Also known as Fist of Power or Il Ragazzo Dal Kimono D’oro ( The Boy in the Golden Kimono), Karate Warrior was directed by Larry Ludman, who is really Fabrizio De Angelis. He also wrote this along with Dardano Sacchetti, using The Karate Kid as the obvious playbook but taking the Italian exploitation way of going harder and weirder.

Anthony Scott (Kim Rossi Stuart, who was in Lamberto Bava’s Fantaghiro series of made for TV movies) is in the Philippines visiting his estranged father Paul (Jared Martin, Steve Farlow from Dallas) against the wishes of his mother Juliet (Janet Agren, who got so much work in the 80s and 90s). While there, he falls for Maria (Jannelle Barretto), a girl whose father is being shaken down by a gang led by Quino (Enrico Torralba). Quino was once the student of Miyagi figure Master Kimura (Ken Watanabe), who may as well be Yoda the way the locals speak of him in hushed tones, but now he loves to hurt people. He’s won the local karate tournament five times in a row, a fact that Anthony gets to see for himself.

He can’t keep his mouth shut and the white savior flashbulbs the karate master with his camera and then spin kicks him, leading to a chase all across the Manilla scenery, ending with Anthony getting the beating of his life. Or death, just about. Luckily, he’s nursed back to health by Kimura.

When Anthony recovers, Kimura teaches him how to defend himself in Drunken Master training style, ending with giving him the Stroke of the Dragon, a special martial arts strike that should only be used when he has to defend his life.

This training involves punching cows with karate magic and finding a jungle cat and staring it directly in the eyes. This is way more intense than painting a fence or waxing a car, as Daniel-San will not be able to tell you.

Also in true Italian style, we are asked to believe that Anthony is a true blue American citizen who loves the American football. Except that he’s always wearing a Jacksonville Bulls jersey from the USFL, a team that played their last game two years before this movie was made. And yes, Kim Rossi Stuart is from Rome.

It takes decades to learn martial arts and a lifetime to master them, much less be able to fight blindfolded and throw magic fireballs. Somehow, Karate Warrior does it in ten days and is able to defeat the outfight a killing machine. Cool story, dude.

That said, I totally love that every time Anthony gets beat up, it’s the most violent beatdown you’ve ever seen. I never feared for Daniel’s life in The Karate Kid but in this, I am sure every time that Karate Warrior is about to die. And how about the ending, where his dad tells his ex-wife that yes, their son is going to an expensive Ivy League school, but now he has to prove himself as a man and in the very next scene he gets beaten so badly that he bleeds out of his eyeballs and needs to go into the last round blindfolded.

This was so successful that there are six of these movies, which is way more than The Karate Kid got before Cobra Kai started. I am probably the only person demanding a new Karate Warrior series.