NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (1980)

Despite the vast majority of the movie taking place during the daytime, NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER is the mildly entertaining story about a lunatic (Cliff Gorman) who plans on kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy family in exchange for a big payout, but instead (since he’s also a moron) he accidentally kidnaps the daughter of a truck driving ex-cop (James Brolin) who might actually be more insane that the kidnapper! The kidnapping takes place early on in the film in broad daylight, so now the rest of the movie is simply Brolin running around New York City pissing off everybody and acting like an asshole.

Car chases, foot chases, a fight in a peep show joint, Mandy Patinkin as a cab driver, Dan Hedaya as a psychotic cop who wants to murder Brolin, a small amount of gunfire, steady pace, a few interesting (but ultimately disappointing) scenes filmed at the old legendary 42nd Street, a few quick glimpses of female nudity, at least 3 instances of the a boom mic dipping down into the scene, a fight scene set in a darken tunnel, a couple of scenes set in a devastated area of NYC that looks like it had been recently bombed, good acting, disappointing finale and abrupt ending.

Overall, NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER is a watchable film, but I’d really love to see a gritty, hyper-violent  remake and a well-made documentary about the making of the 1980 film that also delves into the history of the NYC shown in the movie. Oh yeah, the film is also based on an original 1975 novel (of the same name) by William P. McGivern, but I never read it. Sounds interesting though!

For other films kinda based on similar themes check out HIGH AND LOW and I SAW THE DEVIL.