Scene of the Week: Masquerade Brawl

When William Zabka landed his first movie role playing Johnny Lawrence in 1984’s The Karate Kid, he could not have possibly known that the character of Johnny Lawrence would be forever associated with him.

At first, it almost seemed to be a curse as Zabka found himself typecast in similar roles in movies like Just One of the Guys, National Lampoon’s European Vacation and one of my personal favorites, Back to School.

But in recent years the perception has changed and the intertwining of actor William Zabka and character Johnny Lawrence actually turned out to be a blessing for the acting career of Zabka thanks to the success of the series Cobra Kai.

This week’s Scene of the Week takes us back to one of Johnny Lawrence’s most memorable moments in The Karate Kid… Johnny with his Cobra Kai running buddies, all of them clad in their iconic skeleton costumes, having a physical confrontation with his rival… Daniel LaRusso and learning first hand that there was more than meets the eye when it came to Mr. Miyagi.