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 he always did, 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 rock and orchestral 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 most 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 boy's 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 cues, both conveying ambitious orchestral tonality and rhythmic propulsion that isn't really referenced much in between. "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 winds over broad strings and brass. This cue is no doubt the highlight of the score, begging only for a larger ensemble for the performance. The final cue recaptures some of that appeal, though it's packaged more like the climaxes of the fight scenes in Rocky. With the exception of this five minutes of outstanding material, The Karate Kid remains 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, The Karate Kid remains a favorite for those enraptured by the concept and immune to the seriously dated tones of Conti's pop-influenced side, yielding several belated score-only albums. Early products included some of Conti's source songs for the film, completely omitting the score. Bootlegs 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 commanded resale prices over $200. For Conti and concept enthusiasts, it was 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 loyalists' hype. If you're looking for symphonic performances of more robust stature and less repetition of the pan flute theme, seek 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. La-La Land Records revisited the series of scores with their own limited products in 2019, expanding the original entry by filling out the final, unused fight cues and offering several mundane extras; the sound quality was only marginally improved. For the 2010 reboot, the franchise originally sought 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.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download