The Glove
Victor Hale (Rosey Grier), an African American ex-convict, dresses in black clothing, then dons a motorcycle helmet and a black "riot" glove. Later, outside prison gates, a guard (Aldo Ray) is picked…
The Glove
Victor Hale (Rosey Grier), an African American ex-convict, dresses in black clothing, then dons a motorcycle helmet and a black "riot" glove. Later, outside prison gates, a guard (Aldo Ray) is picked up by his mistress and they drive to a warehouse for a sexual tryst. Victor follows them and practically beats the guard to death with his glove. The next day, bounty hunter Sam Kellough (John Saxon) boats through the canals of Venice, California, with his seven-year-old daughter, Lisa (Misty Bruce), who spends weekends with her father. Narrating for the viewers, Sam describes himself as a former minor league baseball player and ex-police officer who gambles too much and struggles to pay his bills. On Monday, he drops Lisa at school, and she tells Sam that her mother will end their weekend visits unless Sam pays his back alimony. Sam's first case is Charles "Chuck" Gardener (Nicholas Worth), a bail jumper who wrote bad checks. Sam slips into Chuck's backyard and almost arrests Chuck's boyfriend by mistake. In turn, Chuck attacks Sam, who tosses Chuck into the pool before taking the miscreant into custody. Sam then goes to Bill Schwartz (Keenan Wynn), who runs a bail bonds business, where Sam is paid $300 for capturing Chuck. When Sam asks for the file for "Cookie," a murderer who jumped bail, Bill warns that Cookie is dangerous, but Sam needs the $3,000 bounty. Bill gives him the file, as well as a message to see Lt. Howard Kruger (Howard Honig) at police headquarters. At the police station, Sam pays Kruger 10% of the money he earned for Chuck's capture. Kruger has potentially profitable information for Sam regarding Victor Hale, a musician who was convicted of beating his sister's pimp. After prison, Victor moved to New York City and played in a jazz club, but he got into a fight, was arrested, jumped bail, and returned to Los Angeles. Harry Iverson (Michael Pataki), a bounty hunter from New York, has the bond paperwork and Kruger suggests that Sam team up with Iverson to find Victor. Sam is hesitant until Kruger reveals that Victor has a vendetta against guards, and there is an unofficial $20,000 reward from the prison guards' association. Kruger shows a riot glove, a leather-laced steel glove, to Sam, claiming it was created to handle campus riots in the 1960s, and was also used in the penal system until it was outlawed; Victor was beaten by guards wearing the glove. Pretending to be a newspaper reporter, Sam visits Victor's grandmother (Frances E. Williams) and meets his younger sister, who is brain damaged from her pimp's brutality. Later, Sam stops at a bus station, looking for Mrs. Fitzgerald (Joan Blondell), a 65-year-old bookkeeper on the run for stealing $3,200 from Walter Stratton (Jack Carter), a Realtor. Sam talks Mrs. Fitzgerald into giving him the money and helps her onto a bus, claiming that Stratton does not want to put her in jail. Sam then returns most of the money, but tells Stratton that Mrs. Fitzgerald spent some of it before escaping out of the ladies room. Stratton pays Sam his 20% cut, then introduces his girl friend, Sheila Michaels (Joanna Cassidy), and invites Sam to a poker game the next evening. Later, Sam finds Cookie (Larry Duran) working at a meat packing facility called Apex Meat. The two men fight, and when Cookie attacks with a meat hook, Sam shoots him dead. As the police remove the dead Cookie from the scene, Sam is upset over this since the reward was to bring Cookie in alive and that he might loose his bounty hunter license due to excessive use of force to defend himself, but Lt. Kruger tells him not to worry about the police investigation. The next day, Sam makes copies of Victor's photograph and passes them out on the streets. Meanwhile, in his rundown apartment building where he lives, Victor returns after grocery shopping where he notices a little boy, named Rachman (Shane Mooney), lurking on the stairs. Victor invites the little boy to his apartment, and teaches him to play his guitar. Elsewhere, Sam gets a message from his answering service that Sheila will pick him up for the poker game. When Sam arrives home at his apartment, he receives a telephone call from Victor who has discovered that Sam is pursuing him. As Sam records their conversation, Victor claims he is leaving town in 36 hours and demands to be left alone, but Sam insists he needs the $20,000 reward. Sheila arrives as Victor hangs up. She flirts with him but admits she will not jeopardize her relationship with the wealthy Stratton. She does, however, give Sam a list with "helpful" information on the other poker players, promising it will bring him good luck. During the poker game, Sam realizes Sheila's list is spurious, but continues playing until he loses all of his money. As he leaves, Sam tosses the list at Sheila. She insists the ruse was nothing personal, and that Stratton promised her a fur coat to for setting Sam up. Sam returns home to find Iverson awaiting him. Although Sam works alone and does not need Iverson's paperwork to claim the reward money, they negotiate a deal where Sam will retain 70% of the reward. Meanwhile, Victor sneaks into another guard's house and brutally beats the man to death in his bathroom. The next day, Sam waits for Sheila outside her tennis club and they share a romantic picnic. Sam wonders what will happen when Stratton wants a different girl friend, but Sheila claims that she can easily find another wealthy companion. They return to Sam's home and find it has been burglarized. An African American man has been beaten and tied to a chair, with a note reading "Victor was here." After the police leave, Sam plays the recorded message for Sheila. Sam listens carefully to background noise and realizes Victor called from a jazz club. Sheila demands to leave, insisting their relationship is finished. Sam drops Sheila at her car, then searches jazz clubs, not realizing that Iverson is following him. At one nightclub, Sam is held up by the doorman until Victor is tipped off to his presence and leaves. On his car telephone, Sam receives a call from Victor, who asks for a meeting. Sam arrives at Victor's apartment building, loads his gun, and climbs to the roof where Victor plays guitar. Sam insists that he is going to take Victor into custody, but Victor claims his friends in the building will kill Sam first then let that happen. Victor pulls out the glove and tells Sam about receiving beatings from the guards. Asking Sam to put away the gun and fight him, Victor gives his opponent the glove to make it a fair fight. A climatic fist-fight happens all over the roof of the building as both Sam and Victor trade blows with each other. However, even with the glove, Sam is still no match for the hulking Victor and decides that the bounty is not worth it. They stop fighting and laugh. As they head for the stairwell, Victor announces he is moving to New Orleans, Louisiana, to make music. However, when Victor opens the door, Iverson shoots him to death. Iverson knocks Sam aside, informing him that the guards wanted Victor dead. Rachman runs upstairs and jumps on Iverson, who tosses the boy aside. Other African American tenants surround Iverson and literally beat him to death and withdraw, leaving Sam behind still on the deck of the roof. In a final voice-over narration, Sam explains that he never less received the entire $20,000 reward, paid off all his gambling debts and alimony bills, and retained visitation privileges with Lisa, but in the final shot, as Sam rows his boat through the Venice canals with his daughter, he wonders if anything worthwhile lasts.
The Glove
Action,Crime,Drama
Film Details
Victor Hale (Rosey Grier), an African American ex-convict, dresses in black clothing, then dons a motorcycle helmet and a black "riot" glove. Later, outside prison gates, a guard (Aldo Ray) is picked up by his mistress and they drive to a warehouse for a sexual tryst. Victor follows them and practically beats the guard to death with his glove.
The next day, bounty hunter Sam Kellough (John Saxon) boats through the canals of Venice, California, with his seven-year-old daughter, Lisa (Misty Bruce), who spends weekends with her father. Narrating for the viewers, Sam describes himself as a former minor league baseball player and ex-police officer who gambles too much and struggles to pay his bills. On Monday, he drops Lisa at school, and she tells Sam that her mother will end their weekend visits unless Sam pays his back alimony.
Sam's first case is Charles "Chuck" Gardener (Nicholas Worth), a bail jumper who wrote bad checks. Sam slips into Chuck's backyard and almost arrests Chuck's boyfriend by mistake. In turn, Chuck attacks Sam, who tosses Chuck into the pool before taking the miscreant into custody.
Sam then goes to Bill Schwartz (Keenan Wynn), who runs a bail bonds business, where Sam is paid $300 for capturing Chuck. When Sam asks for the file for "Cookie," a murderer who jumped bail, Bill warns that Cookie is dangerous, but Sam needs the $3,000 bounty. Bill gives him the file, as well as a message to see Lt.
Howard Kruger (Howard Honig) at police headquarters. At the police station, Sam pays Kruger 10% of the money he earned for Chuck's capture. Kruger has potentially profitable information for Sam regarding Victor Hale, a musician who was convicted of beating his sister's pimp.
After prison, Victor moved to New York City and played in a jazz club, but he got into a fight, was arrested, jumped bail, and returned to Los Angeles. Harry Iverson (Michael Pataki), a bounty hunter from New York, has the bond paperwork and Kruger suggests that Sam team up with Iverson to find Victor. Sam is hesitant until Kruger reveals that Victor has a vendetta against guards, and there is an unofficial $20,000 reward from the prison guards' association.
Kruger shows a riot glove, a leather-laced steel glove, to Sam, claiming it was created to handle campus riots in the 1960s, and was also used in the penal system until it was outlawed; Victor was beaten by guards wearing the glove. Pretending to be a newspaper reporter, Sam visits Victor's grandmother (Frances E. Williams) and meets his younger sister, who is brain damaged from her pimp's brutality.
Later, Sam stops at a bus station, looking for Mrs. Fitzgerald (Joan Blondell), a 65-year-old bookkeeper on the run for stealing $3,200 from Walter Stratton (Jack Carter), a Realtor. Sam talks Mrs.
Fitzgerald into giving him the money and helps her onto a bus, claiming that Stratton does not want to put her in jail. Sam then returns most of the money, but tells Stratton that Mrs. Fitzgerald spent some of it before escaping out of the ladies room.
Stratton pays Sam his 20% cut, then introduces his girl friend, Sheila Michaels (Joanna Cassidy), and invites Sam to a poker game the next evening. Later, Sam finds Cookie (Larry Duran) working at a meat packing facility called Apex Meat. The two men fight, and when Cookie attacks with a meat hook, Sam shoots him dead.
As the police remove the dead Cookie from the scene, Sam is upset over this since the reward was to bring Cookie in alive and that he might loose his bounty hunter license due to excessive use of force to defend himself, but Lt. Kruger tells him not to worry about the police investigation. The next day, Sam makes copies of Victor's photograph and passes them out on the streets.
Meanwhile, in his rundown apartment building where he lives, Victor returns after grocery shopping where he notices a little boy, named Rachman (Shane Mooney), lurking on the stairs. Victor invites the little boy to his apartment, and teaches him to play his guitar. Elsewhere, Sam gets a message from his answering service that Sheila will pick him up for the poker game.
When Sam arrives home at his apartment, he receives a telephone call from Victor who has discovered that Sam is pursuing him. As Sam records their conversation, Victor claims he is leaving town in 36 hours and demands to be left alone, but Sam insists he needs the $20,000 reward. Sheila arrives as Victor hangs up.
She flirts with him but admits she will not jeopardize her relationship with the wealthy Stratton. She does, however, give Sam a list with "helpful" information on the other poker players, promising it will bring him good luck. During the poker game, Sam realizes Sheila's list is spurious, but continues playing until he loses all of his money.
As he leaves, Sam tosses the list at Sheila. She insists the ruse was nothing personal, and that Stratton promised her a fur coat to for setting Sam up. Sam returns home to find Iverson awaiting him.
Although Sam works alone and does not need Iverson's paperwork to claim the reward money, they negotiate a deal where Sam will retain 70% of the reward. Meanwhile, Victor sneaks into another guard's house and brutally beats the man to death in his bathroom. The next day, Sam waits for Sheila outside her tennis club and they share a romantic picnic.
Sam wonders what will happen when Stratton wants a different girl friend, but Sheila claims that she can easily find another wealthy companion. They return to Sam's home and find it has been burglarized. An African American man has been beaten and tied to a chair, with a note reading "Victor was here." After the police leave, Sam plays the recorded message for Sheila.
Sam listens carefully to background noise and realizes Victor called from a jazz club. Sheila demands to leave, insisting their relationship is finished. Sam drops Sheila at her car, then searches jazz clubs, not realizing that Iverson is following him.
At one nightclub, Sam is held up by the doorman until Victor is tipped off to his presence and leaves. On his car telephone, Sam receives a call from Victor, who asks for a meeting. Sam arrives at Victor's apartment building, loads his gun, and climbs to the roof where Victor plays guitar.
Sam insists that he is going to take Victor into custody, but Victor claims his friends in the building will kill Sam first then let that happen. Victor pulls out the glove and tells Sam about receiving beatings from the guards. Asking Sam to put away the gun and fight him, Victor gives his opponent the glove to make it a fair fight.
A climatic fist-fight happens all over the roof of the building as both Sam and Victor trade blows with each other. However, even with the glove, Sam is still no match for the hulking Victor and decides that the bounty is not worth it. They stop fighting and laugh.
As they head for the stairwell, Victor announces he is moving to New Orleans, Louisiana, to make music. However, when Victor opens the door, Iverson shoots him to death. Iverson knocks Sam aside, informing him that the guards wanted Victor dead.
Rachman runs upstairs and jumps on Iverson, who tosses the boy aside. Other African American tenants surround Iverson and literally beat him to death and withdraw, leaving Sam behind still on the deck of the roof. In a final voice-over narration, Sam explains that he never less received the entire $20,000 reward, paid off all his gambling debts and alimony bills, and retained visitation privileges with Lisa, but in the final shot, as Sam rows his boat through the Venice canals with his daughter, he wonders if anything worthwhile lasts..