[6]
James Brolin (The Amityville Horror) stars as a divorced dad and ex-cop whose daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom in this rough-and-tumble thriller. Night of the Juggler hits the ground running, with an elaborate opening in which we watch the villain (Cliff Gorman) plan and execute the kidnapping. Brolin’s character sees it happen and gives immediate pursuit, first on foot, and then in a series of cars he commandeers. The thrilling first half-hour ends with Gorman getting away and Brolin having to fight the whole city of New York to get his daughter back. He’s accosted by gangs and hunted by a vindictive cop (Dan Hedaya) with a deadly grudge while trying to discover where Gorman is hiding his little girl.
Night of the Juggler doesn’t have the visceral thrills or spectacle a larger budget might have afforded, but it’s a very well-paced film with a captivating, gritty realism. The film highlights New York City like few films ever have before, from crowded parks and streets to abandoned nooks and even some underground crannies. Director Robert Butler (taking over for Sidney J. Furie, who quit the film part-way through production) implements voyeuristic, long lenses and relies on next-to-no musical scoring for a quasi-documentary effect. The script, based on a book by William P. McGivern (The Big Heat), is remarkably taut, and dabbles in some worthwhile subtext, including police corruption, racism, and classism.
Brolin is adequate in the lead role, though a more charismatic performance could have certainly elevated the film. He has some nice interactions with his distraught ex-wife (Linda Miller) and a gruff but helpful police lieutenant (Richard Castellano). Cliff Gorman gives the film’s best performance as the disturbed major heavy, especially when he becomes conflicted about his feelings toward his teenaged captive — is he going to kill her… or fall in love with her? Dan Hedaya (Cheers, Clueless) is reliably unhinged as the rival cop character. His biggest moment is when he’s shooting a shotgun at Brolin on crowded streets, blowing out storefront windows with reckless abandon. Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride) makes a brief but very memorable appearance as a spirited cab driver who’s all too eager to help Brolin chase Gorman across the city.
The writing and casting of the daughter character (Abby Bluestone) hinders the picture a bit. She’s never as distressed or scared as she should be, and does absolutely nothing to help herself at numerous opportune moments. The film also ends a little anti-climactically. But overall, Night of the Juggler is better than your average B-tier thriller.
With Julie Carmen, Sully Boyar, and Marco St. John.