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THE GLOVE
Seventies-sploitation with a promising premise--an ex con with a grudge lets loose with a super-glove--but extremely boring execution.
The Package
THE GLOVE,
from 1979, has amassed a minor cult following (Quentin Tarantino is reportedly a
fan), and has since been renamed LETHAL TERMINATOR. By exploitation movie
standards its cast is impressive: longtime B-movie legend John Saxon headlines,
alongside ex-NFL star Roosevelt--or Rosey--Grier, Joanna Cassidy (best known as
BLADE RUNNER’S Zhora) and the late Aldo Ray, another trash movie mainstay. The
director Ross Hagen was himself a veteran actor when he made this movie, his
directorial debut. Future films helmed by Hagen include B.O.R.N. and CLICK: THE
CALENDAR GIRL KILLER.
The Story
Sam is an
ex-cop and current bounty hunter. He’s currently drowning in alimony, and so
agrees to take on a difficult job for $20 grand: track down an ex-con named
Victor, a 250-pound black guy who was used as a guinea pig for an experimental
riot control glove. Said glove is a bulky contraption, consisting of five
pounds of lead and steel that can punch through walls and break bones. Since
leaving prison the unjustly incarcerated Victor has gotten a hold of the glove,
and is now bent on taking out the asshole prison guards who knocked him around.
Sam gradually tracks Victor down. Victor phones Sam, claiming “I have no
business with you, leave me alone!” But Sam persists, and eventually confronts
Victor atop the roof of his inner city tenement. The match, as you might guess,
is far from equal!
The Direction
Although
categorized as an “action adventure” picture, THE GLOVE is shockingly inert.
There’s surprisingly little action and violence, with the title contraption used
quite sparingly. Director Ross Hagen lavishes an unaccountable amount of time
on a mid-film gambling interlude, and even more on a boring romance the
protagonist John Saxon carries on with the attractive but extremely bland Joanna
Cassidy. There’s also Saxon’s laughably hard-boiled narration, which almost
sounds like a parody of the form. It’s as if Hagen was attempting an actual
good movie--or just trying to obscure the fact that the script is hopelessly
thin.
Either way, the film is at its best with pure action sequences. While not
exactly award-worthy, the fight scenes in THE GLOVE are painful and energetic.
There should really be more of them!
Vital Statistics
THE GLOVE
Tommy J. Productions
Director: Ross Hagen
Producer: Julian Roffman
Screenplay: Hubert Smith, Julian Roffman
Cinematography: Gary Graver
Editing: Robert Fitzgerald
Cast: John Saxon, Rosey Grier, Joan Blondell, Joanna Cassidy, Jack Carter, Aldo
Ray, Keenan Wynn, Howard Honig