Night of the Juggler: Limited Edition – Transmission Video Distribution (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1980
Director: Robert Butler
Writers: Rick Natkin, William W. Norton
Cast: James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, Richard S. Castellano, Julie Carmen, Linda Miller, Abby Bluestone, Dan Hedaya, Mandy Patinkin

Release Date: December 8th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 100 minutes 50 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"A young girl is kidnapped in broad daylight in Central Park by a murderous psychopath (Cliff Gorman, All That Jazz), who plans to demand a huge ransom for her return, mistakenly believing she is the daughter of a wealthy property developer. Unfortunately for him, she’s actually the daughter of Sean Boyd (James Brolin, True Grit), a devoted dad and grizzled ex-cop who will stop at absolutely nothing to get her back, even if it means taking out the kidnapper, his enemies in the NYPD, and the entire scuzzy underworld populating the mean streets of 1970s New York…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Night of the Juggler was restored in 4K resolution by Trimuse Entertainment. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned by Filmscan in Munich using the MWA Flashtransfer Vario 5K Scanner and restored using HS Art Diamant Film Restoration Software. Additional color grading was performed using DaVinci Resolve 20, and audio restoration was performed using RX 11. The film is presented in both Dolby Vision HDR (UHD) and SDR (Blu-ray)."

Night of the Juggler comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 61.2 GB

Feature: 60.8 GB

The source looks excellent; it features an exemplary encode from Fidelity in Motion, and this release corrects the error that is still present on Kino Lorber’s release. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Night of the Juggler comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.6 GB

Feature: 29.6 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds and the score sound robust.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with film historians Kim Newman and Sean Hogan.

The Blu-ray disc extras include a stills and poster gallery (17 images), a theatrical trailer (1 minute 51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a locations featurette with journalist/filmmaker Michael Gingold and production associate Chris Coles titled The Meanest Streets (28 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by Daniel Kremer, author of Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films titled Pandemonium Reflex: An Inquest into Sidney J. Furie’s Night of the Juggler (14 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay on the depiction of New York in 70s and 80s exploitation cinema by Howard S. Berger titled Fun City Limits: Fear & Loathing in Hollywood's NYC (28 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Julie Carmen titled The Sweet Maria (14 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actor James Brolin (13 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Kim Newman and Sean Hogan.

Other extras include a pull-out poster, six lobby-card-style postcards, an O-card slipcover, a removable OBI strip, leaving packaging free of certificates and markings, and a 40-page perfect-bound booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Psychotic Reactions, NYC Style written by Glenn Kenny, an essay titled “Another Goddamn New York Day” Night of the Juggler’s Street Map of the Vigilante Genre written by Barry Forshaw, an essay titled Turning up the Heat with William P. McGivern written by Travis Woods and information about the transfer.

Summary:

Although Robert Butler is credited with directing Night of the Juggler, Sidney J. Furie (The Entity) directed about ⅓ of the film.

A man who mistakes a girl for the daughter of a millionaire abducts the daughter of a former police officer who now works as a truck driver.

There is something about 1970s and early 1980s cinema that other eras rarely match. Films of the 1970s and early 1980s had a grittiness to them that enhanced their realism, while cinema from Hollywood’s Golden Age and of the last 40 years features metropolitan landscapes that look too clean. Case in point: Night of the Juggler, a film shot in actual New York locations a decade before the city got cleaned up and made more family-friendly.

Night of the Juggler has two storylines at play, which collide for an explosive finale. The first of these is a kidnapper, who's angered that his once beautiful childhood neighborhood is in decline, and he blames a wealthy real estate developer. The other revolves around a father and daughter who are making plans for her birthday. Things for them go awry when the kidnapper mistakes her for another girl, and her only hope for a safe return is her father, who uses his skills as a former police officer to navigate the city.

All around, the cast are outstanding in their roles. James Brolin (The Amityville Horror) is cast in the role of Sean Boyd, the father, and he delivers the best performance of his career. There is so much going on with his character: a bitter divorce and a former job where he made enemies with co-workers he turned in for breaking the law. While his main focus is rescuing his daughter, his past actions are constantly presenting obstacles. The other performance of note is Cliff Gorman’s (The Boys in the Band) portrayal of Gus Soltic, the kidnapper.  Although he makes many mistakes along the way, it is his determination that keeps him one step ahead of Sean and the law.

An initial setup introduces the characters; then the rest of the narrative is essentially a lengthy chase and race against time. The narrative is driven by the father's and the kidnappers' determination, and the police, who eventually get involved, never find a solid footing. The action sequences are particularly impressive, especially the extended scene in which the father pursues the kidnapper, primarily on foot, after his daughter has just been abducted. Ultimately, Night of the Juggler is an exemplary crime film whose antihero protagonist comes from the same mold as Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle.

Transmission Video Distribution gives Night of the Juggler its definitive home media release. Highly recommended.

Note: This edition is limited to 5000 copies.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer