Thursday, February 23, 2012

ZABKA: THE GUY WE LOVED TO HATE

His real name is William "Billy" Zabka, but he left his indelible mark on our brains for his exquisite performances as the quintessential "asshole" in classic 80's movies.

He played uber jerk Greg Tolan in the gender bending comedy Just one of the Guys.



He played the aptly named jerk Chas in the Rodney Dangerfield film Back to School.
He is, however, best known for his portrayal of martial arts bully Johnny Lawrence in the original Karate Kid.




This guy was so good at being an asshole, I actually hated him.  Hell, I still hate him and I don't even know him. He was smarmy, with good looks and embodied everything I despised growing up.  Of course, there was no context.  It was before you grow up and find out the hot bitchy girl in fiftH grade was actually living out a sad tragic life at home and her ability to be queen bee at school was the only way to prevent the complete annihilation of her ego.

So, I just want to take a moment to give Billy Zabka all the credit he deserves for becoming a lightning rod for all of our hatred as teenagers in the 80's.  At least, my hatred.

1 comment:

  1. I too hated this smarmy blonde-Tom-Cruise-look-a-like fuck; mind you, I thought Daniel...oh what in the actual fuck was his name...was a douchenozzle as well.

    - "I troll, therefore I am." - Moot

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