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The Karate Kid: (Bill Conti) A pop culture icon of
the 1980's, the
The Karate Kid franchise was among the more
original ideas to come from Hollywood. The first two films in the
original trilogy (debuting in 1984 and 1986) were fiscal blockbusters
and ushered in a new wave of interest in youth martial arts and, more
curiously, bonsai trees. The original story's premise spoke to shy and
alienated youth by conveying a message of discipline and restraint, all
the while dancing through an obstacle course of mainstream stereotypes
of the decade dealing with teenage romance, bullying, and culture
clashes. A New Jersey boy is transplanted to Southern California with
his single mother and immediately becomes the target for hassling from
macho brats who belong to a local martial arts training group. He
happens across an aging master of the arts who not only trains the young
man in how to cope with his adversaries, but also serves as an important
father figure. The boy's eventual triumph in competition is a crowd
pleaser of the highest order, and every youngster's hope to achieve such
heights cemented the character of Mr. Miyagi (and actor Pat Morita, who
earned an Oscar nomination for his role in the film) as an instant
favorite, a circumstance that did not go unexploited by marketers of
toys and novelty items. While the 1986 sequel was also highly regarded,
the third film in 1989 is largely considered a failure and a 1994
spin-off with Hilary Swank as "the next karate kid" was an
embarrassment. It would take until a reboot of the franchise in 2010 for
the concept to be touched again without fear of ridicule. The first
three
The Karate Kid films were directed by John Avildsen, whose
partnership with composer Bill Conti was unquestioned in its loyalty,
especially considering the success of their collaboration for the
original
Rocky. Conti, like Morita, was a vital source of
identity for the franchise, his music maintaining the same thematic
constructs and instrumental style throughout all four of the original
films. Anyone not pleased with Conti's habit of extremely basic
repetition of franchise ideas in his
Rocky scores can rest
assured that the
The Karate Kid scores at least feature a better
evolutionary flow. Still, the music for the 1984 original, highly
regarded in its whole because of a few remarkable, singular cues in the
film, is perhaps one the decade's more overrated scores.
As Conti has stated, his work for the franchise of
The Karate Kid is not rooted in research of Oriental musical
culture. Instead, Conti chose to do as his has always has, accompanying
his comfortable personal style of writing with a touch of the
stereotypical elements of a region. In the case of
The Karate
Kid, this translated into a standard Conti ensemble with a pan flute
and, to a lesser extent, taiko drums, to represent Miyagi's teachings.
The composer had always been a fan of pan flutes, hiring renown
performer Gheorghe Zamfir for the first and third scores in the series.
The lovely lower tones of the instrument are betrayed by Conti's
insistence upon forcing it into its higher ranges; by the time it starts
sounding like a penny whistle, you'll be covering your ears. Outside of
that flavor,
The Karate Kid pretty much adheres to the typical
Conti sound. A relatively small orchestral presence makes itself felt in
the score's three or four highlights, while a very restrained and almost
somber atmosphere accompanies the pan flute theme during its extensive
exploration in the score. Most notable for Conti enthusiasts is his
application of elements from his
Rocky scores, starting with his
pop-infused material for the conflicts at the start of the film and
extending to his usual string fugues for moments of advancement later in
the picture. Also utilized are light romance tones for watery keyboards
("Decorate the Gym" and "The Kiss") that are anonymous in the mass of
such material to exist for contemporary interaction at the time.
Thematically, Conti introduces a wealth of ideas but rarely develops
them with any significant depth, a problem that inhibits this score
severely. The only really obvious identity is the nine-note figure heard
on plucked strings and pan flute for Miyagi. It's a nimble little theme,
first expressed in "Bonsai Tree," though Conti saturates the mid-section
of the score so thoroughly with the idea that it becomes tiresome after
the tenth identical performance. More redemptive is the victory theme
foreshadowed in "Main Title" and orchestrally robust in "Daniel's Moment
of Truth." A hip series of two notes in the bass region represent the
bad boys of the tale, heard on Conti's grating synthesizers, electric
guitars, and badly dated drum pads from "Fite Nite" to "Dan Ducks Out."
The trademark Conti fugue in "Daniel Sees the Bird" is obnoxiously
reminiscent of the
Rocky scores, though the same classical
inclinations produce a highlight of the score late in "Training
Hard."
The saving graces for
The Karate Kid on album
are the opening and closing tracks, both conveying ambitious orchestral
harmony and rhythmic propulsion that isn't really referenced in most of
the score in between. The "Main Title" features a lovely string
capitulation of the victory theme before transitioning into something of
an homage to Jerry Goldsmith's upbeat Western style of the 1970's
(complete with woodblock effects and traditional woodwinds over broad
strings and brass). There is no doubt that this cue is the highlight of
the score, begging only for a larger ensemble for the performance. The
final cue recaptures some of that appeal, though packaged more like the
climaxes of the fight scenes in
Rocky. With the exception of
these five minutes of outstanding material,
The Karate Kid
remains otherwise overrated, a victim of both its age and Conti's lack
of cross-pollination of ideas to give the score truly convincing
development to mirror the multi-dimensional growth of the story's
protagonist. Still, it remains a favorite for those enraptured by the
concept and immune to the seriously dated tones of Conti's
pop-influenced side, and for these collectors, the four scores for
The Karate Kid movies were never treated properly on album. The
only available music commercially released for the first film included
some of Conti's source songs for the film, completely omitting the
score. Bootlegs of the score had existed since 1999, offering
substandard presentations partnered with
The Right Stuff. In
2007, Varèse Sarabande included all four of Conti's scores in a
Club-limited box set of 2,500 copies that not surprisingly sold out and
has commanded significant prices since ($200+). For Conti and concept
enthusiasts, it's a glorious product with satisfying sound quality,
though if you define yourself as belonging to a generation younger than
that franchise's original lifespan, then be careful when considering the
hype that its loyal fans perpetuate. If you're looking for symphonic
performances of more robust stature and less repetition of the pan flute
theme, seek the set for
The Karate Kid, Part II (despite its
cheesy synthetic rendering of the flute). Varèse re-released the
set's material from
The Karate Kid on a standalone CD Club title
of 2,000 copies in 2010 to meet continued demand. For the 2010 reboot,
the franchise originally went to the Hans Zimmer clone factory before
asking James Horner for a replacement score. It makes one wonder if
Conti, who was still composing at the time of its production, was ever
called, because regardless of your opinion of these original scores, his
return to the concept would have been a pleasure to hear.
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The inserts of the two albums contain similar notes pertaining to the
first film in the franchise, with basic information about the score and film but
focusing more heavily instead on Conti's career.
