Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Bacon, Jami Gertz, Paul Rodriguez, Rudy Ramos, Andrew Smith
• Directors: Thomas Michael Donnelly
• Writers: Thomas Michael Donnelly
• Producers: Christopher Meledandri, Daniel Melnick, Michael I. Rachmil
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 20, 2000
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302874521
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,073 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A hotshot stockbroker bets it all--and loses it all--in one day, effectively ruining all his customers while ending his career. So, naturally, he turns to that old stockbroker standby: he becomes a bicycle messenger. Kevin Bacon may have made this film simply to extend the strands of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game; it's hard to imagine any other reason. Otherwise, this mid-'80s film stands as yet another example of a movie influenced by MTV without understanding what MTV does. Eventually, Bacon leads the exploited masses of messengers in an uprising against unfair labor practices by the evil bosses. There's an original concept. Notable as yet another film to give a role to the dazzlingly untalented Jami Gertz. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine entertainment for cycling fans, less so for others, October 9, 2005

By 

Michael Johnson (Gorham, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quicksilver (DVD)

I don't know where the editorial reviewer got the idea that there's an "uprising ... against the evil bosses" at the end of this movie. There's no such thing, the climax of the movie is a showdown on the street with a vicious drug dealer. Perhaps the reviewer didn't actually watch the movie...

There's lots of great footage of urban cycling, even if some of it is a tad unrealistic. It's a fast-paced movie with lots of cycling action and actually has a multiple interesting plot lines, not related to cycling.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not the most realistic movie but still a great one, June 29, 2005

By 

Keithotron "Keithotron" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Quicksilver (DVD)

Yes, this movie is kind of unrealistic but so what. And just to re-clear up the bike thing. It wasn't a coaster brake bike like you had on your old banana seat bike when you were a kid. It's a track bike with a fixed gear. Which means the pedals spin as long as the rear wheel spins. And backward pressure slows your speed but does not completely stop it.That why he always jumped off the back and grabed the seat when he wanted to stop quickly. That is also why anyone crazy enough to ride a track bike on the street usually has a front brake installed. Look at the scenes where he is freestyling in his apartment. He is pedaling backward. This can only be done on a fixed gear. No coaster brake. If you look really closely at some of the scenes you will be able to see different bikes. Like when Bacon rides down the stairs, you can see the bike he's on has brakes. Obviously for the stunt. But I really like this movie. I've been a messenger and I always wanted the place I worked to be like that movie. We never went outside and freestyle in the street while the boom box played. And hot girls never gave me their phone number. But we get to see Lawrence Fishburne as Voodoo when was still know as Larry. And that's worth the 13 bucks right there.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't Really Go Anywhere, November 19, 2000

By 

Greg Hughes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quicksilver [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I saw this film late last night on cable. I've got a feeling it might have glamorized the life of bicycle messengers a tad. If "Quicksilver" was meant to inspire all the kids out there who want to be couriers, I'm doubtful that it worked.

Kevin Bacon stars as a trailblazing stockbroker (Jack Casey) who loses everything. Now he does his trailblazing in another way: he becomes a bicycle courier. His failure on the trading floor dented his confidence, and now cycling around the city, delivering messages, has become his life.

Some of the camera angles with the cycling scenes were pretty good. Did Bacon do his own stunts? The movie lacks a few things such as plot and believability, but it's fairly watchable. The best part was towards the end, when Jack was gallantly leading the "bad guy" away from "the girl". The relentless car chase was funny.

Some of the filming was done in New York (I think) and also in San Francisco. I assumed the film was set in New York since the main character was a stockbroker. I read that the film was shot in three different cities but I don't know what the third was. Like some of the bicycle riders, the film stumbles. Overall the film was pretty lightweight, but it isn't as bad as "The Air Up There".