Product Details

• Actors: Barbara Bates, Jeanne Cagney, Wally Cassell, Jimmie Dodd, Lester Dorr
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: First Look Home Ente
• VHS Release Date: September 19, 1997
• Run Time: 79 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304680813
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,076 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quicksand, October 26, 2004

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quicksand (DVD)

Automobile mechanic Mickey Rooney spots killer-blonde waitress Jeanne Cagney (Jimmy's sister) working at the local diner and impulsively asks her out. His troubles begin when she accepts. The cash strapped Rooney lifts a $20 bill out of the till at the garage where he's employed. The couple spend a pleasant evening window shop drooling (Jeanne) over a $2000 mink and glaring (Mickey) at ex-boyfriend, husband, or something Peter Lorre at the penny arcade he manages. Trouble arrives the next morning in the person of the garage's accountant, who's a couple of days early and sure to spot the missing double sawbuck. Dark eyed blondes are murder in movies like QUICKSAND, and before you can say "Andy Hardy" Rooney is up to his neck and sinking fast.
QUICKSAND is well crafted and, on its own terms, convincing enough. The toughest pill it has us swallow concerns Rooney. Even if he was pushing 30 when this one was made, he still looks like a baby-faced teenager. You can't blame an actor for being short and young looking, but it makes it hard to believe two beautiful women are interested in him, or that Judge Hardy is letting him stay out long enough to get into all the trouble he gets into in this one. Rooney has always had a sunshine-y, puckish charisma which found no outlet in this dark tale of a life unraveling. In other words, QUICKSAND doesn't play to his strengths.
Lorre fares best and his scenes with Rooney are delightful. Lorre never had to present his bona fides when playing an unsavory character - he oozed sleaze. Coupling his physical assets - short stature, protruding eyes, a decadently foreign accent - with master acting abilities and nearly flawless timing Lorre consistently rose above all but the best of material, as he does so here. I wish his role had been larger. Best scene - while putting the squeeze on Rooney's character, Lorre is told "You must be crazy!" Catching the beat and riding it out to the exact millisecond, Lorre lifts a hooded eyelid and says "No, I don't think so." A pretty flat line on the page, but with Lorre's reading it's the coda to the best scene in the movie. Did I mention it would have been nice if he'd been in more scenes?
The delicately beautiful Barbara Bates plays Rooney's Good Girl ex-girlfriend. In movies like this, Good Girls are usually around just long enough to get jilted in act one. If lucky, they're allowed to throw a pair of sad puppy eye looks at the hero before disappearing. They typically reappear in act three, ten minutes before the closing credits, with either a downy shoulder for a repentant hero to lean on or a funeral to arrange. The Bad Girl, on the other hand, has it all going her way. She gets the juicy act two meat, dresses better, gets her name above the title and her picture on the posters. They're usually given a swollen scene or two to chew on and something to foam at the mouth over before the movie tosses them out. Oh, yeah, and they gets to dress better, too. Most of the time she's the "good" actress, while the other is the "pretty" actress - although with so little business to attend to, it's hard to tell exactly what kind of actress the Good Girl is either way.
Miscast or not, Rooney is decent enough in QUICKSAND, an entertaining and unspectacular film

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprise! CLASSIC Film Noir!, November 20, 2000

By 

Sherm Cohen (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quicksand (DVD)

100% fun film-noir rollercoaster in which Mickey Rooney plays an amoral mechanic who makes one horrible decision after another, getting himself stuck deeper and deeper in the quicksand of his predicament. The plot is hokey, but so satisfying...it includes a great femme-fatale and a swell part played by Peter Lorre. The photography is top-notch, and the San Francisco boardwalk (nighttime, natch)scenery is wonderful. Rooney is actually very good in this...he makes you root for him even though he acts like a jerk all the way through the picture. If you've ever dug yourself into a well of trouble, you'll really relate to this one! Enjoy!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IMAGE DVD!!!!!, May 6, 2009

By 

larryj1 (AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quicksand (DVD)

This is an entertaining little film with Rooney and Lorre. The Image DVD is very good quality and the best available.