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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
One of Most Disturbing NYC Thrillers of the 1980s Has Been AWOL — Until Now
'Somewhere in this city, possibly among these people, is a man… so close to the edge that when he breaks, it could change your life forever.' The city is New York at the end of era, poised between being the place that a sitting President implied should 'drop dead' and a metropolis on the verge of becoming a coked-up playground for Wall Street's nouveau riche. The people are the everyday men and women that populate it, from working stiffs to fatcat bureaucrats. The man on the edge is named Gus Soltic, though his neighbors in the boogie-down Bronx call him 'the Mole Man'; he works in the sewers under Central Park. Spoiler: He will break. And while he won't necessarily change your life, Soltic is about to drag an ex-cop and his teenage kid through hell. More from Rolling Stone 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Needs a Sharper Hook '40 Acres': Danielle Deadwyler Is the Postapocalyptic Action Hero We Deserve Michael Madsen Was the Tough Guy's Tough Guy The movie is Night of the Juggler, and if you were lucky enough to catch this thriller when it first hit theaters in 1980 or played on premium cable channels for a few scant years afterward, then you probably remember it. Or at the very least, you can recall Cliff Gorman's uniquely unsettling take on the urban psychopath; James Brolin at the peak of his bearded, Brawny-mascot hotness; and the way that the movie portrayed NYC in all its funky, late Seventies state of decay. Like many works from that fertile age of grindhouse-friendly filmmaking, this adaptation of William P. McGivern's novel (originally titled Red Alert Central Park, a far better pulp-fiction handle) fell through the cracks in terms of distribution rights and home-entertainment-format updates. Apart from rare revival screenings, it's been near impossible to see it outside of bootlegs for almost 40 years. That Kino Lorber has finally managed to give this cult classic a 4K restoration without sacrificing its sense of Forty-Deuce grit — and another theatrical run before a Blu-Ray release this fall — is a miracle. You could not ask for better throwback viewing than this on a hot August night. Once upon a time, Brolin's Sean Boyd wore a badge and kept Manhattan's mean streets safe. Then he pulled a Frank Serpico and exposed the corruption of his fellow police officers, and suddenly, he's part of the wave of NYPD layoffs. Now he drives a truck and dotes on his daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone), who's turning 15 today. Dad got them both tickets to the ballet that night, but she's still got to go to summer school. Despite the fact that Boyd is bushed after a graveyard shift, he's willing to walk her to school. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Soltic is finishing up his breakfast. After the single most menacing splattering of ketchup in the history of American cinema, he changes out of his uniform and stakes out on apartment on the upper west side. His target is the daughter of a real-estate developer who screwed his family over many years ago. Now the Mole Man wants to make them suffer. The plan is to kidnap the rich guy's kid and demand a hefty ransom, though you feel like he's the kind of sicko who's not willing to stop there in terms of criminal behavior. Due to the fact that Kathy is wearing nearly the same outfit as the developer's teen daughter, Soltic accidentally grabs her instead and throws her into the station wagon he's just boosted. Sean quickly sprints after them. What follows is one of the great unsung chase scenes of late-period New Hollywood, a 10-minute sequence in which our hero pursues the bad guy through upper Manhattan, aided by a Puerto Rican cabbie played by Mandy Patinkin — yes, that Mandy Patinkin. The cat-and-mouse game briefly transitions to the subway at the 86th Street stop before they both surface above ground again. Many cars are crashed. This sequence alone makes the film worth seeking out while it's on big screens. (It kicked off its theatrical run this weekend in NYC at the IFC Center, and per Kino, will expand to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, and Toronto, among other cities, starting in September.) Brolin then spends the remainder of the movie using every one of his old connections and the help of various average New Yorkers to track down his missing teen. Despite the fact that the actor broke his foot early in the shoot (which led to original director Sidney J. Furie leaving the project and Robert Butler taking the reins), Brolin is in a state of constant motion. There is so much running in this film that they could have easily called it Day of the Jogger. Despite the fact that Night of the Juggler hit theaters in June of 1980, it's very much a movie of the 1970s, and is part of a wave of films that painted New York as a sort of Armageddon-in-progress that Pauline Kael dubbed 'Horror City.' Everything appears to be breaking down and/or covered in a patina of sleaze. The outer boroughs look like war zones, ethnic gangs run rampant, midtown is littered with massage parlors and peep shows, and the police have their hands full with militants and double-digit murder rates. The movie's climax takes place in the sewers, which somehow seem cleaner than the city perched on top of them. 'Y'know, I got a feeling it's gonna be another goddamned New York day,' one exasperated police lieutenant says early on, and the film spends the rest of its running time doubling down on his assertions. Welcome to the NYC that spurred conservative Middle America's nightmares. That aforementioned line, by the way, is spoken by Richard Castellano, better known as Clemenza from The Godfather — and he's just one of the ensemble of extraordinary character actors from the era that help make this richly rancid time capsule rock hard. Dan Hedaya plays a cop still pissed at Boyd for the whole informing thing, and thinks nothing of opening fire on his former peer with a shotgun in the middle of a crowded Bryant Park. Sully Boyar, a.k.a. the bank manager from Dog Day Afternoon, shows up as administrator at a canine pound. (He's graduated to afternoons spent with actual dogs!) You might recognize a street preacher as the same guy who played a doctor in The Exorcist; that's Barton Heyman. And while the casting of Patinkin as that heavily accented cabbie is definitely… let's call it 'a choice,' the movie also hands a plum role to the great Puerto Rican actor Julie Carmen, who's graced everything from John Cassavetes' Gloria to The Milagro Beanfield War to Tales of the Walking Dead. But Night of the Juggler is really Brolin and Gorman's show. And while the movie certainly makes the case for the former tying with Burt Reynolds for Most Virile Screen Presence of the era, it's the latter who turns this class-conscious kidnapping potboiler into one of the more disturbing thrillers of that transitional sociopolitical moment. An actor who graced The Boys in the Band and All That Jazz, and who won a Tony for playing Lenny Bruce in the original Broadway production of Lenny, Gorman is both the secret sauce and source of the movie's diseased mojo. His Soltic initially courts sympathy with his tale of being economically screwed over by the city's elite; this character's racist views and growing, extremely unhealthy attraction to Boyd's kid, however, quickly ixnays any notion of being on his side. There's no question that this man is a psychopath, and Gorman leans into the ugliness. Yet he also gives him a sense of someone who's been tainted, warped, left behind by the land of milk and honey. Back then, this version of God's Lonely Man was easily recognizable as an outlier. Now Soltic would be recognizable as someone spewing hate and violence among communities of like-minded folks. It's a metastisized have-not archetype with a grudge that has not gone away. Only the horror-city landscape has changed. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century Solve the daily Crossword
The Sun
03-07-2025
- The Sun
Hopes for Madeleine McCann breakthrough as Brueckner could be kept in prison LONGER – giving cops vital time to nail him
MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner could face three extra months behind bars after the woman who paid his fine asked for her money back. The mystery donor - an ex-cop who investigated the suspect - settled a £1,300 outstanding court fine allowing Brueckner, 48, to walk free in September. 6 6 But the former German FBI agent has now emailed prosecutors pleading she has made a 'mistake' - and begged for the funds to be returned to her. Officials are taking the request seriously and were last night looking at how the funds could be sent back. If they succeed it would secure crucial extra time for McCann investigators before their prime suspect walks free. Reports in Germany said: 'In an email to the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office, the former BKA employee is now demanding repayment of the money. 'She stated that she was unaware that Christian B. had been convicted in previous cases, including forgery.' The ex-cop is said to have told officials: "I therefore wish to contest my declaration of intent to repay the payment and invalidate the legal transaction accordingly." The payment cleared a 2016 Helmstedt District Court fine for drunkenness in traffic and forgery of documents and a 2017 Braunschweig court levy for assault. Before the ex-cop paid the fine, convicted paedophile Breuckner had only been able to pay £210 of the total and faced being kept behind bars until late January. The fine-payer insists she had "never had personal contact with Christian B." Mystery female donor who paid £1,300 fine to free Madeleine McCann suspect Brueckner is former COP who investigated him Maddie prosecutors said it was investigating "the extent to which the payment received in the criminal case against Christian B. can actually be credited toward the fine imposed there." It stated that it had found evidence "that the payment was made by mistake." Brueckner will now walk free when his sentence for raping an American woman, 72, in Praia da Luz, in 2005, ends. He has been named publicly as the prime suspect over the May 3 2007 disappearance of Maddie, of Rothley, Leics., since 2020 but never been charged. He has used letters to deny the claims but has refused to answer police questions or provide an alibi. His phone was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished and made a 30-minute call from the area. His Jaguar was re-registered into a name the day after the disappearance. A Sun investigation this year revealed bombshell new evidence - including Brueckner's obsession with snatching and abusing small, young, blonde girls. 6 6 6 We also placed him at key police locations of interest, including a lake where cops dug for evidence. And we showed evidence he was at the scene of an al-but-confession when he allegedly said Maddie 'did not scream,' in 2008. Our probe - aired on Channel 4 - revealed the existence of a hard-drive and laptop containing crucial picture evidence on the case. Police maintain they have physical evidence Maddie is dead - but no forensic links. German police have recently stressed the value UK authorities could provide by getting involved in the case again before Brueckner's release. He has refused to rule out leaving Germany and insisted he will go to ground on his release. If he travelled to a non-extradition country all hopes for McCann justice could disappear with him. Timeline of Maddie's disappearance May 3, 2007 Madeleine McCann disappears from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a massive police search and becoming one of the most famous missing persons cases in history. January 15, 2016 Neighbour reports a possible 'grave' at Brueckner's abandoned factory in East Germany. Cops find disturbing images on USB sticks and launch a full-scale search. February 16, 2016 Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop. He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then. May 3, 2017 Around this time, Helge B calls an information hotline after watching a ten-year anniversary special on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner. September 27, 2018 On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drugs claims in Italy. He is extradited to Germany the following year. December 16, 2019 Christian Brueckner was convicted, in Germany, for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed. He was sentenced to seven years behind bars. June 4, 2020 German prosecutors reveal to the world they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann. For the first time they claim Madeleine is dead. German media later name him as Christian B (Christian Brueckner). June 23, 2023 In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying 'she didn't scream' as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain. February 16, 2024 Brueckner goes on trial accused of none-McCann allegations of rape and sex assault, in Braunschweig, Germany. Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges. October 8, 2024 Brueckner was acquitted of all claims. Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending. September 17, 2025 Date on which Christian Brueckner will be released from custody without action being taken. Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year - or over the McCann case. June 1, 2025 Police order a renewed search for clues in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve in Portugal. It lasts for just three days.
