Countdown in Manhattan - Ein Mann wird zum Zerfetzer!

My word what a ride! Bizarre and spiteful, but dynamically boundless. Now that they don't make urban action thrillers like this any more. They just wouldn't dare. But boy do I miss them. "Night of the Juggler" is a jaunty, outrageous and politically incorrect very late 70s chase thriller filled with a lot running, chaotic driving (stealing police cars), chewy dialogues and ballsy beat-ups. It's a relentlessly raw and intense barrage, as our protagonist violently bounces from here to there encountering cops, corrupt cops, an ex-wife, pimps, prostitutes, bouncers and street gangs along the authentically seedy strips of New York in his quest to find his kidnapped daughter. In what was a bungled napping attempt of mistaken identity… although the kidnapper still believes he has the right girl; that of a wealthy real-estate owner. Now just wait until James Brolin's ruggedly scruffy ex-cop character gets his hands on the madcap kidnapper. There'll be hell to pay! Everyone he comes across that stands in his way have felt it. The pulpy plot might be "heavily" contrived, unpleasant and fairly ridiculous, as it goes beyond and pushes reality many times. However this one-man riot machine provides on-going gritty, seedy and unapologetic excitement. No one is safe from this one man's devotion. "I've got to find my little girl." A chiselled Brolin is fitting in the central role, looking and acting the part. Cliff Gorman is particularly edgy as the scummy kidnapper. Then you have Richard S. Castellano bringing some solidity and Dan Hedaya is memorable as a psychotic cop. Director Robert Butler provides great location staging for its action and keeps a frenetic pace keeping things rough and ready. It might not be high-art, but this grungy, slam-bang action fodder is smashing entertainment.

This is a film that I remember very well. I saw it sometime in the early '80s on British TV, and it is the first film that I ever saw on television with the F-word in it. I was truly shocked!! But then again, I have lived a sheltered life.

The film depicts New York at the time it was made, as a very sleazy sweaty and dangerous place (Which I've heard it was until Mayor Guilliani 'cleaned' it up via zero tolerance. Much to to the detriment of minorities civil rights I might add). James Brolin gives a fine performance as a truck driver who's daughter is mistaken for a politician's daughter and kidnapped by a cross-eyed psycho, who takes her to his underground lair based in the ruins of a empty tower block. After seeing his daughter abducted, then giving chase, but later losing them both in the New York crowds, Brolin's character despairs at the incompetence of the police at trying to track the kidnapper, and sets about finding his daughter himself. This enables us all to see the delights, now no more, of New York's Time Square; The Peep Shows, The Hookers, The Low-Lifes. There's also plenty of swearing, and over the top Gang action just like another movie produced at about the same time, The Warriors (Walter Hill, director)

I quite like this movie, and have a copy on tape which I occasionally slip into the VCR once in a while. I'd definetely like to see the uncut version.

A great yet undeservedly obscure entry in the New York as Urban Wasteland cinema genre of the 70's and 80's. Put this one in there along with "Fort Apache: The Bronx," "Taxi Driver," the "Death Wish" series, "Escape From New York," Roberta Findlay's "Tenement," and "The Warriors." Recognizing that from the perspective of 2010, our collective image of New York City is no longer like this, after over two decades of sprucing the place up, you young'uns who don't have any memory of that period can get a good snapshot of the rampant fear and paranoia of those days in this film. It gives that same added emotional frisson you would get watching a fictional World War II movie that was made during the War itself, realizing how seriously both the filmmakers and the audiences at that time would have looked upon this fictional presentation as a representation of reality, knowing that lives were still on the line and the whole crappy situation was very much in full effect.

The film's intentions are made clear as within five minutes into the movie, we get terrorism, a woman trying to kill maurading rats with a broom handle, and a hot dog vendor telling the hero, Jim Brolin, "Did you know that 10,000 people left New York last month?" The Psycho of the Hour, the "Juggler" of the title, a racist and a scumbag, kidnaps a little girl and holds her for ransom. Her father is a rich real-estate developer, who Psycho Pants blames for destroying his South Bronx neighborhood by "letting the N*****s and the S****s move in" and destroy all the buildings. Or, so he thinks.

But dummy has kidnapped the wrong girl: she's really the daughter of James Brolin, an ex-cop with an anger management problem and a total lack of fear. Now in order to track down the Psycho, Brolin is unleashed on an apocalyptic Manhattan landscape, where he careens around like a pinball in a pinball machine (contemporary reference there), crashing trucks, stealing police cars, getting in fights with peep show booth bouncers and Puerto Rican gang members, and beating the tar out of all of them. Brolin also gets hold of a psycho cop on his tail, played with eye-bulging glee by Dan "Noon O Clock Shadow" Hedaya, and pushes Hedaya into a pen of vicious, snarling attack dogs, who then proceed to bite him a new one! Yowch!

Meanwhile, character actor great Richard S. Castellano is the lead cop on the case(s), who doesn't have contact with Brolin's character, but is sort of watching him from afar. It's all building up to the final conflict between Brolin and the psychotic kidnapper in an underground bunker full of steam pipes. Yeah, just like every other movie ever made (Terminator 2, Commando, Robocop...I could go on, but I won't).

This is REALLY sleazy and action-packed for a major studio release and I loved it! Plus you get to see some great footage of Manhattan in its grimy prime and the devastated South Bronx landscape.

Sure, the plot is over-the-top and ridiculous; Brolin attacks almost everyone he comes into contact with, including his ex-wife, and he's supposed to be the Good Guy; his daughter is not the most appealing character; and the Police are all portrayed as barely competent idiots. I didn't care. I still enjoyed this movie immensely.

That title does bite the big one, though.

UPDATE: It is my understanding that the rights holder for this movie, who is a small production company, not a major studio, is not interested in releasing this on DVD of Blu-Ray anytime soon. So your only chance at seeing this is digging up an old VHS release and hitting up Goodwill for a working VHS machine.

Columbia went far over the top with NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER! This has got to be the biggest raunchiest production ever released by them! Late-night junkies who saw this on TBS, listen hard! Go out and find the REAL uncut video release starring James Brolin. You'll see what I mean because all the explicitness of its violent subject matter were heavily cut on TV, making it mediocre by comparison. Brolin is an ex-cop searching for his kidnapped daughter (and some answers!), but he faces both urban gangs and the cops at the same time. This may have been his most ambitious role yet as an actor, as he roughs up almost anybody he encounters! Plenty of mean, dirty, and exciting action keeps boredom away. Its urbanized setting and mystery elements make up for a too simple plot. Surprisingly, it's worth a look....if you can find it!

This was an excellent action/adventure flick that somewhat unfairly depicted NY City. But, it was the late 70's, the city was broke, and in reality, in near chaos at the fringes (like the south Bronx as shown in the movie--that was REAL). Exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat action takes over, along with first glimpses of some actors who would be staples on TV (Dan Hedaya & Cliff Gorman). My favorite in the movie was Richie Castellano as Tonelli. He turned out to be the comic relief in the film, and I think it was among the last things he did before he passed. James Brolin did little if no feature film work before this, but it is arguably his best. It far surpassed anything he did for TV. Look for this movie as a used VHS tape wherever you can. You won't be disappointed.