Antonio Margheriti is very well known on the cult scene. Anyone who directs a film like Cannibal Apocalypse would be. After all, that film has the best score of all time! I kid, but the score to that film is fucking amazing, and it's worth seeing the movie just for the haunting theme song. Like many of the Italian directors of the time, his career took random stabs at various genres. He dabbled in crime thrillers, spaghetti westerns, comedy, straight action, and even some dramas.
I just spelled "dramas" with a z and considered leaving it. Dramaz. I mention this for no particular reason.
The Squeeze is sort of your crime caper/action flick. Starring Lee van Cleef as the older, retiring criminal who guess what DOES ONE LAST JOB! What? Literally have you EVER heard of this idea happening before? It's going to go really well right? No complications?
Well obviously not. "Cleef-ster" has to steal some diamonds, but then gets double crossed by the guys that hired him. He escapes with the diamonds to his hotel room, where he plans to lay low for a while. But he was shot in the escape, and he needs help. Also, he's being searched for by the guys who hired him. In the meantime, his neighbor Clarisse sees the blood he left behind, and decides to become involved....
There are some interesting turns towards the end, and long story short, this was decent. As a crime film, it's got a personal touch and the characters are likable. "Cleef-arino" spins a very secretive and confident bad guy. Clarisse is played by Karen Black, who is one of my favorite actresses from the 70's. Christ. If you were to tell me at age 23 that later I'd have a favorite 70's actress, I would not have believed you for a minute.
The pacing was pretty great as well. To be honest, not much really happens in the movie, and there's a lot of downtime in the middle as "The Cleef" is in hiding, the baddies don't know where he is, and Karen Black's not involved yet. It could seem to sag, but somehow things keep moving, and the whole thing feels well handled.
I'm not going to say it's great by any means. It's got practically nothing that makes it stand out, besides the actors. It is instantly interchangeable with any other crime flick, and I seriously doubt I'd recommend it to anyone. I thought of it a lot like the title. So completely bland. They had three, count them three names for this, and each one is as bland and middling as the next. It's so completely middle of the road that it's almost to the point where I'd subtract a point for just that reason, but that's being too harsh. Instead, 3 stars.
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