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Bet You've Never Seen This Central Park Car Chase From The Late 1970s
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 5, 2015
Modified Aug 5, 2015
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 5, 2015
Modified Aug 5, 2015
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In the 1970s, a young Mandy Patinkin tore up Central Park in a car chase, where he was behind the wheel of an old yellow cab. The intense scene is part of Night of the Juggler, a bit of a cult classic, but one of those cult classics that kind of stands up. Check it out (and yes, that's James Brolin).
The movie, which is screening at Nitehawk this month as part of their excellent Deuce series, follows and ex-cop (Brolin) on a mission to get his daughter back from a kidnapper (Cliff Gorman), who he mistook for his actual target, a wealthy businessman's daughter.
Throughout the 101 minutes, you'll be taken to the South Bronx, where Brolin's character tangles with a street gang, and Times Square, where he finds himself in trouble at a massage parlor.
When the movie hit theaters in 1980, the NY Times published a mostly favorable review:
The director, Robert Butler, has worked mostly in television and on Disney films in the past. Though he overloads the story desperately, he also gives it a lot of verve, and the film's street scenes have a crisp immediacy. He has also cast the film beautifully, with Richard Castellano in a scene-stealing supporting role and a pair of talented newcomers in smaller roles. Abby Bluestone is sweetly sympathetic as the kidnapped girl, and Julie Carmen is lovely as a helpful young woman Mr. Brolin meets along the way. She disappears somehow by the end of the movie, but so much else happens that it's hard to remember where she has gone.
You can buy tickets for the August 13th screening here. (The series, by the way, is named after "The Deuce," which was the stretch of West 42nd Street between 6th and 8th Avenues that contained a lot of theaters.)
Until then, here's a totally creepy WPIX spot on the movie, which the station aired in 1986:
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night of the juggler
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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