Pop culture treats some of its icons better than others, and "Quicksand" demonstrates convincingly that Mickey Rooney is unjustly underrated as a "real" actor (and not just "Andy Hardy" or a guest cameo appearance in a movie or TV show where he plays himself.) Rooney is absolutely believable here going somewhat against type as a likable, but not-especially-bright (or honest) working stiff whose life completely unravels after he gives into temptation to swipe/borrow $20 from the office cash register until he can tap his friends for the money they owe him.($20 was a good chunk of change back in a day when lunch at a diner cost 40 cents, though).
In fact, the performances here range from pretty good to very good indeed, especially Peter Lorre, who manages to be disreputable and pathetic at the same time and whose every line oozes weariness and bleak humor. Also of special interest was Jeanne Cagney's role as "the Blonde" (who of course leads our protagonist down the road to ruin)- for the first minute she was on camera, I just couldn't see how she was going to fill that role, and then her hard features lit up and transformed into something altogether more interesting and appealing.And that transformation happened often and reliably enough that I began looking forward to seeing it.
The plot is tightly constructed, although it relies too much on coincidence at a couple points, as Rooney's character keeps making more bad decisions and his crimes escalate from petty theft to robbery to burglary and Grand Theft Auto, to assault and murder and kidnapping...but in every case, it's not something the character wants to do, and so somehow he manages to remain a sympathetic figure. (He even feels bad about the way he treats the good woman who is in love with him).
The subtext for the screen-play is even more interesting than the actual events of the film; early on it becomes obvious that everything in modern day society is stacked against "the little guy", and straying from the approved path brings punishment swift and sure...even if the little guy didn't mean any harm.
It ends the way it must (since this is Rooney's film, it couldn't possibly end in any other way), which makes me wonder why they wanted to do a noir film in the first place rather than a straight melodrama...but there's plenty of solid, enjoyable film-making here, enough that anyone with a taste for this genre would find it worth their time.
In fact, the performances here range from pretty good to very good indeed, especially Peter Lorre, who manages to be disreputable and pathetic at the same time and whose every line oozes weariness and bleak humor. Also of special interest was Jeanne Cagney's role as "the Blonde" (who of course leads our protagonist down the road to ruin)- for the first minute she was on camera, I just couldn't see how she was going to fill that role, and then her hard features lit up and transformed into something altogether more interesting and appealing.And that transformation happened often and reliably enough that I began looking forward to seeing it.
The plot is tightly constructed, although it relies too much on coincidence at a couple points, as Rooney's character keeps making more bad decisions and his crimes escalate from petty theft to robbery to burglary and Grand Theft Auto, to assault and murder and kidnapping...but in every case, it's not something the character wants to do, and so somehow he manages to remain a sympathetic figure. (He even feels bad about the way he treats the good woman who is in love with him).
The subtext for the screen-play is even more interesting than the actual events of the film; early on it becomes obvious that everything in modern day society is stacked against "the little guy", and straying from the approved path brings punishment swift and sure...even if the little guy didn't mean any harm.
It ends the way it must (since this is Rooney's film, it couldn't possibly end in any other way), which makes me wonder why they wanted to do a noir film in the first place rather than a straight melodrama...but there's plenty of solid, enjoyable film-making here, enough that anyone with a taste for this genre would find it worth their time.