Night of the Juggler

Sean Boyd is a former policeman who now drives a truck and lives with his daughter. One day she is abducted in the street. The man who took her believes she is the daughter of a wealthy developer and has taken the wrong person entirely. The police do not take it seriously. Boyd goes after them alone and crosses the whole city: the subway, a car park, an abandoned building, a crowded avenue. Robert Butler's film was shot in New York in 1980 and shows the city as it then was; most of the street scenes appear to have been filmed without permits among real crowds. The narrative is a simple chase, but the city is the film's real subject. James Brolin plays Boyd and Cliff Gorman plays the abductor. Who it's for: Viewers who like New York films of the era, chase thrillers, and street footage of the period. Who it's not for: The violence is harsh and the abductor is drawn as a type. The film's view of the city's communities also carries the troubling shapes of its period.