The Squeeze

Talk about creatives: Robert Aldrich directed and Blake Edwards wrote this breezy and entertaining Four Star Playhouse segment, one of several starring Dick Powell as shady restaurateur (and gambling den owner) Dante. It's fun viewing, holding up well over 70 (phew!) years later.

A future Aldrich player Richard Jaeckel is fine as a wise-guy kid forcing his way into Dante's gambling backroom -he's the district attorney's son and threatens to get Powell in trouble for running an illegal gambling operation. His sister, played by minor actress Joan Darden (wife of future Oscar-winning writer Alvin Sargent) is the romantic interest, and after several light-hearted twists and turns, Powell gets out of a sticky situation.

Edwards' talent for fun situations and snappy dialogue is impressive, more than a hint of his legendary filmmaking career to come.

One of the first big screen film stars to recognize the permanent arrival of television as a place for work was Dick Powell. In addition to being one of the Four Star partners in Four Star Playhouse, Powell starred in several of the episodes. In The Squeeze Powell plays Willie Dante, gambler and restaurateur who runs an illegal dice game in his back-room. It was a character he repeated in a few more episodes. In fact the Dante character would have made a good one for a television series of his own.

The title certainly says it all. In this half hour episode Richard Jaeckel the DA's son comes in to gamble and Powell with some reluctance lets him. Then his sister Joan Camden comes in and threatens to spill tales of Powell's back-room to her dad if he doesn't stop Jaeckel. But Jaeckel is losing heavily and Powell's okayed some bum checks for him. Really this kid belongs in Gambler's Anonymous. Finally big time racketeer Mario Siletti comes in and takes those checks at gunpoint to have something over the DA who's about to indict him.

Of course with the help of trusty bartender Herb Vigran Powell does get out from under and squares accounts with all. His motive? Well I think he was thinking in addition to everything else a little nookie from Joan Camden might be in order. I've seen men do more for such rewards.

This episode proves that early television was indeed the training ground for a lot of talent that went on to the big screen. Ironic that fading film star Powell not only gets a new lease on life on the small screen, but this episode showcases the writing of Blake Edwards and the direction of Robert Aldrich a couple of powerhouse film names in the future.

This could have made the basis of a decent feature film as well with some elaborations. And it holds up well after over 60 years.

Dick Powell stars in this very unusual installment of "Four Star Playhouse". It's unusual in that the same characters appear in later episodes, "High Stakes" and "Stacked Deck" (and perhaps others as well)! My guess is that they were trying to create a series and the shows were like pilot episodes.

This story was written by Blake Edwards and it's about the adventures of a guy named Willie Dante (Powell). Dante operates a restaurant but hidden is a back room where illegal gambling occurs. However, Dante isn't a complete rogue--he has a strong personal moral code but it just doesn't apply to gambling.

When the show begins, an incredibly immature and obnoxious young man (Richard Jaekel) informs Dante that he knows about the back room and he'll tell his daddy, the District Attorney, unless Dante lets him go there to gamble. Seeing as he had little choice, Dante lets the punk in--but soon learns the guy has a long string of debts and has been gambling with money he hasn't got. What's Dante to do? Plus, he likes the guy's sister...so he reluctantly agrees to give back the incriminating checks. But, in the meantime, a creepy mobster learns about the checks and takes them at gunpoint. What is the gallant Mr. Dante going to do next?

This story has many elements from the follow-ups--that Dante is amazingly honest for a crook, that he and his friend resort to breaking and entering to solve their problems and that the guy is pretty likable. All in all, I WOULD have liked to have seen a series like this one--it's well written and well acted...and rather unique.