The mitt man

the long version

Expertly evoking black life in the South in the late 1920s, The Mitt Man begins with the picaresque tale of a small-time New Orleans hustler named King Fish. This man is better at preaching than picking pockets, and it is getting caught while trying to lift the wallet of a wealthy white man that sets him on the path to his destiny - a complex road that leads him from the pavement to the pulpit and, ultimately, to the penitentiary. Once in jail, King Fish meets a brash young slickster from New York named Jimmie Lamar. King Fish decides that Jimmie is the perfect pupil for his lessons in the art of the con game - and together they devise a brilliant swindle for Jimmie to take to the streets of Harlem. But when he arrives in New York, young Jimmie gets much more than he bargained for...