The Squeeze

A pretty good movie could be made from this script, and unfortunately that's the best thing I can say for it. What little there is intact in this print (from the Hollywood Legends 50 movie DVD set) has a sort of appealing 70s funkiness to it like the non-sex scenes from an old porno movie. The conversion from widescreen format and the chopped-up state of the print, however, is more like an old Benny Hill sketch, lacking the vague amusement factor. Many dialogue scenes end up being still shots of a table and lamp with actors' shoulders protruding into the scene from either side. The print seems to have been returned from a foreign land which censors out not only violence but THREATS of violence or the implication that anything vaguely violent may be about to occur. People are standing around talking, and then someone is on the floor bleeding for some reason. The fact that it was directed by the ubiquitous Margheriti comes as no surprise - I have developed a sort of affection for his quick and dirty hacking-out of economical and moderately entertaining movies. In a decent print the story has enough twists, and the actors and crew are workmanlike enough, that it might be a pretty fair experience, but this print is a real head-smacker all the way through, leaving the viewer wondering what just happened over and over again. A mystery in all the wrong ways.

Lee Van Cleef at his most facially challenged plays a retired safeman, who comes back from Mexico to New York to do one job for a friend's kid.

Includes most of the cliches one would expect from a "last gig"- film, but redeems itself with nice NY locations, comedy (some intentional) and Lee Van Cleef. Recommended as a time- passer.

Released on video in Finland in the eighties.

I fell asleep watching this movie but admittedly only for the last ten minutes. The storyline is not explained well, it was only today I discovered what the value of the theft was and the background. The start was terrible, I thought I had missed something. The parts where characters stare at each other for long periods does not improve the tension or the plot... just made me lose interest. Is worth a watch if you are drunk however as it provides plenty to laugh about. I have seen the end and it did not improve the movie for me. Having bought this for £5 in a box set of "20 Great Action Adventure Movies" I do not feel ripped off, I feel I have obtained A useful tool for entertaining myself and my friends... but not in the way the director intended. I will not advise people to avoid this. The story is good but the way it has been put across to the audience is poor and maybe some more time could have been taken. There is a hint that there was some talent behind this movie as the shots of New York are beautifully gritty and not all glossy. Do watch this, even if just for a quick laugh before moving onto something better.

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.

...there's quite a bit to dislike in THE RIP-OFF (as the Goodtimes Home Video VHS release tagged this movie): Karen Black overacts hysterically (as do several of the dubbed German supporting players), Edward Albert looks like he was on a margarine diet during shooting, and whoever mixed the substandard musical score into the soundtrack should have been executed. But Lee Van Cleef, Lionel Stander and Robert Alda all perform well above the call of this duty; the dialogue is frequently witty, highlighting a generally intriguing premise (Van Cleef is lured back from pseudonymous exile as a Mexican rancher to perform one last safecracking job in order to keep New York gangsters from killing Albert); and the cheap 16mm location cinematography of New York in early January is oddly compelling. As things go for what's usually termed "European Trash Cinema," this is a nice little curd of cheese worthy of dropping five bucks on at better Wal-Marts everywhere...