Sam Kellog John Saxon is an ex-cop turned modern-day bounty hunter in Los Angeles, working under the wary pay scale of bailbondsman Bill Schwartz Keenan Wynn. He incomes his living by tracking down ex-convicts who have skipped bail, but the work pays poorly, leaving him hungry for a bigger payday. Recently divorced, Kellog is also dealing with the strain of his ex-wife threatening to restrict weekend visitation with their young daughter due to missed alimony payments, adding personal pressure to his already tense professional life.
Everything changes when Kellog is tapped for a large, off-the-books bounty worth $20,000 by his former police commander, Lt. Kruger Howard Honig. The target is ex-convict Victor Hale Rosey Grier, suspected of murdering several former prison guards in the L.A. area. Hale’s prison history is brutal: he was savagely beaten by guards who relied on a heavy five-pound riot glove, a leather-covered steel contraption, and he has since used a copy of that glove to carry out more killings. Kellog takes the job despite warnings, driven by the hope that the prize will finally fix his financial woes.
As the pursuit unfolds, another bounty hunter from New York, Harry Iverson Michael Pataki, arrives with an offer to team up. Kellog declines, insisting he works alone, and the chase intensifies. The film then shifts between Kellog’s gritty, on-the-street life and Hale’s dangerous, almost peaceful charisma in his own world. Hale, who earns a living as a guitarist and is well-liked by many tenants in the low-income housing project where he resides, is fully aware that Kellog is closing in. Hale’s calm exterior masks a predator’s instinct, and he begins to stalk Kellog as well, even calling Kellog’s home to keep him off track.
The cat-and-mouse game culminates on the roof of Hale’s apartment building, where Hale, nicknamed by Kellog as “hound dog,” challenges him by offering the riot glove to spar. A brutal, intimate brawl ensues, both men trading blows until their bodies tire and they collapse, Kellog conceding defeat as he removes the glove. In a moment that blends uneasy respect with betrayal, Hale helps Kellog to his feet and starts to escort him away, only for Iverson to appear and shoot Hale dead. Iverson confesses that the bounty was always to kill Hale, not to capture him alive, revealing the moral gray area at the heart of the pursuit.
The building’s residents flood the scene, turning on Iverson and beating him to death for killing “one of their own,” leaving Kellog battered on the rooftop. In a concluding voice-over, Kellog reveals that he did indeed receive the $20,000 bounty and used it to pay off his debts, a jailbreak of sorts that allows him to regain visitation rights to his daughter. The story closes on Kellog’s cautious victory—resolute, morally complex, and haunted by the price of a life spent chasing both criminals and redemption.
