By Lee Pfeiffer
The latest worthy but unheralded film to get a second life on burn-to-order DVD is director Michael Apted's 1977 thriller The Squeeze, recently made available by the Warner Archive. It's a top-notch movie in the Get Carter tradition and is representative of the type of gritty British crime dramas that have resonated with the public over the years. It's rather puzzling why Apted's film never got a major release. Perhaps it was lack of star power. Although the cast is comprised of outstanding actors, none of them were considered box-office draws at the time.
The film improbably finds Stacey Keach cast as Jim Naboth,an ex-Scotland Yard detective who has fallen on hard times due to alcoholism. Before you scoff, Keach acquits himself quite well by covering up his American accent. He also gives one of the best performances of his career in this film. Naboth is clearly on the road to ruin when we first see him staggering through a London underground station and having to be hospitalized by the police when he tumbles down an escalator. After undergoing intense rehab for his alcholism problem, Naboth is released from the clinic and celebrates by heading to the nearest pub. His life takes an even more dramatic turn, however, when he discovers that his ex-wife, Jill (Carol White) has been kidnapped along with her young daughter by her second husband, a wealthy businessman played by Edward Fox. The gangsters behind the plot are a ruthless bunch headed by outwardly charming David Hemmings, whose apparent social graces mask a truly sadistic personality. The gang demands one million pounds from Fox, who reluctantly accepts the aid of Naboth due to his once enviable reputation as a competent detective.