Jul 16, 2026 · 19 min · 11 segments
In The Karate Kid, Mr Miyagi has Daniel wax the car and paint the fence for days — then reveals he'd been wiring in the muscle memory for karate all along. That's routine in one scene: the boring…
Paul CleworthHost
Back in 1984, an old Japanese gentleman in California asked a teenager to wax his car.
Now, if you're of a certain age, I don't need to tell you how big that film was.
Small, scrawny kid, Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, a man who to this day does not appear to age, wants to learn karate.
He signed up to become a karate champion and instead he's been turned into unpaid labour.
And then, one of the truly great moments in 80s cinema, Miyagi throws a punch at him.
Back in 1984, an old Japanese gentleman in California asked a teenager to wax his car.
Now, if you're of a certain age, I don't need to tell you how big that film was.
Small, scrawny kid, Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, a man who to this day does not appear to age, wants to learn karate.
He signed up to become a karate champion and instead he's been turned into unpaid labour.
And then, one of the truly great moments in 80s cinema, Miyagi throws a punch at him.
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