Night of the Juggler

If you’re into gritty 70’s NYC action thrillers then this is the piece for you.  It’s about a thirteen year old girl who gets kidnapped in broad daylight in Central Park by a crazed asshole who plans to hold her for ransom.  The girl’s father, Sean Boyd (James Brolin (Capricorn One)), witnesses the taking and chases after them.  The thing is this is all a case of mistaken identity.  The captor thinks he’s nabbed the daughter of a millionaire when in reality her father’s an ex-cop turned truck driver who eats hot dogs for breakfast.  Both kids look remarkably alike including height and haircut, they happen to dress in practically the same clothes that morning and take the same path to their respective schools.  This is a pretty big “oops” but with so many similarities anyone could’ve gotten them mixed up.  Anyway, the entire film is Sean scouring the city looking for his daughter.

The whole first chunk is an incredible extended chase sequence that builds and builds.  They run on foot, go in the subway, crash cars, hang off the side of cars, there’s tons of traffic and pedestrians and obstacles to contend with, close calls galore, simply amazing stunt work, I mean damn.  It’s utterly relentless and honestly, the movie is worth watching for this section alone.

Finally there’s a break when Sean gets arrested allowing the kidnapper to escape.  So now Sean must dust off his ol’ detective skills to find out where his daughter is.  That’s not to say the picture slows down though.  There are still plenty of heated moments, fights and gun battles.  The tension is kept sky high.  In typical fashion Sean ventures into the unsavory parts of the city which naturally causes conflict.  But the cops don’t like him either because, aside from breaking all sorts of laws in his pursuit to rescue his daughter, they find out he was kicked off the force for blowing the whistle on corruption.  One dirty sergeant in particular, played by Dan Hedaya (Blood Simple), got his career derailed over this and uses the current circumstances to enact revenge by bringing the hammer down on Sean.  The sonuvabitch even goes as far as to try to shoot him on crowded public streets.  I like how the other cops who show up on scene at this mess are like “what the hell are you doing?!”  So this is a real gauntlet.

As for the main villain he’s suitably creepy and threatening.  I hesitate to call him “The Juggler” because it’s too silly sounding of a name but ok, that’s what we’ll go with.  He mentions he’s fed up with all the city politicians, accountants and power brokers juggling the books to redirect funds and resources which only end up fucking him and his community over.  As revenge he’ll extort money from them, so now he’s the juggler.  See, kind of a dumb name, right?  He’s also referred to as “The Mole” due to him working in the underground sewer/electrical system.  Night of the Mole doesn’t sound great either though.  In any case Cliff Gorman (All That Jazz) plays it appropriately slimy with his high pitched weaselly giggle and propensity for near constant threats.  Of course he’s a racist piece of shit as well blaming black people and Puerto Ricans (along with everyone else, the politicians, etc.) for the decimation of his neighborhood.  He sees the ransom as a sort of reparation.  Although, I doubt his intention is anything other than to keep the money for himself.  Lastly, it’s strongly suggested that this turd is a pedophile.  He kisses the thirteen year old girl he kidnaps and talks about being together with her.  Apparently originally his feelings were made much more explicit with him saying at one point “I’m gonna fuck her” but it was changed in post production to “I’m gonna keep her”.  Having this guy be a pedophile doesn’t really add anything to the movie so I guess I’m glad they toned that aspect down.

And maybe this is partly why no one talks about Night of the Juggler.  On one hand it seems like it should be a revered classic of the genre with its solid performances, awesome camera work, straight ahead no nonsense story, grimy vibe and ruthless drive.  But on the other hand it’s perhaps a little too nasty and in a gray area morally for most viewers to get behind.  For instance, our main characters aren’t black and white.  Sean is understandably upset over his daughter’s abduction and does whatever he thinks is necessary to get her back.  Unfortunately this includes being pretty reckless by destroying other people’s property and shaking folks down.  Then we meet his ex-wife who argues that he shouldn’t have called out the police corruption he saw because it blew up his career.  At first this makes her seem callous but I can see the argument for both sides.  Look the other way and keep your job or put you and your family at risk by calling out your own people.  Next, the head cop assigned to the case is flippant about crime in general but also refuses to get pushed around by powerful people attached to the case.  And for as disgusting as the Juggler’s actions are you can comprehend his motivation for lashing out when his community has been devastated so thoroughly by those who run the city.

This isn’t a film like Death Wish or Dirty Harry that simulates a (mainly white) male power fantasy.  In Death Wish bad guys wronged Paul Kersey’s family and he doesn’t think the cops are doing anything about it so he takes matters into his own hands by enacting vigilante murder.  Callahan in Dirty Harry is up front about his racism and, again, dishes out his own brand of justice.  These two have a code to live and die by.  Here Sean is just a father trying to save his kid from a madman.  If he has to harass sex workers or beat up cops or steal some poor bastard’s car then so be it.  He’s not even that concerned about the Juggler’s fate as long as he gets his daughter back.  There’s no moral crusade or racial indignation for the audience to cheer for.  It’s more of an ends-justify-the-means approach, which could involve the nabber walking away, and that’s tricky to process.

All these nuances and shadings make for an interesting watch.  And that’s why this one is both an easy and tough recommendation.  The movie serves up one helluva ride that never lets up.  At the same time the characters are a bit challenging, especially with the plethora of racism they spew.  Hell, the movie attempts to back up some of its own bullshit by showing the Juggler’s neighborhood filled with black and Latino looters and thugs, as if to say, “maybe he has a point”.  Plus there’s some weirdly unnecessary stuff like the pedophile angle I mentioned earlier and a lady who works at the Manhattan dog pound who helps Sean find some info and then tags along with him for the rest of the picture for some reason.

One thing’s for sure, that poster of Sean tearing his way through a picture of NYC with a look of absolute insanity on his face is fucking badass.