The Squeeze (1977)

Directed by Michael Apted. Starring Stacy Keach, David Hemmings, Stephen Boyd, Edward Fox, Carol White, Hilary Gasson, Freddie Star, Stewart Harwood, Alan Ford, Rod Beacham. [R]

After gangsters kidnap his new wife and stepdaughter, Fox enlists the aid of the ex-husband (Keach) to track down the crooks and break up their blackmail scheme. Textured, flavorful crime yarn gives the British underworld more detailed authenticity than the slicker, more plot/twist-oriented capers that serve as the genre’s bread-and-butter, but verisimilitude sacrifices clear-eyed storytelling and focused interest. These sordid and desperate figures may be credibly cruel, inscrutable in their sheer amorality, but there’s no compelling entry point into their seedy lives and suspect values, which is apt to leave the viewer wishing for a more insightful, well-rounded approach in the absence of pure entertainment—generalized sadism and avarice aren’t especially interesting on their own. The tough, hard-drinking loser role Keach plays is in his wheelhouse, to be sure, but his accent is dodgy; brutish Boyd (his final screen appearance) and psychopathic Hemmings offer effective villainous turns. Inspired by the 1970s novel “Whose Little Girl Are You?” by James Tucker.

67/100