New Deleted Scenes from the Original “Karate Kid”

One of my favorite of the Slate “Spoiler Specials” (podcast discussions designed to be heard after you have seen the film, so they can discuss spoilers) was when Dana Stevens and John Swansburg discussed the remake of “The Karate Kid.”  Swansburg’s very, very detailed assessment of the original 1984 film, which he loved as a kid.  Now he has written a terrific assessment of the newly available deleted scenes posted on the YouTube channel of director John Alvidson.  It is a lot of fun to get this peek behind the scenes and I hope Alvidson inspires other directors to share their extra footage as well.  Here’s what he writes about this clip:

Here are the first ten minutes of “The Karate Kid” 1983 rehearsal movie.  That’s Jimmy Crabe, our cameraman, being knocked down when Ralph does a karate kick to the door of the apartment complex at the beginning of our story.