THE CAR (1977)

One day, for no known reason, a mysterious all-black car starts murdering people around the small desert town of Santa Ynez. The local authorities are useless and never call for outside help even after six of their own police officers are killed. Oh yeah, did I mention that the car doesn’t have a driver and it can drive through houses and tumble all over the joint and rev its engine a lot? Well, it can.

I first saw THE CAR when it aired on NBC on Saturday, November 22, 1980. My itty-bitty stupid child brain thought THE CAR was wicked as fuck and come Monday we were all standing around the school playground saying stuff like “The Car is wicked as fuck!” and “When Knight Rider shows up in two years, The Car is gonna kick K.I.T.T. in his N.U.T.T.Z.!” and “I wish The Car would kill me and my entire family! Yeah!” You know, normal childhood banter.

But…is THE CAR still entertaining today? Ehhh, the first two acts are fairly entertaining, I really did enjoy watching the car taking people out and then honking like a maniac, but the last act is a goddamn snoozer!

Amusing idea (even if it’s just a rip-off of JAWS), cool-looking devil whip, okay acting, pretty desert town locations, incorrect subtitles on the blu-ray and the DVD (see below), weak direction, even weaker script, solid cast, a police car falling one foot and exploding. Overall, THE CAR is an interesting film that made a pretty big impact on (movie-loving) children of a certain age. And even if I find the film to be weak nowadays, I’m still a fan of it and don’t understand why there wasn’t more done with this idea. I wish somebody had made more Car films back in the 1980’s.

If you’ve never seen THE CAR, then it’s definitely worth checking out. Double-feature with the Futurama episode "The Honking".

[Bonus newspaper clip talking shit about THE CAR. I actually remember also watching THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE after THE CAR.]

She clearly say "Cat poo!, not "Tadpole!" Even worse, this subtitle is incorrect on the DVD also. So like nobody checks this shit? Or they just don't give a fuck?

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.