Night of the Juggler (1980) is a title that stood out to me as a kid. I assumed it was a horror movie…about jugglers. Does that make me stupid? Let’s just say it certainly doesn’t make me smart…
Thanks to the modern world of streaming, which isn’t all bad, I can now solve this mystery. What is Night of the Juggler actually about?
Let’s take this journey of discovery…together. Spoilers will generally be avoided.
Night of the Juggler
Low and behold, Night of the Juggler has nothing to do with horror. It is a crime thriller. And it is a pretty good crime thriller at that. Its basic plot is thus:
A father tries to track down his kidnapped daughter. Numerous racist epithets are hurled.
James Brolin stars. It is hard to tell if James Brolin is the picture of virility or a man perpetually stuck in the first stage of lycanthropy. I’m pretty sure Brolin’s beard could grow a beard. Little known movie fact: the acidic blood used in Alien was Brolin’s ball sweat. They had to dilute it somewhat. An undiluted sample was used in The China Syndrome.
Brolin is good in Night of the Juggler. He fills a flannel shirt with sufficient manly concern for his woman child, and nothing will sway him from his path. This doesn’t stop him from berating his ex-wife, however. A virile man always has time for that. Said ex-wife is played by Linda Miller. She is the daughter of Jackie Gleason and the mother of Jason Patric.
Cliff Gorman (All That Jazz) plays the villain. I am not that familiar with Gorman. He is easy to confuse with any number of supporting actors who appear in mafia movies. He also acquits himself well. The story humanizes his villain somewhat. The character is not only about ransom. His motivation contains an element of revenge, as well.
Night of the Living Dead Juggler
A couple of other familiar faces pop up: Richard Castellano (The Godfather), Julie Carmen (In The Mouth of Madness) and Dan Hedaya (The Seduction of Joe Tynan). The most fun appearance belongs to a young Mandy Patinkin. He briefly enters the movie as an extremely cooperative cab driver.
Night of the Juggler was based on a novel by William McGivern. In an insane coincidence that often shows up in movies I watch, McGivern wrote the 1954 noir movie I’ve also been viewing: Shield for Murder, starring John Agar and Claude Akins.
William Norton wrote the screenplay of Night of the Juggler. He penned Day of the Animals, so he’s quality. Truly, Leslie Nielsen had a certain genius recognizing the tone of the movies he starred in and matching his performance perfectly.
Sidney Furie (Superman IV) originally started directing Night of the Juggler. He quit over a kerfuffle about an injury to James Brolin’s foot. Robert Butler (The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) took over directing duties. Butler does a nice job keeping the pace of the movie up. One imagines Night of the Juggler played fairly kinetic to a 1980 audience.
Dark Night of the Juggler
Night of the Juggler is a movie that floats on the scum of 80s New York. The city itself is a character in these films, all grit, traffic, grime, gangs and sleaze. It looks like Wolfen takes place just around the corner of the villain’s hideout, and Popeye Doyle cruises the streets nearby.
Night of the Juggler also captures a couple emerging trends of the time: jogging and frogurt, which perhaps helped cleaned New York up as much as Mayor Ed Koch. It is hard for urban decay to survive where people jog and eat frogurt.
The film is a chase film at heart. Brolin chases kidnapper. Multiple folks chase Brolin. It’s a tried and true formula, and no one involved with the project shoots themselves in the foot by screwing it up with any goals beyond entertaining viewers.
Night of the Comet Juggler
In the end, Night of the Juggler gives little to complain about it. It knows its lane and navigates the turns with little fuss or muss. Ultimately, the movie ends up orbiting the kidnapper/victim dynamic at its center. Despite humanizing Gorman, the film walks that balance well by still keeping him a creep.
In fact, dialogue was changed in editing to avoid pushing the envelop too far. During the climax, Gorman says, “I’m going to keep her,” in a high sing-song voice. The original line was much more repugnant. Whether or not it would have been better to maintain that edge is up for debate. Regardless, the movie works.
Still would have liked to see some juggling, though…
