Taglines: She attempted to beat the mob at their own game.
Gloria movie storyline. Mild mannered Jack Dawn has been secretly working as an accountant for the mob. He, his Puerto Rican wife Jeri, his teen-aged daughter Joan and his mother-in-law, all who were planning on going on the run, are murdered by the mob because Jack was going to inform on them to the FBI.
Before they’re killed, Jack and Jeri are able to send their six-year old son Phil to Jeri’s friend and their neighbor, Gloria Swenson, for safe keeping. Also with Phil is the book which contains all the information Jack was going to turn over. Gloria and Phil have an antagonistic relationship, not so much for who they are but what they are, Phil a kid, and Gloria a strange white woman who hates kids.
As an ex-mistress of a mobster, Gloria learns that the people that killed the Dawns are old friends of hers. As Gloria and Phil go on the run both from the mob and from the authorities (who believe she kidnapped Phil) throughout New York City, Gloria has to come up with a plan on how best to save themselves.
Gloria is a 1980 American crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster’s girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.
About the Story
In the South Bronx, Jeri Dawn is heading home with groceries. Inside the lobby or her apartment building, she passes a man whose dress and appearance are out of place. The woman quickly boards the elevator.
She is met in her apartment by her husband Jack Dawn, an accountant for a New York City mob family. There is a contract on Jack and his family, as he has been acting as an informant for the FBI. Suddenly, the family’s neighbor, Gloria Swenson, rings their doorbell, asking to borrow some coffee. Jeri tells Gloria of the impending hit and implores Gloria to protect the children. Gloria, a former mobster’s girlfriend, tells Jeri that she doesn’t like kids but begrudgingly agrees. The Dawns’ daughter Carmen refuses to leave and locks herself in the bathroom, so Gloria takes only their young son Phil to her apartment – narrowly missing the hit squad.
After hearing loud shotgun blasts from the Dawns’ apartment, a visibly shaken Gloria decides that she and Phil must go into hiding. She quickly packs a bag, grabs her cat, and leaves the building with Phil, just as a police SWAT team are entering with heavy weapons. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers and news reporters has gathered in front of the building, and a cameraman captures a picture of Gloria leaving the building with Phil.
Gloria and Phil take a cab into Manhattan and they hide out in an empty apartment belonging to a friend of hers. While Phil sleeps, Gloria has the TV on and hears a news report say that there was a mob hit in the South Bronx, and that the name of the suspected abductor is Gloria Swenson.
The next morning, Gloria and Phil sneak out of the apartment just as a group of gangsters close in on them. The gangsters are old friends of Gloria and confront Gloria on the sidewalk outside, exhorting her to give up Phil and the ledger. In desperation, Gloria empties her revolver at the car of five gangsters, which takes off and flips over. Gloria realizes that the fates of both her and Phil are now intertwined and that they will have to leave New York to survive.
Gloria goes to the bank to empty her safe deposit box and the two settle for the night at a flophouse. She confronts another group of gangsters at a restaurant, she asks for immunity in exchange for the ledger. “Only Mr. Tanzinni can agree to that,” says one of the goons, so she takes some of their guns and flees.
Gloria (1980)
Directed by: John Cassavetes
Starring: Gena Rowlands, Buck Henry, Julie Carmen, Tony Knesich, Gregory Cleghorne, Jessica Castillo, George Yudzevich
Screenplay by: John Cassavetes
Cinematography by: Fred Schuler
Film Editing by: George C. Villaseñor
Costume Design by; Peggy Farrell, Emanuel Ungaro
Set Decoration by: John Godfrey
Art Direction by: Rene D’Auriac
Music by: Bill Conti
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: October 1, 1980
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