73. The Journeyman: Curtis Hanson #5: The Little Dragons (AKA Karate Kids USA) (1979/80)

Curtis Hanson is finally back in the director’s chair, from start to finish, and it is for the now quite obscure kids movie The Little Dragons, AKA Karate Kids USA (1979) Unsurprisingly, this is not a movie that comes up in interviews with Hanson so we had a hard time digging up any background or behind the scenes information. Bryan and A.J. try to make sense of this movie about a pair of young brothers who use their karate skills to foil a kidnapping that is trying to be a mix of The Bad News Bears, The Hardy Boys, and Deliverance. We speculate on how and why this movie changed titles, marvel at the long life and career of character actor Charles Lane, and share the moments that broke our brains. This episode’s themed drink was: cans of beer.