John Saxon in The Glove

(This blog is part of the John Saxon Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget and Cinematic Catharsis)

Following Enter the Dragon (1973), directors (I’m hesitant to say Hollywood) began to see John Saxon in a different light – that of action hero – leading to his appearing in a string of adventure films through the rest of 1970s, including The Swiss Conspiracy (1975), Raid on Entebbe (1977) and several Italian crime/action flicks among others. The final film in that run was The Glove (1979).

John Saxon: If the glove fits

Saxon plays Sam Kellog, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter, six months behind in child-support payments and experiencing a full-blown existential crisis, doubting his career choice, waxing nostalgic over his pre-cop minor league baseball days and generally confused by his purpose in life.

(We know this because director/screenwriter Ross Hagen's script has Saxon provide voiceover narration about “the emptiness in my gut,” or “when you live on the edge, one push and you’re over” and “a bounty hunter does things the police can’t.”)

When Kellog catches wind of a $20,000 reward for the capture of Victor Hale (Rosey Grier), an ex-con suspected of the brutal murders of several prison guards, this is the opportunity for him to at least solve his financial woes.

Hale was beaten in jail by prison guards using an outlawed riot glove, described as “five pounds of lead and steel.” He now has his own version of the glove and with revenge on his mind, he punches through a car windshield to get at one victim and destroys a bathroom while beating another. This is no Nintendo power glove.

Kellog and Hale play cat-and-mouse before an epic showdown on the roof of Hale’s apartment building. They beat each other silly before Kellog concedes defeat, but as Hale offers to escort Kellog from the building a rival bounty hunter suddenly shows up, leading to Hale’s death as well as that of the bounty hunter when residents of the building take matters into their own hands avenging a death of “one of their own.”

You might say (if you’re corny enough and I guess I am) that the role of Sam Kellog fits Saxon like a glove. He’s a complex character, whether interacting with his grade-school daughter, joking – a fluffed line that was kept in the movie – with his kibbitzing boss (Keenan Wynn) or providing cynicism and world-weariness in his narration. Saxon even does his own stunts, including a fight with a bail-skipper in a meat-packing plant, which includes using animal parts as weapons.

After a successful career in pro football, Rosey Grier moved on to TV and films, including The Thing with Two Heads (1972), and becoming almost better known as a macrame and needlepoint enthusiast. In The Glove, when he’s not beating people to death, he’s a gentle giant playing guitar, befriending a neighborhood kid, driving a Country Squire station wagon and shopping for groceries (he buys a bouquet of flowers for his shabby apartment).

Along with Grier, the supporting cast also includes Joanna Cassidy, Keenan Wynn, Michael Pataki, Jack Carter, Aldo Ray and Joan Blondell (her final role before her death). 

The Glove can feel a bit schizophrenic. When Saxon is onscreen tracking down bail jumpers and bemoaning his lot in life, the film takes on a noirish quality. When the focus is on Grier, the vibe is one of Blaxploitation. Overall, the film has the feel of an extended TV pilot, serving to introduce Sam Kellog and his world to viewers.

Either way, the movie holds its own as an action film, John Saxon playing a hero who is a Hamlet for 1970s: plagued by self-doubt and uncertainty while outfitted in an Adidas track suit (the jacket fashionably unzipped enough to show off his bare chest).