of the premium channels.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
He's supposed to be on some show on Starzz (which I don't have) on July 25th.
I wonder the same thing...is he doing anything professionally...what he looks like now, etc...
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
13 Jun 07
he he he, I have seen many movies now that I watched when I was a kid and I have been amazed at how i could consider these to be good at all =)
I also feel old at times, I am jusyt 26 and still sometimes I feel as if I am 86 =) When I was a kid I though that when a person was 30, they were really old and now I am soon there myself =)
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
girl..you are still just a baby! lol
I know what you mean though darlin. I too thought turning 30 would be the end of the world. I even cried, and was depressed! But turning 40 was kind of fun.
@bcl_me (582)
• Philippines
13 Jun 07
it was screen edited to make lausy and old...a lot of old good movies i know appears that way when it is shown on cable or any other local channel which is really bad...i do not know what their motive was...but for sure they make people who loved that movie angry if not embarassed but me...i jut ignore those things coz I got my onw copy anyway so I can watch it in comfort of my room anytime i wanted to.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
I agree...but you know what? They can never take away the memories of being in that theater with all of my friends and seeing it for the very first time. I'll never forget that night.
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
13 Jun 07
I could not catch from your discusison if it was exactly the same movie you have seen decades ago. Perhaps you were thrilled then but now, after having been thru life and seen much more stuffs, feelings changed. What it was and how it was years old may not be the same anymore. I have the same feeling even when I watch the same old movie a year ago.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
yes, it was the same movie. It was just fun, watching my girls faces as they watched it for the first time.
Sometimes things don't seem the same after many years. You are exactly right about that.
@Sherry12 (2472)
• United States
12 Jun 07
That's cute. I know when watching movies that I used to love, they seem so unprofessional compared to today's movies. I loved the beach party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Frunichello (sp?). I wish they'd have them on again. I don't think I'd ever get tired of watching them. I wonder what I'd think if I saw one now.
1 person likes this
@misheleen73 (6037)
• United States
13 Jun 07
Beach Blanket Bingo !!! One of my favs.... Luv those movies
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
Sherry! I grew up on those! My dad's younger sisters were 12 and 17 years older than me...and my babysitters growing up. I remember when my grandmother first got cable television and they would run those old movies.
wow. I loved them...and all the original gidget movies!
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
My first viewing of the Breakfast club was:
The day I fell in love with Emilio Estevez.
@MissMac1973 (130)
• Netherlands
12 Jun 07
You make my day, I sit here with a smile from ear to ear, seeing you watching that movie and philosophying about the gone 80ties.. I grew up in them aswell and have actually the same kind of memories about movies and song during that time. Some of those old movie are found dull by my eldest son, who is nearly 9 years of age..how does that sound.. Lol..
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
My girls asked me the other day why I like Kevin Bacon so much. So that afternoon while I was at Walmart...I invested in "Footloose".
Now, they understand.
Some of these guys just stayed hunky didn't they?
@byfaithonly (10698)
• United States
12 Jun 07
Yep your old - but I was already old the first time I saw the Karate Kid movies (I think we now have 3 on video). I liked the first one best but that's usually how it goes. They are 'cute' movies and I still enjoy watching them just for the clean moral values they include. Just have to watch out for 9-12 year old boys trying to duplicate the moves in your living room - this can be dangerous to any breakables.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
I remember my baby brother breaking his toe during the Teenage mutant Ninja Turtle craze. Trying to duplicate a karate kick that one of the turtles made.
@eden32 (3973)
• United States
13 Jun 07
I remember my first experience like this- it was some show on VH1, forget the name of it but it might have well have been "oldy-moldy stuff your parents liked" lol- whatever it was called, it implied that this was all old stuff. And they were playing things like John Cougar Melloncamp (remember when he only had one last name!), U2, Billy Idol- older stuff, yes but not *that* old- not Rolling Stones, AC/DC or Led Zepplin old.
Oh & I found this for Ralph-
http://s12.invisionfree.com/Fukas_Forums/ar/t213.htm
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
I used to laugh at my parents and their cousins who were their age, when they would get together and talk about "the old days"
Now I'm doing it. oh my god!
I've become my mother. lol
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
Get this...He's 45 years old. Been married to his wife Phyllis since April of 1987 (maybe there's the reason for his not doing the third KK.) They have 2 kids.
Doesn't appear he's done anything lately, that I was able to find.
Does anyone remember him in "Eight is Enough"????
I loved that show, but I don't remember Ralph being in it.
@eachen2002 (889)
• United States
12 Jun 07
I have the DVD's of all three movies.I guess our perceptions of things change as we age.I don't watch tv with as much interest as I used to.I mostly keep it on just to hear something in the house.Try watching the DVD's maybe there better.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Jul 07
I wasn't impressed with the third one. Perhaps because I was already married with a child by the time it came out...or perhaps because Ralph Macchio wasn't in it?
