''The Squeeze'' is a 1987 American

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

directed by Roger Young and starring

Michael Keaton Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in '' Beetlejuice'' ...

and

Rae Dawn Chong Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film '' Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film '' Quest for Fire'', for which she received ...

. The movie was plagued by production problems, including going over budget.

Plot

After retrieving a mysterious parcel for his ex-wife, eccentric down-on-his-luck artist Harry Berg (

) enlists the help of private eye Rachel Dobs (

) 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

as Harry Berg *

as Rachel Dobs *

Joe Pantoliano Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions. After his early roles in the television series '' M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy '' Risky Bu ...

as Norman *

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

as Titus * John Davidson as Honest Tom T. Murray *

Danny Aiello III Daniel Louis Aiello III (January 27, 1957 – May 1, 2010) was an American stunt performer, stunt coordinator, director, and actor in film and television. He was the son of actor Danny Aiello. Death Aiello died of pancreatic cancer, age 5 ...

as Ralph Vigo *

Leslie Bevis Leslie Bevis (born February 13, 1954) is an American model and actress, best known for playing Captain Rionoj on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Career Bevis worked as a model in Europe before her work in film and television. Besides making seve ...

as Gem Vigo * Liane Langland as Hilda *

Richard Portnow Richard Portnow (born January 26, 1947) is an American actor known for such films and television series as ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', ''Barton Fink'', ''Kindergarten Cop'', '' Seven'', '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'', '' The Spirit'', ''L ...

as Ruben *

Paul Herman Paul Herman (March 29, 1946 – March 29, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Randy in David O. Russell's dramedy '' Silver Linings Playbook'' (2012) and Whispers DiTullio in Martin Scorsese's crime epic ''The Irishman ...

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. When released in theaters, ''The Squeeze'' made only $2.2 million at the U.S. box office. 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 The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. An updated version of the film was briefly released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

, 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 The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on March 26, 2019.Blu-Ray.co
"The Squeeze Blu-Ray"
Retrieved February 16, 2019

Reception

Despite billing itself as a "comedy-thriller on a lucky streak", the film failed to score with most critics. Film historian

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

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 lambasted the film, but humorously had a difficult time discerning exactly what the film was about; suggesting its unremarkable premise.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Squeeze, The 1987 comedy films 1987 films American comedy films American comedy thriller films Films directed by Roger Young TriStar Pictures films Films scored by Miles Goodman Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in North Carolina 1980s English-language films 1980s American films