The unrelenting chase of “Night Of The Juggler” captures the turbulence of late ’70s New York

As New York City descended into chaos in the 1970s and 1980s, it served as the setting to some of cinema’s greatest action and thriller films. The city’s financial woes, crumbling infrastructure, and notorious crime wave were a perfect backdrop to New Hollywood’s increasingly pessimistic depiction of American culture. Classics like The French Connection (1971) and The Taking Of Pelham 123 (1974) used location-shooting to achieve a gritty realism, while Times Square’s red light district lent authentic sordidness to films like Taxi Driver (1976). An overlooked entry in the canon of sleazy films set in America’s most populous city, Night Of The Juggler (1980) is an adrenaline-fueled, white-knuckle ride across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Long out of print and difficult to see, a new 4K restoration of Night Of The Juggler will kick off UW Cinematheque’s fall 2025 season on Friday, August 29, at 7 p.m. in 4070 Vilas Hall. 

After an all-nighter driving a truck, ex-cop Sean Boyd (James Brolin) just wants to go home and get some sleep before taking his daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone) to the ballet for her 15th birthday. But when Kathy is abducted in Central Park, Boyd snaps into action to rescue her. Leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Boyd races through the streets, subways, and peep shows of New York City with irate gang members and dirty cop Otis Barnes (perennial 1980s villain Dan Hedaya) in pursuit.

Boyd’s aided in his search by everyday New Yorkers, including animal-control clerk Maria (Julie Carmen), beleaguered police lieutenant Tonelli (The Godfather‘s Richard S. Castellano), and a questionably cast Mandy Patinkin as a Puerto Rican cab driver. Meanwhile, Kathy faces off against her kidnapper, bug-eyed psycho Gus Soltic (Cliff Gorman). Holed up in the charred remains of his family’s South Bronx real-estate empire with his guard dog, Wolfgang, Soltic plots his revenge against the city’s elites, and mistakenly thinks he’s kidnapped the child of the wealthy Clayton family. The stakes are raised as Soltic develops an attachment to his teen hostage, dressing her up in his mother’s old gowns and giving her a perversely sincere pep talk.

Sturdily directed by Robert Butler (who replaced Sidney J. Furie after he left production when Brolin broke his foot), Night Of The Juggler maintains nearly constant tension despite barely having a soundtrack. Instead, the film is propelled by Brolin’s physically intense performance. Juggler‘s initial chase sequence, as Boyd sprints after Soltic’s car through Manhattan, is the film’s highlight—a relentless cat-and-mouse game in the tradition of The French Connection. Brolin seems to always be in motion, running through the streets and hanging off the side of a speeding car with a steely determination. Gorman is similarly committed in his portrayal of Soltic. Delusional and seething with rage at his perceived enemies, who predominantly include minoritized groups, he’s a truly unsettling creep who Travis Bickle would cross the street to avoid. 

Like its contemporaries in the genre, Night Of The Juggler has more than its fair share of crude stereotypes and urban fear-mongering, but it’s a much more complicated portrayal of the city than the reactionary revenge fantasies of the Death Wish franchise (1974-1994). While providing plenty of red meat to scared suburbanites, it’s surprisingly conflicted about white flight. Boyd’s marriage to Barbara (Linda Miller) ended because of his refusal to leave the city; and even after her traumatic ordeal, Kathy treats moving to Connecticut as the worst fate imaginable. The NYPD is portrayed as overwhelmed and incompetent (Tonelli), or corrupt and trigger-happy (Barnes). Without pausing to contemplate them too closely, Night Of The Juggler touches on other issues plaguing NYC during the 1970s, from Boyd’s Serpico-esque past exposing corruption to landlords getting rich off arson in the South Bronx.

Saddled with one of the most confusing titles in movie history, Night Of The Juggler failed to make an impression with audiences or critics upon release. The film built up a cult reputation during its second life as a premium cable mainstay, but rights issues have kept it out of circulation for decades. In 2020, I first came across a VHS rip of Juggler playing on Cinephobe TV, a 24/7 pirate streaming channel that specialized in out-of-print obscurities. Though the grainy bootleg quality added to the film’s grimy appeal, Kino Lorber‘s new restoration is a huge improvement, showcasing Dog Day Afternoon (1975) cinematographer Victor J. Kemper’s keen eye for the city. Unflinching and unrelenting, Night Of The Juggler is a forgotten gem in the action-thriller genre that’s due for a reappraisal.