The Internet redeemed itself a little this week with the discovery of this amazing footage from the set of 1984’s The Karate Kid. Prior to shooting, director John G. Avildsen filmed all rehearsals on a handheld camera so the actors could watch themselves. At some point that footage was cut together into a rough draft of the movie, and last spring it was uploaded to YouTube (by user Avildsen1221, presumably the director himself) where it remained mostly unseen until just a few days ago. The camcordered video quality gives the whole thing a documentary feel, like The Karate Kid ACTUALLY HAPPENED (or at least it would seem that way if Johnny Lawrence and Mr. Miyagi hadn’t flubbed so many of their lines). Anyway, this is fantastic. Watch Part 1 above and the rest of the movie here. Enjoy.