The Squeeze

Scotland Yard’s Jim Naboth (Stacy Keach) battled the bottle instead of London’s seedy underworld and lost. But he finds one chance to get out of life’s gutter when the mob kidnaps his ex-wife in a ruthless $1-million ransom scheme.

Director Michael Apted tightens The Squeeze into a penetrating study of people under stress—and a walloping bloody, sexy detective caper in the mold of great British gangland thrillers like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. He packs it with on-edge performances, starting with Keach (TV’s Mike Hammer) as the hard-drinking cop who’s no match for both booze and sadistic hoods—but is determined to free his ex.

Co-starring are Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal), David Hemmings (Blow-Up), Stephen Boyd (Ben Hur’s chariot-racing villain) and, as the desperate kidnap victim who uses her sexuality as a weapon against her captors, lovely Carol White.