Hardly seen at all during its 1980 debut, Night of the Juggler came and went with very little notice. But its restoration 45 years later has uncovered a hidden gem in the genre of Decaying 1970s New York, with the New York Times dubbing it “the great gritty New York movie you’ve never seen.”
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) kidnaps a teenaged girl, mistaking her for the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer. Her determined father (James Brolin), an ex-cop with a complicated relationship to the NYPD, pursues them through New York’s seamy streets, decaying, burned-out Bronx tenements, and the grimy subterranean corridors beneath the city itself. Co-starring Richard S. Castellano, Dan Hedaya, and Mandy Patinkin, Night of the Juggler is a thrilling example of no-holds-barred, pure adrenaline-fueled filmmaking. Please note that there’s some language that has not aged well. Restored in 4K in 2025 by Kino Lorber.