Squeeze

Director/Writer:	Robert Patton-Spruill
Director of Photography/Editor:	Richard Moos
Music:	Bruce Flowers
Production Designer:	Maximillian Cutler
Producers:	Ari Newman, Garen Topalian, Stephanie Danan and Patricia Moreno
	Miramax; R; 89 minutes
Release:	6/97
Cast:	Tyrone Burton, Eddie Cutanda, Phuong Duong and Geoffrey Rhue

The raw honesty of the three stars lifts this semi-documentary from a trite, seen-it-all-before 'hood film. Squeeze follows three teenage boys (Burton, Cutanda and Duong) from Dorchester, Massachusetts, as they change careers from pumping gas to working at a youth center by day and selling drugs at night — a necessary evil for protection on the street. Unlike most 'hood films that glorify violence, Squeeze shows these kids urgently trying to escape it. Patton-Spruill teaches acting at the real-life youth center and wrote the script for his students, who star in the film.