I was an Outsiders fan ever since I turned the first page of  The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton.

“When I stepped out into the bright sunlight  from the darkness of the movie house, I had just two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.”—Ponyboy

When the movie came out I was in junior high and like most teen girls I was thrilled with the movie and with the characters. 

My favorite character, okay the character I was crushing on, was Johnny. He wasn’t the coolest, smartest, strongest or most handsome but he was sweet, caring and shy. When Matt Dillon’s character says his famous line, “…let’s do it for Johnny man, we’ll do it for Johnny!” I was right there sobbing and cheering along inside.

“Yeah that’s right! We’ll do it for Johnny!”

Ralph Macchio is the only actor I ever sent a letter to in the mail. I sent it one day in hopes that Johnny, I mean Ralph Macchio, would send one back. He never did even though I checked the fan mail address over and over. Thank goodness the crush faded and I quit watching the movie on HBO reruns but I was thrilled when Karate Kid came out because Ralph Macchio would be on the big screen again. My teen heart raced with anticipation while my friends and I watched the movie at the drive-in. I knew I was sure to love the film because I was taking karate classes at the time. I was a blue belt already so of course I’d be able to understand the concept much better with such expertise.

I liked the movie Karate Kid. I mean Arnold from Happy Days was in it, better known as actor Pat Morita who played Mr. Miyagi. Anyone that could catch a fly with chopsticks was cool. I really liked Elisabeth Shue. I always wished my hair was that wavy. Anyway, overall I liked the movie but I was very sad to find out that my Johnny from The Outsiders was nothing like Ralph Macchio. Now this should be a testament for a great actor. I should have admired him more because of his ability to change so dramatically from one character to the next. Instead I went straight home after watching the movie and tore my Ralph Macchio poster down.

I still cheered along when I watched The Outsiders, “do it for Johnny man…let’s do it for Johnny”  but I learned something about movie magic, storytelling and Hollywood after watching Karate Kid and it was much more than wax on, wax off.

If you’re still with me after that retro rant then check out this hilarious video:

Thanks to filmmaker Connor Clements for sharing this video find via Facebook. Visit his site http://www.connorclements.tv/James/Homepage.html for information about his award winning film James.