NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER Returns from Undeserved Obscurity with a Slick and Sweaty 4K Release

Movies slip through the cracks every day, but sometimes, if we're lucky, they come climbing back out of the pavement fueled by rage, style, and a need to be seen.

Night of the Juggler (1980) spent decades in obscurity due to poor distribution and even poorer taste, but it's now back -- thanks to the good folks at Kino Lorber who've given it a new 4K scan and cleanup -- and more than deserving of your attention.

Sean (James Brolin) is a divorced ex-cop with a teen daughter who gets mistakenly abducted in a sweaty, messed-up riff on Akira Kurosawa's High & Low. Cliff Gorman's Gus thinks she's the daughter of a wealthy real-estate developer responsible for razing his neighborhood and filling it with lowlifes, but his screwup kicks off a relentless pursuit as a desperate father tries to rescue the only part of his life he still loves.

Director Sidney J. Furie set the tone for Night of the Juggler before walking away from the project after just a few weeks of filming and leaving Robert Butler to finish the feature. The latter is credited, but the former's fingerprints are all over it, starting with the opening chase that sees Brolin and Gorman running, driving, and screaming their way through the streets of late 70s New York City.

The chase essentially runs the length of the film with only brief pauses before the determined dad is back on the move. The beauty of it comes as the dynamics vary throughout -- he's chasing the kidnapper, but sometimes he's also being pursued by cops (both clean and dirty) and local gang members. Everyone's angry, everyone's on the move, and the mean, messy streets of the city becomes every bit a player in what's unfolding. The film loses the slightest bit of steam in the finale -- ironically, while in some steam tunnels -- but it remains a very satisfying time.

Night of the Juggler is a fantastic thrill ride and a film that fans of great genre films should seek out immediately. Kino's new 4K scan is currently making the rounds in repertory theaters, but you should also pick up their new 4K UHD release whether or not you're able to catch it on the big screen. It's a terrific slice of late 70s NYC cinema, and the new scan retains grain alongside a vibrant picture that pops with energy alongside the HDR and Dolby Vision working to highlight and celebrate color and detail.

The new release includes the film on UHD with a fun, informative commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. The Blu-ray carries over both and adds a trailer and the following special features.

- *NEW* Summer of '78 [13:50] - A new interview with James Brolin discussing the film's production and return to life.
- *NEW* The Sweet Maria [14:21] - Julie Carmen reflects on her supporting turn in the film.
- *NEW* Pandemonium Reflex [14:02] - A featurette exploring original director Sidney J. Furie's involvement and exit from the film.

There haven't been a lot of movies based on songs, and it's a damn shame -- Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" is right there and just begging for a feature film adaptation about love, loss, and baked goods. One that did get made comes courtesy of a filmmaker with a wonderfully erratic career, the late, great Sam Peckinpah. Convoy was the director's penultimate film and his highest grossing feature, and now it's new to 4K UHD.

Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald (Kris Kristofferson) is a seasoned trucker driving the desolate roads of Arizona and chatting up his friends/fellow truckers on the CB radio. He and the others run into some trouble after crossing paths with a hard-assed sheriff nicknamed "Cottonmouth" (Ernest Borgnine), and when the dust settles, the group find themselves on the run with the cops in pursuit. Soon that handful of trucks grows into a full-fledged convoy as the police struggle to stop them from reaching the state line.

C.W. McCall's song was a huge radio hit, and with nothing else happening in the 70s, apparently, Hollywood decided it was perfect fodder for the big screen. It's easy to see the thought process as Hal Needham's Smokey and the Bandit was a monster hit the year prior. Of course, Peckinpah isn't Needham -- he's the better filmmaker, but he's also far less commercial -- and Convoy isn't Smokey and the Bandit.

Peckinpah's film delivers a few laughs, but its aim is more of a loose, irresponsible vibe, and on that count it succeeds beautifully. The truckers are the antiheroes, and the sheriff -- a terrifically ornery Borgnine -- is the authoritarian figure that the 60s and 70s warned us about. He, along with his fellow cops, are the bumbling fools we all enjoy watching crash off road, through barns, and more. The film is one big chase scene blending practical stunts, desert scenery, and a heavy helping of that underdog spirit.

Kristofferson and Borgnine are joined by the likes of Ali MacGraw, Burt Young, and the always welcome Seymour Cassell as the governor of Arizona. Peckinpah delivers a PG-rated romp celebrating free spirits and (rightfully) demonizing cops who exist solely to bully, extort, and exert their authority. While the director frequently courted controversy and studio ire, he played it cool here -- just kidding, Peckinpah had control taken away in the edit room as his epic cut was trimmed by half against his will for theatrical release.

Kino Lorber's new 4K UHD features an HDR/Dolby Vision master from a 4K scan of the 35mm negative, and it's the same transfer found on Imprint's recent release. Reaction to it has been mixed due almost entirely to some new color grading, and it's the kind of thing that comes down solely to personal preference. In a side-by-side comparison, earlier releases probably win out as there's a more natural feel to it all. On its own merits, though, the new transfer looks sharply detailed and brightly colored giving the whole thing a vibrant look.

Kino's release features three discs including one UHD and two Blu-rays. The first two hold the film and three commentaries -- a new one by film historian Steve Mitchell, and two archival ones by Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, and Nick Redman, and Mike Siegel -- while the final disc is loaded with extra features including trailers, image galleries, and the following archival featurettes.

- Passion & Poetry: Sam's Trucker Movie [1:10:44]
- The Last Convoy [21:20]
- Three Lost Scenes [6:08]
- In-Jokes, Friends, and Cameos [6:05]
- Trucker Notes from Norway [3:19]
- The Duck Trucks [8:35]

While Convoy is very much a film of the 70s, Xanadu is... even more a film of the 70s (despite being released in 1980). An artist in need of inspiration meets a legendary muse who lights his creative fire and warms his heart, but the gods are going to need convincing if the two are going to spend the rest of their lives together.

No matter how you slice it, Xanadu is pretty ridiculous. Michael Beck's Sonny is as flat a character/performance as you'll find, and Olivia-Newton John's acting chops seem to have regressed since Grease two years prior. Luckily for viewers, Gene Kelly is on hand to bring smiles along with some dance moves that show he still had it. Those scenes, including an early one with Kelly and John sharing a dance, are the film's real highlights.

Beyond that, though, we're left with a goofy movie powered by a silly script, frequent optical effects, some incredibly slight character beats (and drugs, probably). It's a film wholly unprepared for the decade it landed in.

Xanadu comes to 4K UHD with a new HDR/Dolby Vision master from a 4K scan of the 35mm negative, and while clear improvements are visible throughout, the high number of scenes involving optical effects take a toll. It was always noticeable, a side effect of how the sequences were produced (in general, not specific to this film), but the grain is exponential during fx scenes when viewed via the new scan. The extras include trailers, a sizzle reel, and the following.

- *NEW* Commentary by director Robert Greenwald
- *NEW* Commentary by filmmaker Jennifer Clymer and film historian Nathaniel Thompson
- *NEW* Commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Krystov Charles
- *NEW* Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan
- Going Back to Xanadu [27:15]

Author Pat Conroy saw a few of his novels adapted for the screen, and while most of his stories about masculinity and Southern heritage exist outside the genre scope of this site, The Lords of Discipline finds some dark thrills. Hazing, secret societies, and the cruelties of man are on full display.

Will McLean (David Keith) is a senior at a prestigious military academy in 1960s South Carolina who's been tasked with protecting the sole Black cadet from excessive hazing. It's a difficult enough ask, but it get tougher when he discovers a secret society committing violent acts in the shadows. Honor, peer pressure, and brutality collide as one man tries to do the right thing against increasingly dangerous odds.

The Lords of Discipline is a drama infused with suspense and grim traditions. There are far more exploitative and horror-leaning examples of the terrors of hazing, and it's very much a Hollywood ending, but it manages some pockets of darkness and suspenseful situations. Its biggest draw is arguably a stacked cast as Keith is joined by Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Judge Reinhold, Rick Rossovich, and the terrific Robert Prosky. All do good work and deliver compelling characters in an engaging tale.

Kino's new 4K release delivers a solid transfer with grain intact and unobtrusive HDR, and it includes another informative commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. They're joined by Pat Conroy historian Lynn Smith, who offers additional insight into the author's work. The special features also include the following.

- *NEW* An Actor and a Gentleman [14:31] - David Keith, nearly unrecognizable with his long grey hair, talks about his early career and the film's production.
- *NEW* Films to Change the World [40:15] - Director Franc Roddam recalls his arrival in Hollywood, the slew of unproduced projects that followed, and the production of this film.

Mention Undisputed to an action fan and they're likely to start praising the high-flying kicks of Scott Adkins and electric fight direction of Isaac Florentine. The four-film franchise has become best-known for its sequels starring Adkins as a Russian brawler finding his inner good guy, but it all started with a mostly unrelated 2002 film from Walter Hill.

Sweetwater is a federal prison where men go to live out the rest of their lives, and Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) is one of them. He's also the prison's boxing champ, but he finds his first real challenge when the actual World's Heavyweight boxing champion arrives to serve time for a rape conviction. An inevitable faceoff begins, leading to a final fight in the ring to decide who the undisputed champion truly is.

Hill delivered a fantastic boxing film in the early days of his career with the Charles Bronson-starring Hard Times, and it remains one of the director's best. His return to the sport can't hold a candle to it, as it feels slighter and is something of a visual mess. Hill succumbs to early 2000s edit fever, resulting in some ugly choices as the film staggers and shifts periodically to black and white, and it only serves to distract from the characters and story.

It's a shame, too, as both Snipes and Rhames are doing great work here as two men fighting to retain the only honor available to them inside prison. This isn't Warrior, you won't be rooting for both to win the big fight, but they still make for a compelling pair. Peter Falk also does engaging work as a lifer who holds some sway inside the joint, and he makes the crook both endearing and entertaining.

Undisputed comes to 4K UHD with a new scan, but the aforementioned stylistic choices leave it difficult to praise on the visual front. The transfer respects the film's grain even as edits, swaps to black and white, and more leave it looking unimpressive all the same.

Still, fans won't find a better release, thanks in part to special features like a new commentary track with film historian Mike Leeder and filmmaker Matt Routledge that offers up production details, anecdotes, and thoughts on the franchise. Also included are a trailer and the following extras.

- *NEW* Personal Combat [22:32] - Director Walter Hill talks about the film's production and intent.
- A Conversation with Wesley Snipes [4:39]
- A Conversation with Ving Rhames [2:48]