Quicksand (1950)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Irving Pichel

Writer:

Robert Smith (original screenplay)

Release Date:

24 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

A guy who yields to temptation just once...... ....and finds it's once too often!

Plot:

After borrowing $20 from his employer's cash register, an auto mechanic is plunged into a series of increasingly disastrous circumstances which rapidly spiral out of his control.

Plot Keywords:

Auto Mechanic | Waitress | Garage | Embezzlement | Window Shopping

Cast

Mickey Rooney	...	Daniel 'Dan' Brady
Jeanne Cagney	...	Vera Novak
Barbara Bates	...	Helen Calder
Peter Lorre	...	Nick Dramoshag
Taylor Holmes	...	Harvey
Art Smith	...	Oren Mackey
Wally Cassell	...	Chuck Davis
Richard Lane	...	Det. Lt. Nelson
Patsy O'Connor	...	Millie
John Gallaudet	...	Moriarity
Minerva Urecal	...	Landlady aka Old Snoop
Sidney Marion	...	Shorty McCabe (as Sid Marion)
Jimmie Dodd	...	Buzz Larson (as Jimmy Dodd)
Lester Dorr	...	Baldy, Jewelry Clerk
Kitty O'Neil	...	Madame Zaronga

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Finland:S | UK:PG (re-rating) (2004) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA

Company:

Samuel H. Stiefel Productions

Trivia:

This film has one of the first examples of product placement with a box of Bit-O-Honey candy bars by Jeanne Cagney's cash register.

Quotes:

Landlady: Serves you right, you hussy!

Movie Connections:

References South of St. Louis (1949)

A Cross Between "Detour" and "The Myth of Sysiphus"

We feel as if we are sinking into the quicksand as one thing after another goes wrong. This is similar to the bleak and (today) more famous "Detour." But it's almost as good.

Mickey Rooney has always been an appealing performer. He's good here but not totally plausible. If Tom Neal had been the star, It'd be a real jewel.

Jeanne Cagney is surprisingly tough as the girl Rooney falls for. It's very easy to hate her character, which is the intent of the plot. Barbara Bates is not interesting as the girl who's loved him all along. When I was a small child I saw her giggling and doing what I remember as an early version of "breaking up" as she announced prizes for contestants on "Queen for a Day." Quite some range, just like her brother! Without giving away any of the plot, just know that no matter where the protagonist turns, he gets a (usually figurative) slap in the face. He sinks deeper and deeper and nothing he does seems to lift him out of the mire.

(It also has great location shots and is a superb look at honky-tonk in the middle of the last century.)