Richard Turner made Squeeze to break the "conspiracy of silence" about homosexuality. A pioneering early portrait of Auckland's LGBT scene, Squeeze centres on the relationship between a young man (Paul Eady) and the confident executive (Robert Shannon) who romances him, then mentions he has a fiancée. The film was discussed in Parliament after Patricia Bartlett campaigned against the possibility it might get NZ Film Commission funding (it didn't). Kevin Thomas in The LA Times praised Squeeze's integrity and the "steadfast compassion with which it views its hero".
Acting
Shannon's executive oozes dangerous confidence.
Director
Richard Turner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Patricia Bartlett's parliamentary attack accidentally preserved Squeeze in NZ film history — no publicity like moral outrage.
Richard Turner cast actual Auckland drag performers and bar regulars, making it a documentary-fiction hybrid of lost queer spaces.
NZ
