He Just Wanted Ballet Tickets: ‘Night of the Juggler’ Is NYC Mayhem at Its Finest
Damn, Night of the Juggler is a movie that I’ve been wanting to watch for easily over a decade after reading up on it. Look, I know I’m weird when I say I just cannot watch stuff on YouTube. Whatever, I see that as a cop out, I dunno why. I prefer physical media, DVD, video tape, Blu-ray, whatever, just to hold and read first. I have a ritual where I hold the item carefully, I smell the plastic, then I read everything. Always done it since I was a kid, I have such a deep fondness and love for collecting movies.
After my article on the upcoming Kino release of Night of the Juggler (see Kino Uncages Night of the Juggler: Long-Lost NYC Sleaze Classic Comes Home), Chris Severed sent me a screener to watch. So, here’s my weirdness again, I won’t view stuff on YouTube, but I’ll watch a screener for review purposes (though a vast amount of my reviews are taken from actual discs or tapes). I was in a state of extreme excitement for this one. Part of me worried that I had painted myself into a corner where I’d cry all curled up if this film proved to be a mutt! No chance there!
We open the proceedings to a guy sat in a diner who turns his sausages and eggs into a big smiley face. He then daubs ketchup on to imitate blood, finally stabbing the full bottle in with an intense expression — and he leaves his plate of food. Fucking arsehole!
Next, we see a big rig truck rolling into its depot, driven by our main character, Shaun Boyd. This guy is a big fella like George Eastman, wearing a similar beard and it’s his face on most of the posters and covers over the years. We’re then treated to beautiful street scenes of sweaty, gritty, and seedy New York City in the late ’70s and early ’80s — this is pure heaven for me and my Partner in Gore, Willow. James Brolin (Westworld, Capricorn One, Amityville Horror) straight away plays Boyd with an air of bad ass, just the way he casually walks and talks.
Back to our food artist, his name’s Gus Soltic and soon we’ll find out more about him. In the meantime, he makes a call on a battered payphone to the apartment of a very rich family, asking the whereabouts of a certain teenage girl. The late Cliff Gorman, of Angel and Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, presents an already twitchy and unhinged personality. This guy was never short of work on movies and TV shows yet never had a big break.
Boyd and his daughter, Cathy, have some lengthy nice father and kid bonding time. It’s her birthday and he’s got tickets to a ballet (she loves that shit), so they plan the evening entertainment, but first it’s off to school. Gus is now prepping for something, and his features are calved in stone — already the build up is sheer intensity. The music helps, and the quick-fire direction. This is gonna be good! He works the sewers thus has access to points all over the place, including the park where Boyd and Cathy are walking. Aha, here comes another girl — dressed similar to Cathy, same age, identical haircut. This kid is his prey, but since Cathy is passing by, we know how this will play out straight away — he’s about to kidnap the wrong victim!
Boyd frantically runs after the getaway car like a man possessed, but after a few smashed bumpers, a friendly cabby, plus a slick as hell hanging onto the moving vehicle scene, this doesn’t end yet.
The chase continues on foot through the subways where The Warriors are trying to get home, then the peep show ‘n’ porn district of 42nd Street. Yes, this is solid gold now. It is the genuine brutal area filled with Johns, whores, and wild characters. Amazing! It’s hard to put into words just how thrilling this section of the movie is, I usually get bored by chase stuff, but director, Robert Butler and his team know how to keep the pace breakneck and nail biting. The choice of locations takes this to the next level. Overhearing a conversation via two cops, Boyd used to be on the force.
As Gus and Cathy escape through the rubble and derelict jungle of the South Bronx where he lives, we hear his motives, why (he thinks) he’s kidnapped the daughter of a wealthy developer. He doesn’t believe Cathy when she tells him the truth, he also spits loads of racial words to annoy the modern viewers.
Boyd was fired when the city laid off loads of the cops due to bankruptcy. It didn’t help that he had exposed loads of bent officers (some on the force are still bitter), which shows as he’s arrested and attacked by one particular detective. It’s not long before he escapes. Now he must find Cathy and he has a bloodthirsty copper on his tail.
The third main character so far is Lieutenant Tonelli, played perfectly by Richard S. Castellano of The Godfather. When Guscalls the rather bewildered rich family saying he has their daughter — who’s in the same room as them — Tonelli becomes deeply involved. He sets up operations on the phones and figures after a couple of back-and-forth transactions that Gus has taken Boyd’s daughter. Shit is gonna go down!
Boyd has a one-man crusade through the slums and 42nd Street again to find Cathy. He is unstoppable. Going against the police, and some classic mandatory South Bronx street gangs, until a final battle under the city in the sewers and some sudden paedophile advances from Gus…
Night of the Juggler is an ultra realistic thrill ride. Gritty, grim, and showcasing the hives ‘n’ dives of the streets. The fact it’s taken so long to get a big release is ridiculous. It has everything you need — action, music, pimps, gangs, blood, greatest hits package of New York movies.
Kino Lorber are, as always, on form to present the material in a superior quality, but not too over-the-top in case the atmosphere is removed or damaged.
The film explodes across the cities mid-September and I cannot bloody wait to properly own it (we have an old ex rental VHS in our collection that when plays is a mass of unwatchable snow). It comes with various interviews and commentaries.
Thank you, Kino, for allowing this forgotten classic to be unleashed to the masses of enthusiastic collectors of ‘70s and ‘80s flicks. Long may you reign and bring us many, many more.
Directed by: Robert Butler
Written by: Bill Norton Snr, Rick Natkin
Produced by: Stephen Kesten, Jay Weston
Cinematography by: Victor J Kemper
Music by: Artie Kane
Special Effects by: Connie Brink, Al Griswold, Tony Parmelee
Cast: James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, Abby Bluestone, Richard S Castellano, Sully Boyer, Julie Carmen
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 41min
Studio: General Cinema Corporation
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
