The Squeeze (1987 film)

The Squeeze
The Squeeze
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Young
Written by	Daniel Taplitz
Produced by	Rupert Hitzig; Michael Tannen
Starring	Michael Keaton; Rae Dawn Chong; Joe Pantoliano;
Cinematography	Arthur Albert
Edited by	Harry Keramidas
Music by	Miles Goodman
Production; companies	Tri-Star Pictures; ML Delphi Premier Productions; Tannen-Hitzig Productions
Distributed by	Tri-Star Pictures
Release date	July 10, 1987;
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$22 million
Box office	$2,228,951

The Squeeze is a 1987 American action comedy film directed by Roger Young and starring Michael Keaton and Rae Dawn Chong. The film was plagued by production problems, including going over budget.^[2]

Plot

After retrieving a mysterious parcel for his ex-wife, eccentric down-on-his-luck artist Harry Berg (Michael Keaton) enlists the help of private eye Rachel Dobs (Rae Dawn Chong) when he suddenly becomes embroiled with thugs and a murder investigation. The combination of Harry's many comic eccentricities and Rachel's straight-and-narrow, naive personality ends up working in their favor to help solve the crime.

Cast

Michael Keaton as Harry Berg
Rae Dawn Chong as Rachel Dobs
Joe Pantoliano as Norman
Meat Loaf as Titus
John Davidson as Honest Tom T. Murray
Danny Aiello III as Ralph Vigo
Leslie Bevis as Gem Vigo
Liane Langland as Hilda
Richard Portnow as Ruben
Paul Herman as Freddy

Release

Originally produced as Skip Tracer, this film changed its title to Squeeze Play before settling for The Squeeze. The working title refers to someone who tracks down delinquent bill payers.^[3] When released in theaters, The Squeeze made only $2.2 million at the U.S. box office.^[4] It is most notable for an accident that took place during filming, in which a stunt man was killed driving a car into the Hudson River.

An updated version of the film was briefly released on Netflix, and Comcast had an HD version On Demand in 2008. After being long out-of-print on home media for years, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released The Squeeze on Blu-ray on March 26, 2019.^[5]

Reception

Despite billing itself as a "comedy-thriller on a lucky streak", the film failed to score with most critics. Film historian Leonard Maltin called it "Dreadful...almost completely devoid of laughs or suspense."

On an episode of the movie review show At the Movies, critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert panned the film, but humorously had a difficult time discerning the plot.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "AFI|Catalog".
^ "The Squeeze".
^ Austin, Bruce A. (1989). "The Film Industry and Audience Research". Immediate Seating: A Look at Movie Audiences. Wadsworth Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 0-534-09366-3.
^ "Box office information for The Squeeze". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
^ Blu-Ray.com "The Squeeze Blu-Ray" Retrieved February 16, 2019

External links

The Squeeze at IMDb
The Squeeze at AllMovie
The Squeeze at the TCM Movie Database
The Squeeze at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
The Squeeze at Rotten Tomatoes

[afi-1] "AFI|Catalog".

[2] "The Squeeze".

[3] Austin, Bruce A. (1989). "The Film Industry and Audience Research". Immediate Seating: A Look at Movie Audiences. Wadsworth Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 0-534-09366-3.

[4] "Box office information for The Squeeze". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 21, 2010.

[5] Blu-Ray.com "The Squeeze Blu-Ray" Retrieved February 16, 2019

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