I think that people such as Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin must have passed on
this film before the producers got to Lee Van Cleef. In The Squeeze Van Cleef
plays a retired safecracker who apparently quit at the top of his game over a
decade earlier. Edward Albert son of an old friend lures him back with a job
offer to steal some diamonds.
Seeing them and folks like Karen Black as a ditzy hippe chick, Lionel Stander as a
pawnbroker friend of Van Cleef's, and Robert Alda as a police inspector always a
step of two behind is always nice. His employers want to betray Van Cleef,
but he didn't survive as long as he has by being stupid.
The Squeeze has some dull patches and an annoying soundtrack of some of the worst 70s music. It's also a sad commentary on the human condition, nobody can trust nobody with one exception.