Quick-hit movie reviews for the masses.
Qualities one might hold against certain movies, like total implausibility and chaotic cinematography, are actually what make Night of the Juggler (1980) such a weirdly memorable cult film. From the start, the film floors it into high gear and rarely ever slows down for a breather.
James Brolin, still rocking his 1970s wild man hair and beard, is an ex-cop who witnesses his young teenage daughter being abducted right in the middle of a crowded New York City park. The kidnapper, played with unsettling intensity by Cliff Gorman, is a bigoted, cackling lunatic who also happens to be an idiot—he thought he was kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy elite member of society; instead he's nabbed a middle class truck driver's kid.
Brolin immediately gives chase on foot, and we're off to the races. Brolin runs, and runs, and runs, and runs some more, seemingly cutting a path clear across Manhattan and into some neighboring boroughs for good measure. Along the way he steals cars, hops subway turnstiles, battles street gangs, and beast up cops who get in the way of his single-minded—and incredibly inspiring—pursuit to save his child.
The film's many chase sequences also serve as a grim and gritty reminder of times past, with bleak, yet hauntingly beautiful shots of the kidnapper dragging the teenage girl across the rubble and ruin of neighborhoods left for dead by the city and its government during the 1970s. It's a time capsule back to the "Drop Dead" bankruptcy era, when the now-vibrant, #1 city in America was seemingly on the brink of total financial and societal disintegration.
A subplot about a cop (played with wild-eyed insanity by Dan Hedaya) chasing after Brolin only adds to the film's frenetic, anything goes style. One of the film's most implausible and most exciting chases occurs when Hedaya starts firing sawed off shotgun rounds at Brolin across crowded, rush-hour New York streets teeming with pedestrians and cars. I don't know what's more amazing, that no bystanders are killed, or that Hedaya doesn't even get reprimanded for his Wild West style policing.
Night of the Juggler was a cable movie staple, briefly, during the 1980s. That's where I first caught it, and the abduction was particularly frightening to me as a child, thanks in part to Gorman's creepy performance. The overcrowded New York streets, the porno theaters Brolin brawls his way through, and the scary underground tunnels also left an impression. To my knowledge, the film has never received the DVD or Blu-ray treatment, but you can find it pretty easily on YouTube. A gritty, nasty little slice of urban decay, Night of the Juggler is a flawed gem, and certainly worth seeking out.
James Brolin, still rocking his 1970s wild man hair and beard, is an ex-cop who witnesses his young teenage daughter being abducted right in the middle of a crowded New York City park. The kidnapper, played with unsettling intensity by Cliff Gorman, is a bigoted, cackling lunatic who also happens to be an idiot—he thought he was kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy elite member of society; instead he's nabbed a middle class truck driver's kid.
Brolin immediately gives chase on foot, and we're off to the races. Brolin runs, and runs, and runs, and runs some more, seemingly cutting a path clear across Manhattan and into some neighboring boroughs for good measure. Along the way he steals cars, hops subway turnstiles, battles street gangs, and beast up cops who get in the way of his single-minded—and incredibly inspiring—pursuit to save his child.
The film's many chase sequences also serve as a grim and gritty reminder of times past, with bleak, yet hauntingly beautiful shots of the kidnapper dragging the teenage girl across the rubble and ruin of neighborhoods left for dead by the city and its government during the 1970s. It's a time capsule back to the "Drop Dead" bankruptcy era, when the now-vibrant, #1 city in America was seemingly on the brink of total financial and societal disintegration.
A subplot about a cop (played with wild-eyed insanity by Dan Hedaya) chasing after Brolin only adds to the film's frenetic, anything goes style. One of the film's most implausible and most exciting chases occurs when Hedaya starts firing sawed off shotgun rounds at Brolin across crowded, rush-hour New York streets teeming with pedestrians and cars. I don't know what's more amazing, that no bystanders are killed, or that Hedaya doesn't even get reprimanded for his Wild West style policing.
Night of the Juggler was a cable movie staple, briefly, during the 1980s. That's where I first caught it, and the abduction was particularly frightening to me as a child, thanks in part to Gorman's creepy performance. The overcrowded New York streets, the porno theaters Brolin brawls his way through, and the scary underground tunnels also left an impression. To my knowledge, the film has never received the DVD or Blu-ray treatment, but you can find it pretty easily on YouTube. A gritty, nasty little slice of urban decay, Night of the Juggler is a flawed gem, and certainly worth seeking out.
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