
Watch The Squeeze
- PG-13
- 1987
- 1 hr 41 min
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4.7 (1,263)
Harry Berg has found a way to beat the lottery. It is the solution to all his problems, but it also happens to be illegal. 'The Squeeze' is a movie about a guy who ends up with a little black box that everybody wants and will do anything to get. Harry Berg is a certain kind of a luckless artist, inventor, and risk taker. When his former wife asks him to retrieve a package from a friend's house, Harry finds himself chased down by a gaggle of thieves, thugs, evil-doers, and finally, a female private detective (played by Rae Dawn Chong). The film stars Michael Keaton and his mannerisms together with the subject matter inform the viewer that this film is going to be a comic thriller. Keaton's character is full of eccentricities and misplaced bravado. Throughout the film, he quotes lines from, and even sings the theme song from the old 'Bonanza' Television show. He's odd, but sometimes that's exactly what it takes to get to the bottom of a baffling caper. In one scene he attempts to duel a bad guy swinging a sword with just a frozen fish. The film is notable because of its poster art depicting Keaton's character sandwiched between the two towers of New York's World Trade Center. Also of note, singer/rocker 'Meat Loaf' plays one of the villains chasing Harry. Also, some of Meatloaf's songs make it into the soundtrack. In the wind-up of this film we learn that the black box is actually a special piece of technology used to rig the outcome of the supposedly random ping pong balls determining winning lottery numbers. As it turns out, a corrupt television lotto program host has been using the machine to divert money to the mob. Our heroes save the day by outsmarting the host by causing him to reveal how he did it for so long.