Not So Obscure TV Spot, But Still MIA on DVD: King of the Mountain (1981, Noel Nosseck)

This is one of those quintessential late-night films...by that, I mean the kind one would discover on television back in the days when the network affiliates would play movies in overnight time-slots rather than informercials and reruns of Friends, Seinfeld, or That '70s Show.  It's an odd little film that faded from public consciousness soon after its middling theatrical run, takes place mostly at night in the hills above L.A., is set in a cool milieu (illegal drag racing), and has a cast of interesting, though second-tier stars.  Since its leading man, the titular "King," Harry Hamlin found fame in the '80s on L.A. Law, even "winning" People's "Sexiest Man Alive" crown in '87, I'm sure this one found plenty of "late show" airplay in the '80s.  Later, in college, Rupe and I would watch this sort of thing via ex-rental VHS tapes, but still Noel Nosseck's King of the Mountain eluded me until now.

I caught a VHS rip of the film, which has been completely absent from DVD, possibly due to the inclusion of some popular source tracks by artists such as the Police, Styx, and Robert Palmer, and watched it late at night, thereby somewhat replicating the experience I might have had seeing it on the CBS Late Movie, ABC Late Night, WPIX 11, or WWOR 9.  In my head, I can the hear that authoritative network v.o. saying something like, "We now return to King of the Mountain starring Harry Hamlin."  Made in 1981, this is a hard PG, reminiscent of the many '70s films that packed in much rough stuff, but still maintained that kid-friendly PG rating.  There is plenty of smoking, drinking (including some slugs of Jack Daniels while behind the wheel), some sex (though no nudity), violence, and some nasty language.  In short, another film mostly made for adults, but without the requisite amount of "fucks" and nipples to earn an R.  The film was produced by mini-major Polygram and distributed by Universal; I believe Universal still retains distribution rights.  Its home video in the U.S., in the '80s, was handled by Embassy.

Taking a page from the Saturday Night Fever school of development, H.R. Christian and Leigh Chapman's script is based on a magazine article about a real emerging, local subculture.  In the case of King of the Mountain, the article was "Thunder Road" and the magazine was New West (the West Coast sister magazine to New York, where "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" was published).  The article told of the exploits of a couple of racers in the illicit car racing scene that developed along Mulholland Drive in the '60s and '70s.  Harry Hamlin's Steve seems to be an amalgamation of two young drivers profiled in the article (Chris Banning and John Hall) and is the "Tony Manero" of the film.  He's the baddest driver on the scene--"the King"--appropriately handsome and cocky, who boasts of being able to drive the 1.8 mile course "blind-folded."  Hamlin just isn't as dynamic as Travolta and his inner struggle isn't fully explored enough to make his character arc / transformation all that moving or dramatic, as I'm sure the filmmakers intended.  Dennis Hopper is the grizzled vet and former "King," who was driven mad after nearly killing himself on the course 15 years earlier.  This is Hopper several years before his career revival (Blue Velvet and Hoosiers) so the story that he took a six-pack and finished it while doing some dangerous driving for pick-up shots is not surprising.  In spite of the tolerance of the shaky Hopper's presence on the production, original lead Brad Davis was reportedly fired for his drug problem.

The filmmakers apparently felt the need to flesh out the script by adding in a secondary plot about Steve's roommates and former racing compadres (Joseph Bottoms and Richard Cox) who are now trying to break into the music scene, writing and producing songs for singer Deborah Van Valkenburgh (who sings her own songs in the film, which are produced by Jack Nitzsche!).  Seymour Cassel is a high-powered producer angling to buy Bottoms' songs and get Van Valkenburgh into his stable of talent, without the participation of Bottoms and Cox.  There is tension between the artistic and idealistic Bottoms and the more business-minded Cox (who casually tickles the ivories at one point, just as he did a year earlier in Cruising).  The music is reminiscent of a lot of the '70s California soft rock popularized by the likes of Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and many others, and I like to imagine that the recording scenes (which I like) are a somewhat authentic re-creation of that milieu and its creative process.  The rock-based score is by the late Mike Melvoin a composer and studio musician with a very impressive list of credits going back to the '60s.  I don't know L.A. topography and geography enough to say for sure, but I assume the boys' pad is somewhere in Laurel Canyon, where much of the aforementioned music and artists were based.

So, the film becomes a sort of fusion of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Saturday Night Fever, Rocky, Spetters, Breaking Away, The Idolmaker, Dreamer (also directed by Nosseck), and surely others that I'm not thinking of right now.  It's not entirely successful, by any means, but it's an entertaining diversion and certainly not deserving of its current no-DVD obscurity / limbo status.  However, reading the New West article, it's clear that the film would have been much better off following its streamlined approach: that is, focusing solely on the racers and their obsessions...their cars, speed, and the road...their environment, and the cops trying to take them down.

"I'll never stop for the police in my car," Chris says. "Not if they're after me with the militia. There are people out there who work for the city who want to get me, but there's no way anybody can catch me in this car. I wouldn't stop if they set up a barricade. If they caught me, they'd impound the car and mess it up. I'd kill myself if anything happened to this car. I love it more than anything."

TV Spot Not on the DVD: Eyewitness (1981, Peter Yates)

Peter Yates and Steve Tesich followed up their award-winning Breaking Away collaboration with this early 1981 NYC-set thriller starring William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, and James Woods.  Eyewitness (aka The Janitor) was not the critical or financial success that Breaking Away was and it's not a top-grade mystery by any means.  What it does offer, however, is an outstanding collection of leading and character players in well-written, interesting roles and, of course, some choice New York locations, circa 1980.  This is the kind of character-driven, slightly offbeat, mid-range studio picture that went out years ago.  Those looking for an edge-of-your-set, nail-biting suspense picture will be disappointed, as this moves at a leisurely pace and revels in the quirks of its characters more than the machinations of the plot.  The narrative revolves around a Vietnam-vet janitor (a largely sympathetic Hurt, playing one of his few working-class characters) who discovers the murdered body of a wealthy (and criminally-connected) Vietnamese businessman in the office building where he works.  The janitor pretends to know more than he does in order to gain favor with the television newswoman (Weaver) he loves from afar, thereby arousing the interests of the killer, the associates of the murder victim, and the police.

Christopher Plummer co-stars as Weaver's Israel-lobbying fiancé and James Woods is Hurt's unstable best pal and fellow vet.  The cast is filled out by Steven Hill and Morgan Freeman as the lead detectives on the murder case, Pamela Reed as Woods' sister and sometime lover of Hurt, Kenneth McMillan and Alice Drummond as Hurt's parents, Irene Worth and Albert Paulsen as Weaver's parents, Jimmie Ray Weeks as a tv producer, and Chao Li Chi (memorable from Big Trouble in Little China) as Mr. Wong, the murdered man at the center of the story.

The film, Hurt's second, came in the middle of a very impressive 8-month run for the actor, which included his feature film debut, Ken Russell's Altered States (released Christmas '80) as well as Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (released late August '81).  Meanwhile, as Eyewitness opened in theaters, he starred in the Circle Repertory's production of Childe Byron.

For those who are interested, as I am, in practical locations (i.e. real locations used for filming), as well as set design, Hurt's workspace was built at the Kaufman-Astoria Studios (formerly Paramount Studios) by production designer Philip Rosenberg.  You can see that very impressive set in the below lobby card:

TV Spot(s) Not on the DVD: Summer Lovers (1982, Randal Kleiser)

These apparently aired on the then-nascent MTV in Summer '82.  I can't think of other TV spots that utilized actors and incorporated new scenes as this one does.  Can you?  I do, of course, recall the many TV spots that interviewed moviegoers as they exited a film or waited on line for tickets.

Not So Obscure TV Spot, But Still MIA on DVD: Night of the Juggler (1980, Robert Butler)

It's a shame that Night of the Juggler, a taut thriller that revels in late '70s NYC grime, remains unavailable on DVD, and, in fact, has been out of circulation since long-defunct Media Home Entertainment released it on VHS in the mid-'80s. Based on a novel by William P. McGivern, the story is one of those that follows the tried and true method I call "All in one day (or night)." As another oft-mentioned "all-in-one-night" film of the era did, Night of the Juggler takes full advantage of sweltering, smelly, sleazy summertime New York to tell its story. New York City cop turned long-haul trucker James Brolin goes through all sorts of hell, including a maniacal Dan Hedaya, as he tries to rescue his daughter from a revenge-minded mama's boy with pedophilic impulses (Cliff Gorman).

Does this peep show also appear in Cruising? Seriously.

At first, director Butler, a fellow best known for The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and a lot of episodic television, might seem the wrong man for the job. On closer inspection, however, much of that television was Westerns and cop dramas, experience that surely helped keep Juggler's fast-moving narrative humming along seamlessly. Perhaps more of a pleasant surprise is the fact that tv vet Butler does not shy away from the cruder aspects of the exploitation trade, specifically: violence, nudity, profanity, and a pervasive seediness in all aspects of the mise-en-scene.

Brolin, looking as if he went directly from the
Amityville Horror set to Night of the Juggler

Unfortunately, the crappy VHS-sourced bootlegs cannot do justice to the film's production design by Stuart Wurtzel (who would, most fittingly, also perform this duty for the same year's Times Square) and photography by veteran lenser Victor J. Kemper, a man who was no stranger to urban dramas (Dog Day Afternoon, The Eyes of Laura Mars, The Gambler, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Shamus) and who also shot Cassavetes' Mikey and Nicky and Husbands. The music is by Artie Kane, who didn't rack up too many feature film credits; however, those few credits also include Looking for Mr. Goodbar and The Eyes of Laura Mars, which, when added to Juggler, comprise a dark disco-era urban troika. The supporting cast is a veritable who's who of East Coast character actors and theater vets and includes the aforementioned Gorman and Hedaya, as well as Richard S. Castellano, Marco St. John (Tightrope's psycho killer), Steve Inwood (a "go to" character guy for early '80s New York films), Barton Heyman, Sully Boyar, Mandy Patinkin, Tony Azito, Samm-Art Williams, Richard Gant, Julie Carmen, and porn star Sharon Mitchell (as a stripper, fancy that).

A New York street gang that doesn't wear make-up

Released theatrically by Columbia, Night of the Juggler was an early production for Arnold Kopelson; another 1980 Kopelson production, Foolin' Around, was also distributed theatrically by Columbia. As with Night of the Juggler, it was released on video by a separate distributor (Embassy, prior to that company's acquisition by Columbia). In short, it's not clear who controls Night of the Juggler now (Edit: I'm told that after the film's financer, General Cinema Corporation went belly-up, some assets, including the aforementioned films, went to a soap company who are seeking beaucoup $$ for Juggler). Perhaps an enterprising outfit such as Shout Factory!, Synapse, Severin, or Code Red, who seem to specialize in this sort of thing, can sort this out, i.e. pry it loose from the soap company, and license Night of the Juggler for DVD so that it can be properly seen by the wider audience it deserves.


This glorious, if brief, tv spot will remind anyone who grew up in the New York area of a time when WPIX Channel 11 was "New York's Movie Station." It's surprising that the film, which was released in 1980, didn't make its broadcast premiere until '86. Perhaps network television premiere is more accurate, as I would imagine the film must have aired on at least one of the pay cable channels after its theatrical run. In any event, a lot must have been lost in the translation from R-rated original cut to television-friendly version.