'King Of Kong' Gives Nod To The 'Karate Kid'

So this post isn't going to mean much to those that haven't seen the film, but...Ok, so we recently and finally saw the very-spectacular videogame documentary "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (yes, we saw it way after the fact, it came out last summer). We can't recommend it highly enough (it was a last-minute edition to our Best of 2007 piece).

The documentary basically follows an underachiveing OCD-laden middle school science teacher (Steve Wiebe) as he battles an arrogant hot sauce mogul for the Guinness World Record (Billy Mitchell) on the arcade classic Donkey Kong. Sound retarded and nerdy? Absolutely. But we implore you to see this even if the subject matter - videogames - means nothing to you (it basically meant nothing to us).

The rivalry that ensues is incredibly entertaining and dramatic and the characters are well, very unique oddballs to say the least (that's code for beautiful losers you couldn't write if you wanted and characters you want to root for and love to hate). The doc is so rife with edge-of-your-seat drama, the rights for a live-action feature have already been scooped up and lots of talk of Johnny Depp playing the sneaky and devious Mitchell.

Anywhoo, there's an amazing, cheesy '80s hard-rock song in the film by Joe Bean Esposito called, "You're The Best." It's a song we recognized, but couldn't place for the life of us, and then our buddy Witz.org (also hooked on the same doc and song), figured out that the song originally came from "The Karate Kid." Then he tracked down the fighting montage sequence that features the song and we were over the moon. Unfortunately, we have no 'Kong' context with the same song/visuals as the film just came out on DVD, but trust us, you'll smile when you watch both and see the musical appropriation/homage/recycling. When you get sucked into the backstory, start googling the postscript and learn how the rivalry is still ongoing, don't say we didn't warn you (if you do want some excellent appendices to this story, MTV has two great follow-up stories here and here, but they should only be read if you've actually seen the film).

Download: Joe Bean Esposito - "You're The Best"
Download: Dialogue - "Chance At A Kill Screen"
Watch: "The Karate Kid" montage

Trailer: "King of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters"

Watch: Scene from 'King Of Kong'

Watch: Scene: Meet The Gamers