Vague Visages’ Night of the Juggler essay contains spoilers. Robert Butler’s 1980 movie features James Brolin, Cliff Gorman and Richard S. Castellano. Check out more VV film essays at the home page.

Robert Butler’s Night of the Juggler isn’t the best New York City film ever made, but it might be the best cinematic representation of the location. The first 25 minutes of the 1980 heart-pounding thriller play like a highlight reel of every sensation that cinephiles have come to love about NYC cinema. The greasy and grimy streets, the wet sewers, the crowded subways, the angsty drivers, the charred street hotdogs, the neon lights, the piled-up garbage, the greasy diner plates of bacon, eggs and bitter coffee, the park concerts, the abandoned housing rubble, the sweat and dark of the neglected neighborhood — it’s all there in Night of the Juggler, and it’s all shot in the most unpleasant, grey-toned and gritty manner possible. Butler’s film doesn’t romanticize New York, and it’s the grit and grime that makes the central character (a lion-maned James Brolin as Sean Boyd) plead love and devotion to his native city. Night of the Juggler revels in the seediness of New York on film, the tough-to-stomach mix of racist cops and the even more racist and resentful residents, along with the eclectic mix of cultures that truly make NYC the most “American” city.

There isn’t really much to Night of the Juggler’s plot, as it’s very straightforward and almost besides the point of the movie: a racist psychopath named Gus Soltic (Cliff Gorman) kidnaps a business mogul’s daughter for ransom because he believes the city government and real estate tycoons are shutting down his neighborhood and bringing Black and Hispanic gangs into low-value properties so he can buy the land for new apartments. The only problem is that Gus kidnaps the wrong kid — the daughter of an ex-cop (the aforementioned Brolin as Sean Boyd) who will stop at absolutely nothing to get her back. There are several obstacles, however — a stubborn police lieutenant (Richard Castellano as Tonelli ), Sean’s vengeful ex-colleague (Dan Hedaya as Sean) and the protagonist’s ex-wife (Abby Bluestone as Kathy), who is desperate to get her daughter to the Connecticut suburbs and away from the “terrifying” streets of New York. Night of the Juggler’s social commentary — written by William W. Norton and Rick Natkin, based on William P. McGivern’s 1970 novel — is a web of convoluted and confusing misdirection, and that’s not because the film lacks a sense of political pointedness, but rather because that confusion is simply inherent to New York politics. 

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In pop culture, the visual concept on New York City comes from the rainy and sleek street reflections of Martin Scorsese’sTaxi Driver (1976), the weapons and motorcycles that shine in the moonlight and street lamps during Amos Poe’s Alphabet City (1984), the bright neon signatures of the clubs and diners of Scorsese’s After Hours (1985), the smoky sewers and blaring lights of cop cars enveloping the streets in Poe’s Blue Steel (1990) and the gargantuan buildings, bridges and rooftops of Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984). These films constitute a kind of cinematic ideal — the urban environment as a surreal netherworld where you can fall down any rabbit hole and wind up in a place parallel to the rest of American society. The mythos of New York City is built on its nightlife, along with staircases, corridors and secret passages.

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What helps Night of the Juggler stand alone as a New York cinema classic, and not just a “highlight reel,” is Butler’s adherence to a down-to-earth style. Over the years, many people have commented on the film being “just one big chase scene,” but what puts that into perspective is that Night of the Juggler has no time to sit for viewers to process the New York City aesthetics. It’s a movie that relentlessly stumbles, crawls and falls flat into a murky anti-aestheticism and keeps going. In a film culture ruled by the “One Perfect Shot” practice of thinking of cinema in neatly composed postcards featuring the perfect dissolve, color scheme and blocking, Night of the Juggler is a furiously restless movie that revels in its movement across a pallid color scheme that highlights the concrete, brick and tar of New York. It’s always filmed at ground level, centering the characters over the scenery and making the cityscape of New York something that one must overcome.

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New York City residents play an integral role in Night of the Juggler, perhaps even more than the infrastructure that surrounds them. While car chases, amateur parkour moves and building ruins are part of the movie’s appeal, Sean’s constant run-ins with people from his past, along with the many cultures and races in New York City, give Night of the Juggler a scope that expands it beyond just a singular chase after a kidnapper. The film establishes Sean as an honest cop who maintains a love-hate relationship with his profession and a tumultuous family life. He eventually teams up with a Puerto Rican police officer, Maria (Julie Carmen), and Butler uses this subplot to address the film’s racial dynamics in New York City neighborhoods.

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In the world of film criticism, there’s always a conversation about film restoration and the various methods to see movies in their “true form.” Does New York City always look better on a 35mm or 16mm or 70mm film print? Do the scratches enhance the visual aesthetic of the city itself, like in Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City (1981)? Through distinct reds, blues and high contrast light/shadows, can a restored film reconfirm our notions of its dreamlike surrealism, like the façade of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999)? Do the scratches, burns and crackles of the celluloid add to the city’s aesthetic as a gritty landscape, like in Lumet’s Serpico (1973)? These questions can only be answered on a personal basis, but I can personally say that the new 4K release of Night of the Juggler is a great restoration that maintains the film’s grey and grime-fueled aesthetic even in its digital clarity. There is nary a moment that one doesn’t feel the sweat, heat, anxiety and fury of the central conflict.

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New York City remains in the American moviegoer’s mind as a fantasy for the big city experience. And even in the most dangerous or dark moments depicted on screen, there is an unmistakeable sense of style that comes out of films taking place in The Big Apple. In this way, Night of the Juggler isn’t unlike other classics, like Joseph Sargent’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) or Michael Winner’s Death Wish (1974), where the violence, grit and danger is part of the appeal. This new restoration hopefully brings Butler’s 1980 film back into the forefront of New York cinema and cements its reputation as a classic for a new generation of moviegoers across the United States.

Soham Gadre (@SohamGadre) is a writer/filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. He has contributed to publications such as Bustle, Frameland and Film Inquiry. Soham is currently in production for his first short film. All of his film and writing work can be found at extrasensoryfilms.com.

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