I don’t have to sit here and tell you about the backlash that comes from any news about Hollywood remaking something. Just the thought of the words remake, reboot, or relaunch makes avid moviegoers rolls their eyes, grit their teeth, and wish death on studio execs young and old. This week, we’ve heard news of 20th Century Fox rebooting the ‘Alien’ franchise, and, as expected, it has people up in arms and debating what should and shouldn’t get the remake go-ahead.
This is where films like 1979’s ‘The Glove’ come in. Films like ‘Alien’ that are incredible concepts with impeccable execution behind them are memorable. They don’t need to be remade. They are perfect just the way they are. Films like ‘The Glove’ could benefit from being remade, because they are films that have a good starting point, an interesting concept, that fall somewhere along the way to execution.
‘The Glove’ was directed by Ross Hagen, a gravelly voiced character actor who has appeared in over 80 movies and television shows and who has a whopping directorial resume of eight films. Trust me, you probably haven’t heard of any of them. I hadn’t heard of any of them until about a month ago when ‘The Glove’ came on TV.
This was Hagen’s first directing. It centers on Sam Kellog, a bounty hunter played by John Saxon. Down on his luck and going through some marital issues, Sam is handed an opportunity to turn it all around. He is offered a job for $20,000 to bring in an ex-convict named Victor Hale who is beating prison guards to death with a steel-laced, riot glove.
Quite an interesting premise, no? Of course, Hagen isn’t exactly Kubrick when it comes to putting together a scene, a shot, or even passing instructions on to his actors. ‘The Glove’ has the dirty and sweaty feel that the best exploitation films can elicit, but the camera work from frame to frame is jerky and, sometimes, incoherent.
There are a few fight scenes that are pulled off quite nicely, but most of that is due to the skills offered up by Saxon. The actor’s black belt skills are on full display, and you can just tell that much of Hagen’s direction involved him just putting the camera on Saxon and letting the actor’s martial arts moves go. However, this film isn’t exactly wall-to-wall action, and much of the film is focused on Kellog’s struggling life.
Much of the storyline, which, on the surface, is very interesting, is broken up by some God-awful voiceover narration from Saxon. Seriously, there are times where it feels like he is going over every, little aspect of his bounty hunting day. The narration gets on your nerves very quickly, and Hagen doesn’t allow it to let up in any way.
As a whole, however, the film is quite a load of schlocky fun. At times, it seems that Victor is as much a main character in the film as Kellog. Normally, this would be an issue, and this level of sympathy is probably what caused this film to not do very well at the box office. Fortunately, the role is played with complete authenticity by Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier. If you don’t recognize the name, you probably should. The guy was a defensive lineman for the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams before tearing his Achilles tendon in ’67. He then served as a bodyguard for Robert F. Kennedy. As an interesting side-note, Grier was guarding RFK’s wife, Ethel, on the night Kennedy was assassinated, and he was the bodyguard who broke Sirhan Sirhan’s arm after the shots were fired. Grier went on to be an actor, most notably the black half of ‘The Thing With Two Heads.’
Grier’s performance is a real standout in ‘The Glove,’ and he elicits a level of depth of legitimacy that makes me wonder why he never became a bigger star. Between his and Saxon’s performances, ‘The Glove’ has some great moments when it comes to acting. It is a fun, exploitation film that falls by the way-side a number of time. Regardless, it is one that should be checked out if you are given the chance, and, should any Hollywood execs be reading this, take note. ‘The Glove’ is the perfect kind of film that should get the remake treatment.
