Night of the Juggler

1980 • 100 minutes

About this movie

The grit and intensity of late-1970s New York City is depicted in stark detail in this relentlessly action-packed cult classic. Twenty-four hours of nerve-jangling tension and suspense begin when a twisted psychotic (Cliff Gorman, "Cops and Robbers", "All That Jazz") kidnaps a teenaged girl, mistaking her for the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer. Her determined father (James Brolin, "The Car", "The Amityville Horror"), a hard-hitting ex-cop, doggedly pursues them through New York’s seamy streets, decaying, burned-out Bronx tenements, and the grimy subterranean corridors beneath the city itself. Based on the novel by William P. McGivern ("The Big Heat", "Odds Against Tomorrow") and co-starring Richard S. Castellano ("The Godfather"), Julie Carmen ("In the Mouth of Madness"), Dan Hedaya ("Blood Simple") and Mandy Patinkin ("The Princess Bride"), "Night of the Juggler" is a thrilling example of no-holds-barred, pure adrenaline-fueled filmmaking. The film’s original director Sidney J. Furie ("The Ipcress File", "The Appaloosa") was replaced by Robert Butler ("Up the Creek", "Turbulence") a few weeks into production.