Quicksilver (1986)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Thomas Michael Donnelly

Writer:

Thomas Michael Donnelly (written by)

Release Date:

14 February 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Winning is a feeling you never lose.

Plot:

Jack Casey ('Kevin Bacon' )used to be a hot-shot stock market whiz kid. After a disastrous professional decision...

Plot Keywords:

Bicycle | Stock Speculators | Latino | Bicycle Acrobat | Financial Disaster

Cast

Kevin Bacon	...	Jack Casey
Jami Gertz	...	Terri
Paul Rodriguez	...	Hector Rodriguez
Rudy Ramos	...	Gypsy
Andrew Smith	...	Gabe Kaplan
Gerald S. O'Loughlin	...	Mr. Casey
Laurence Fishburne	...	Voodoo (as Larry Fishburne)
Louie Anderson	...	Tiny (as Louis Anderson)
Charles McCaughan	...	Airborne
David Harris	...	Apache
Whitney Kershaw	...	Rand
Joshua Shelley	...	Shorty
Georgann Johnson	...	Mrs. Casey
Nelson Vails	...	Messenger in Maroon Beret
Lou Dinos	...	Cha Cha

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Jack hits the Taxi and falls the license plate on the Taxi clearly says California.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: Lows in the Mid-Eighties (#3.8)" (2000)

Soundtrack:

Chamo Candela

Yes, DO go along for the ride with this ex stock broker!

To be honest, it's some years since I saw this movie, so have forgotten most of the story details. However, the film now seems rather obscure and apparently not very well regarded, so I wanted to put in my two cents worth of praise for a movie that, while it may not have been memorable, was certainly entertaining at the time.

The story revolves around a hot shot stock market whiz kid named Jack Casey, who loses not only his own money, but also all his parents' life savings in a failed market deal / stock crash. Devastated by his failure, especially the effect it has on his father, he withdraws completely from the financial world, embarking upon a new career as a bicycle messenger. I enjoyed the unusual theme here, the disillusioned stock broker reverting to a simpler and (supposedly) more carefree lifestyle. Jack befriends his fellow messengers, including a guy, Voodoo, who's involved with delivering the goods for a sleazy drug dealer, and also a girl named Terri, who of course becomes the love interest. Jack and Voodoo plan a bike race, but there's trouble brewing from the drug dealer...

Other plot details? I don't recall them, but Kevin Bacon is adept in the role of Jack, the story catchy enough, and the theme regarding the fleeting nature of wealth always relevant, particularly as related to the stock market. Also, although I'm not personally a cyclist, I quite enjoyed the dashing bicycle sequences, up and down and across the sometimes hilly streets, of (I believe) San Francisco. Don't listen to the naysayers, it's a perfectly entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, and not just for the 1980's nostalgia.