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.

FRIDAY (1995)

[Note: This review is for the 91-minute Theatrical Version, not the 97-minute Director's Cut.]

Ah FRIDAY. I love this movie. I’ve seen it well over 300 times and have even made it to the end credits at least a hundred times. The reason I say that is because while the first hour (which is about two unemployed men in Los Angeles hanging out on a front porch) is one of the greatest single hours in movie history (seriously), the 3rd act just cannot sustain the awesome tidal wave of relentless entertainment due to the subject matter shifting abruptly from hilarious slice-of-life stuff like a character (who’s locked out his own home) urgently trying to find a place out on the street to take a shit...to attempted murder! It’s just too much. If the story had stayed about the colourful neighborhood characters for the entire movie, then FRIDAY would easily be a 10/10 film. As it is though, it’s just a lowly 8/10.

Awesome pace, dozens of quotable lines that I still use often in my daily life, awesome camerawork, perfect editing, great characters (while I do appreciate Kevin Spacey’s outstanding supporting actor performance in THE USUAL SUSPECTS, if I was an Academy voter, my vote would have went to Chris Tucker’s performance as “Smokey”. He literally carries the entire movie.), a big perm, I mean, big worm, tons of small touches that make me smile (the backwards foot, the man laying in Joi's bed, the continuing car backfire, etc.), mind control over Deebo, MAN’S BEST FRIEND on the TV, Claude having mercy, Michael Clarke Duncan playing dice, Cypress Hill posters, a half-dead motherfucker, $2.50 and a jawbreaker, a badass soundtrack, Kool-Aid, no sugar. Peanut butter, no jelly. Ham, no burger. Daaamn!

Anyway. Just go watch it.  And if you've already seen it...then watch it again.  The 91-minute version, it has a better pace than the longer version. Bye, Felisha.

[Update 06/11/2024: This might be far-fetched, but could the scene in FRIDAY with Mrs. Parker watering her all dirt front yard, be a play on Furious Styles bagging up leaves in his treeless yard in BOYZ N THE HOOD?]

Part 2 - Next Friday (2000)
Part 3 - Friday After Next (2002)