The Karate Kid Beat Sheet

Act One / 1-34m

Act One: Setup (1-34m)

Act One moves Daniel and his mother from Newark to Reseda, hands him a girl and a bully in the same evening, and closes with him deciding he has to learn karate. It also plants Miyagi twice, both times as a man alone in a shop with a fly and a bonsai tree.

Sequence I: New Jersey to Reseda (1-9m)

1-7m

Opening images. Titles: Newark, New Jersey, September. Daniel and his mother Lucille leave for California, make the cross-country trip and arrive at their new apartment in Reseda. Daniel meets Freddy, a resident his own age, who invites him to a beach party.

8-9m

Lucille sends Daniel to see the maintenance man about a leaking faucet. In the shop he finds Miyagi trying to catch a fly with chopsticks, indifferent to the request. Intimidated, Daniel backs out without knowing whether the faucet will be fixed.

Sequence II: The beach and the inciting incident (10-15m)

10-12m

Daniel runs circles around the others in a soccer game at Freddy’s beach party and locks eyes with Ali. That night Freddy kicks the ball toward her group; Daniel retrieves it and shows Ali how he bounces it on his knees (soccer ball setup). Johnny, Bobby, Tommy, Dutch and Jimmy watch from a hilltop. Tommy points out Daniel with Ali. Johnny takes off.

13-14m

Inciting incident. The Cobras pull onto the beach. Johnny and Ali argue, Daniel steps in, Johnny shoves him, Daniel retaliates, and Johnny kicks his ass.

15m

Freddy and the guys leave Daniel in the sand. Ali comes to help. Humiliated, he tells her to leave him alone.

Sequence III: The black eye (16-20m)

16m

Daniel walks into the kitchen in sunglasses. Lucille makes him take them off, finds the black eye, and gets a lie about a bike accident. She cannot read a teenage boy’s dilemma, and the film has quietly stated its theme: the person who can is not in this apartment.

18m

First day of school. Freddy’s friends insult Daniel on the soccer field. Soccer ball payoff: Ali finds him, is taken aback by the eye, thanks him for defending her, and bounces a ball on her knees before she is called away. They trade names.

19-20m

At soccer tryouts Bobby trips Daniel. Daniel tackles and punches him, the coach sees only the retaliation, and Daniel is thrown out.

Sequence IV: The dojo and the hill (21-28m)

21m

Daniel practices karate alone as Miyagi arrives to fix the faucet. Asked about the eye, Daniel lies again. Miyagi’s subtext says he knows it’s bullshit.

22m

Strong movement forward (Internal A). Daniel and Ali eat lunch together. She tells him Johnny is her ex-boyfriend.

23m

Strong movement forward (External / Internal B). Daniel checks out the Cobra Kai dojo. Kreese runs the class like a drill instructor. When he calls a student up to lead warm-ups, Johnny steps forward and sees Daniel. Daniel leaves.

24-26m

Lucille lifts his spirits over dinner and asks about Ali; he is plainly smitten. Through the restaurant window, the Cobras watch.

26m

End of Act One turn (External). The Cobras run Daniel down on the way home. His bike is no match for their motorcycles. They force him over the edge of a hill and he takes a hard fall.

27-28m

Decision (External). Outside the maintenance shop Lucille finds him beaten and emotional, throwing his bike away. Pressed, he tells her he has to learn karate. As they leave, Miyagi looks out from his shop. He has heard everything.

Sequence V: The bike and the bonsai (29-34m)

29-30m

End of Act One turn (Internal A). Ali invites Daniel to the arcade. He sees Johnny there, changes his mind, and disappoints her.

30m

End of Act One turn (Internal B). Daniel comes home and finds his bike has been fixed.

30-33m

Decision (Internal B). Daniel walks to the shop and finds Miyagi trimming a bonsai. He says thank you. Miyagi invites him in and hands him a tree to trim. Asked whether he went to school for this, Miyagi answers: no, his father taught him. A fisherman. The first thing Daniel learns from Miyagi is that Miyagi had a father who taught him things.

33-34m

Lucille comes in to thank Miyagi for the bike. He offers her a bonsai tree and she accepts.

Act Two, Part A / 35-53m

Act Two, Part A: Combat and Midpoint (35-53m)

The first half of Act Two runs from the Halloween dance to the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel takes his worst beating, discovers who saved him, and asks the question that turns a landlord into a father: will you teach me?

Sequence I: The Halloween dance and the fence (35-42m)

35-36m

Daniel avoids Ali at school. Miyagi suggests he go to the Halloween dance. Daniel laughs: only if he were invisible.

36-38m

First trial (Internal A). Daniel shows up inside a shower costume. Ali knows it’s him. They pull the curtain closed and dance, and she talks him into opening it. A man in a chicken suit smashing eggs on dancers’ heads gets Daniel with the yolk.

38-39m

First trial (External). Washing yolk out of his hair, Daniel spots Johnny in a stall rolling a joint. After Bobby leaves, he hangs a water hose over the stall, opens the faucet, and bolts.

40-42m

Combat (External). The Cobras chase Daniel from the dance and catch him scaling a fence outside his apartment complex. Johnny beats him until he cannot stand. A figure leaps the fence, pushes Daniel down as Johnny’s side kick cracks a slat where his head was, and takes out all five Cobras. Daniel’s vision goes black. Miyagi carries him to the shop.

Sequence II: Will you teach me? (43-53m)

43-47m

Miyagi tends Daniel’s wounds and admits he was the one who saved him. Daniel learns Miyagi’s father taught him karate. He asks to be taught so he can get revenge; Miyagi answers that karate is for defense only, and suggests Daniel go talk to Kreese. Daniel asks Miyagi to come with him. Reluctantly, he agrees. This is the Internal B line locking in: Daniel has asked a man for help and the man has said yes.

48-53m

Midpoint. Daniel and Miyagi walk into the Cobra Kai dojo. Miyagi asks Kreese to have the Cobras leave Daniel alone. Kreese insists they fight it out. They settle on the All Valley Under 18 Karate Championships, and Kreese sets the terms: no one touches Daniel until the tournament, but if he doesn’t show, it’s open season on both of them. Miyagi bows and walks out. The External goal is now fixed, dated, and shared.

Act Two, Part B / 54-78m

Act Two, Part B: The Chores (54-78m)

Training begins at Miyagi’s house and does not look like training. Cars, a deck, a fence, a house. In between, the Internal A line takes its own midpoint at Golf n’ Stuff and turns sour in a station wagon.

Sequence I: Wax on, wax off, and the first date (54-66m)

54m

Miyagi and Daniel arrive at Miyagi’s home, a ramshackle house beside an abandoned oil field, old cars parked out front. ’48 Ford setup: Miyagi catches Daniel pining over the yellow convertible.

55-56m

The pact: Miyagi will teach karate if Daniel does what he says and asks no questions. Wax on / wax off setup: Miyagi slaps a soapy sponge into Daniel’s outstretched hand. Wax on right, wax off left, breathe in, breathe out. Very important, breathe.

57m

Miyagi checks in that night and corrects the technique. Daniel finishes, finds him meditating, and leaves him alone.

59-60m

Ali sees the damage to Daniel’s face and heads straight for Johnny. Daniel beats her to it, toying with the Cobras who can’t touch him now. He asks Ali out. She says yes.

61-63m

Lucille drives Daniel to Ali’s upscale home, a long way from Reseda. Her parents pull up as he reaches the door. The car won’t start; Daniel and his mother push it.

64-66m

Midpoint (Internal A). A great date at Golf n’ Stuff, until a friend of Ali’s pulls up in a Corvette and Johnny in a sports car with girls and Cobras. Both try to pull Ali away; she declines. Then Lucille arrives in the beat-up station wagon and Daniel cannot hide his embarrassment. The date ends on a sour note.

Sequence II: Sand the floor, paint the fence, paint the house (67-78m)

67-69m

Sand the floor setup. Daniel finds a Japanese garden behind the house and a new wooden deck. Two hand sanders, circular motion. He finishes late and is told to be back at 6am.

70m

Miyagi is trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. Daniel tries and catches one in seconds. Beginner’s luck, Miyagi says.

71-73m

Paint the fence setup. Up and down with the wrists, and breathe. Daniel finishes late at night and is told to come early.

74m

Paint the house setup. A note on the door: paint the house, brush side to side. Daniel is angry and works anyway.

75-76m

Dr. Miyagi setup. Miyagi comes home from a day of fishing to a complaint: he is not living up to his end of the deal. Miyagi insists Daniel has learned plenty and asks for the sand-the-floor motion. Daniel’s shoulder hurts. Miyagi clasps his hands, applies pressure, and the pain is gone.

The Assumption of Power (76-78m)

76-78m

Assumption of power (External / Internal B) and the payoff of every chore. Wax on. Wax off. Paint up. Down. Side. Side. Sand. Miyagi throws punches and kicks and Daniel blocks every one with a motion his body already knows. At the height of it Miyagi stops, picks up his fish, says come tomorrow, and slams the door. Daniel has just found out the man he was cursing has been teaching him the whole time. That is the father line and the karate line turning on the same beat.

Act Two, Part B / 79-94m

Act Two, Part B: Balance and Manzanar (79-94m)

The second half of Act Two takes the training outdoors and then takes it apart. The crane kick is planted on a piling. The country club humiliates Daniel in front of the whole room. And the End of Act Two turn is not a fight lost but a telegram read.

Sequence III: The pilings and the drunks (79-82m)

79m

Miyagi takes Daniel to the beach and has him stand against the waves to build balance.

80m

Crane kick setup. Wiped out by another wave, Daniel looks down the shore and sees Miyagi balanced on one leg on the last piling, leaping a breaker, firing a kick, and landing exactly where he started.

81-82m

Walking back, Daniel asks about the kick. His father taught him, Miyagi says; done right, there is no defense. At the truck two racist drunks insult Miyagi and refuse to take their bottles off the hood. Miyagi’s chop takes the necks off the bottles. The bottles come off the hood.

Sequence IV: The country club and the telegram (82-94m)

82m

Daniel asks Ali out again. She can meet him later, after an event at the country club with her parents.

83-85m

On the fishing boat Daniel practices blocks on the bow while Miyagi rocks it. He learns Miyagi never trained to fight, but for the confidence that comes with knowing how.

86m

Ali dances with her father, who says he does not approve of Daniel. Her mother hands her off to Johnny to finish the dance.

87-88m

End of Act Two turn (Internal A). Tired of waiting, Daniel comes in through the kitchen and sees Johnny with Ali. Johnny sees him and makes a move; Ali shoves him off at the exact moment Daniel crashes into a waiter and wears the spaghetti. The room laughs. Daniel runs. Ali’s right hand connects with Johnny’s jaw. Daniel does not see it.

The telegram (88-94m)

88-94m

End of Act Two turn (External and Internal B). Daniel finds Miyagi drunk in his Army uniform. They share a drink; Miyagi passes out and Daniel puts him to bed. Newspaper headlines about the 442nd. A photograph of a young Miyagi and his pregnant bride. A box that falls off the bed with dog-tags and the Medal of Honor in it. A telegram in Miyagi’s hand: his wife and newborn son died in childbirth at the Manzanar internment camp while he was fighting for the country that put her there. Daniel pulls the cover over him, blows out the light, bows, and leaves.

This is where the Internal B line stops being about Daniel needing a father and starts being about Miyagi needing a son. Daniel has had a hole in his life for 88 minutes. It turns out the man filling it has a bigger one.

Act Three / 94-113m

Act Three: The Gift and the Early Rounds (94-113m)

Act Three is fast. The training closes, the car changes hands, the girl comes back, and the tournament runs through its early rounds in a montage. Three sequences, thirty minutes, and the Internal A line resolves before the External one starts its final push.

Sequence I: The birthday and the arcade (94-106m)

94-96m

Daniel practices the crane kick on the same pilings Miyagi used and stands on the bow of the boat alone, in control of his balance. Miyagi teaches him how to punch.

97-101m

’48 Ford payoff. Daniel’s birthday. Miyagi gives him a karate jacket with a bonsai stencil sewn by his late wife, then tells him to pick any car out front. Daniel takes the yellow 1948 Ford Super DeLuxe convertible; the keychain is Miyagi’s dog-tags. Behind the wheel, Daniel admits he is scared. Miyagi says he should be, and reminds him the lesson of balance is a lesson for his whole life. Daniel calls him the best friend he ever knew.

102-104m

Daniel finds Ali at the arcade and gets the cold shoulder. He accuses her of using him to make Johnny jealous. She storms off. Her friend tells him Ali punched Johnny after the country club.

104-106m

Climax (Internal A). Ali accepts his apology, promises to be at his side for the tournament, and they kiss. He lets her drive the car.

Sequence II: The black belt and the montage (106-113m)

106-107m

Miyagi checks Daniel in, discovers he needs a brown belt or better, says Daniel is a black belt, and helps Ali steal one from an official. The Cobras try to intimidate Daniel in the locker room; the referee breaks it up.

108-110m

On the floor Daniel realizes Miyagi has never competed and does not know the rules. Ali explains them. Daniel wins his first match and Ali screams that he’s the best.

110-113m

“You’re the Best” montage. Daniel and the Cobras cut through the bracket. He beats Tommy and the Cobras take notice. He beats Dutch. Miyagi tapes his ribs. Ali runs in: the semi-finals are starting. Daniel is in the final four.

Act Three / 114-123m

Act Three: Sweep the Leg and the Crane Kick (114-123m)

The last ten minutes are the Karate Kid ending everyone remembers: an illegal kick, a doctor who says no, a sensei who says sweep the leg, and a crane stance nobody in the arena has seen before.

Sequence III: Out of commission (114-119m)

114-115m

Johnny wins his semi-final. Before Bobby’s match, Kreese touches Bobby’s knee and tells him he wants Daniel out of commission. Bobby pleads that he can beat him, that he will be disqualified. Kreese stares him down. Bobby enters the ring.

116-117m

Bobby comes down on Daniel’s knee. The crowd gasps. Miyagi rushes in and stares at Kreese, who is responsible. Daniel is carried off with 15 minutes to return or Johnny takes the title by default. The doctor examines the knee and leaves to tell the judges Daniel is done. Daniel asks to be alone.

118-119m

Dr. Miyagi payoff. Daniel asks Miyagi to fix the knee. Miyagi has him close his eyes, clasps his hands, and begins rubbing them together. Point of no return (External): as the announcer reaches for Johnny’s trophy, Ali interrupts. Daniel will fight. He limps into the ring.

Sequence III, continued: Sweep the leg (120-123m)

120m

Daniel scores the first two points and bloodies Johnny’s nose. In the corner Kreese tells Johnny to sweep the leg. Johnny hesitates. Kreese asks if he has a problem. No, sensei. No mercy.

121-122m

Johnny finds the weakness and ties the score. He grabs Daniel’s leg and drives an elbow into the back of the bad knee. Daniel screams, rolls, gets up with a worse limp. Johnny is warned for illegal contact.

123m

Crane kick payoff. Climax (External). Daniel raises his bad leg into the crane stance and locks eyes with Miyagi, whose mouth creases into the smallest of smiles. Kreese screams finish him. Johnny lunges. The kick catches him in the face and he goes down. Ali, then Lucille, are in Daniel’s arms. Johnny hands over the trophy: you’re alright, LaRusso.

123m

Closing image. Climax (Internal B). Miyagi. He smiles as Daniel screams “We did it!” The External goal was Daniel’s. The last shot is not.

Page vs. screen

The Ending the Script Had and the Film Cut

Kamen’s final draft, dated October 15, 1983, does not end on Miyagi’s smile. After the referee raises Daniel’s arm and Johnny hands over the trophy with a sincere “Good match,” the script moves to the hall outside, where Lucille promises lobsters and kisses Miyagi, and then to the parking lot.

The parking lot, as written

There, Kreese blames Johnny for losing a fight he had rigged, grabs him by the shirt, and is interrupted by Miyagi. Kreese attacks. Miyagi sidesteps twice, so that Kreese puts a fist through a windshield and a foot into his own van, then catches the final punch in an open palm and forces him to his knees. Reciting Kreese’s own creed back to him, Miyagi cocks his hand, and Daniel whispers no. The chop stops an inch from Kreese’s nose. Miyagi tweaks it, winks at Daniel, and the Cobra Kai students drop their belts in front of their kneeling sensei and walk away. The script’s last image is a zoom down on Daniel and Miyagi, arms over each other’s shoulders, threading through the parking lot.

According to Macchio and Zabka in the Rotten Tomatoes oral history, the scene was scheduled, the arena lights went out after the tournament wrapped, and Avildsen decided he already had his movie. The two actors recall a comment from the producers’ side that the unshot scene could open a sequel if the film hit, which is what happened with Part II.

Why the cut is the right one for this story

The scripted ending gives Miyagi his own fight and Daniel a chance to stop him. It is a good scene and a wrong last scene, because it hands the climax back to the teacher. The shot film ends with the student winning on the teacher’s kick and the teacher watching. That is the Internal B line closing exactly where the story map says it should: on the man who was denied a son, looking at one.

One more page-to-screen note for writers tracking props: on the revised birthday pages the car is a 1950 Chevy convertible. The film gives Daniel the yellow ’48 Ford.

For writers

Why the Karate Kid Beat Sheet Is Essential for Writers

Mastering Structural Shifts in the Rite of Passage Genre

The Karate Kid solves the structural problem of the rite-of-passage story by mapping the internal transformation onto the external conflict, minute for minute. The emotional peak is not the final fight. It is the End of Act Two turn at 88-94m, when Daniel reads the telegram. By making the emotional turning point the most devastating beat in the film, the climax becomes a celebration of Daniel’s earned maturity and balance, not just a physical contest. Writers building a coming-of-age story should note where the film puts its heaviest beat: not at the end, but at the moment the mentor becomes a person.

A Universal Solution for True Strength vs. Cruelty

The entire structural conflict runs on two opposed philosophies of what a man teaches a boy. Kreese’s: strike first, no mercy, an enemy deserves nothing. Miyagi’s: defense only, balance, confidence instead of fighting. Both men are fathers to their students. Every beat, from the dojo truce at 48m to the whisper of sweep the leg at 120m, tests Daniel on those two fronts at once, and the script makes the point explicit in the unshot parking-lot scene, where Miyagi has to choose between them himself. For writers, the blueprint is a conflict that is equally physical and moral, carried by two mentors rather than one villain.

Pacing for Emotional Peaks and Narrative Focus

The chores run from 54m to 76m and the film refuses to explain them. It teaches Daniel the how of karate and delays the Assumption of Power to the very end of the stretch (76-78m). Daniel gets a few minutes of confidence before the country club (87m) and the telegram (88m) land back to back, so the audience feels maximum pressure going into the final act. The pacing lesson is simple and hard to do: withhold the payoff until the audience is as frustrated as the character, then pay off everything at once.

How the Story Map lines up with Save the Cat

Writers working from Blake Snyder’s beats can read this map straight across. The Catalyst is the inciting incident on the beach (13-14m). Break into Two is the hill and the decision (26-28m), confirmed by the fixed bike at 30m. The Midpoint is the dojo truce (48-53m), a false victory that fixes the External goal. Fun and Games is the chores (54-78m). Bad Guys Close In runs through the country club and All Is Lost is the spaghetti (87m). The Dark Night of the Soul is Miyagi’s (88-94m). Break into Three is the ’48 Ford (97-101m), and the Finale is the tournament (106-123m). The Story Map adds what Snyder’s list flattens: three separate goal lines, each with its own turn and its own climax.

Questions people ask

Karate Kid Beat Sheet FAQ

The ending

The structure