Night of the Juggler – Review

Racist creep Gus Soltic (Gorman) makes a happy face with his breakfast meal, then pours ketchup all over the eyes as he sits in a small diner in New York. He pays but leaves without eating, and slams the ketchup bottle down in the middle of the “face.” He appears determined.

Sergeant Otis Barnes (Hedaya) and Lieutenant Tonelli (Castellano) from the Major Case Squad pull up on a bustling crime scene while other officers secure it. Meanwhile, coming barreling in hot in a large semi-truck is Sean Boyd (Brolin), ex-cop and current lead foot delivery maker, who is bombing into the city and ready for a payday.

Gus hits up a payphone and impersonates a truant officer, calling a rich real estate developer family, the Claytons. His inquiries are to make sure their daughter would be attending all classes that day. While this happens, Sean heads home and wakes his daughter up for her birthday with some breakfast hot dogs.

So, what the hell do any of these people have to do with each other? They are on an unfortunate collision course of madness and violence, as mistaken identities lead to a kidnapping gone wrong, note like kidnappings can really go right. As parties scramble to figure out what is going on, tensions rise and Sean Boyd must turn to his cop past to resolve a tricky situation.

Night of the Juggler is an oddly titled yet tense and gritty action thriller. It zips along pretty quickly overall and the pace rarely lets up. The film is based on a book, and despite a director change partway through filming and a broken Brolin foot, it turned out pretty well and is worth a watch. I guess the book makes it clearer that Gus is a psychopathic killer that the public has dubbed “the Juggler,” so that’s where the title comes from. The movie may have also noted that, but I missed it if so.