Lechuguilla "I feel like I'm being shoved into a corner and if I don't get out soon, it will be too late." So says Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney) after a series of bad decisions causes him to get deeper and deeper, quicksand like, into crime. Viewers are led to believe that Dan is basically a good guy; but he just can't get a break, as he goes from one small problem to a disaster, then to a bigger disaster. It's almost comical.What makes the film better than comparable era crime stories is the casting of Rooney, an actor who's little boy face and short stature run counter to villain stereotypes. Actually, Dan's downfall can be traced back to his infatuation with a blonde "dame" named Vera Novak (very well played by Jeanne Cagney). Various twists and turns in the plot add interest.A few complaints here. First, the film gets off to a slow start. Second, I don't like the "Deus-ex-machina" ending. And third, the film is almost too brief; it seems rushed. The impression conveyed is that the scriptwriter was too lazy to add story depth and a few extra scenes to the script.For its historical era, B&W visuals are okay, but nothing special. Costumes, editing, and prod design are average. Casting is terrific and is probably the best element. Acting is average except for the performances of Rooney and Cagney, which are terrific.Because the run-time is brief, "Quicksand" is a somewhat thin story. Yet, it still held my attention once the plot got going. Of course I'd rather see a too-short film that's good than a too-long film that's bad.

XhcnoirX Mechanic Mickey Rooney wants to take Jeanne Cagney out on a date, but he's broke and a buddy who owes him $20 won't pony up right away. So he borrows $20 from the garage's cash register and has some fun with Cagney. All is well, until the next day when his buddy's out on sea and the garage's accountant comes in a few days early... Rooney buys a watch on an installment plan and hocks it straight away to put the $20 back. Wrong move, as that is against the law. Either he pays for the watch the next day, or else... And that is only the start of Rooney's nightmare, where each bad choice he makes is followed by a worse one...Rooney ('The Strip', 'Drive A Crooked Road'), in one of his first more dramatic roles, does a good job here, aside from his schoolboy looks and his occasional voice-over narration which is spoken way too casual and doesn't fit the predicament he's in. Maybe he was still struggling to get out of his Andy Hardy straight-jacket? He gets great support tho from femme fatale Jeanne Cagney ('Don't Bother To Knock') whose only interest is an expensive mink coat she's been eyeing for some time. Peter Lorre ('The Maltese Falcon') plays a smaller, but important, part as the shady owner of a crummy arcade hall, where Cagney once worked. He is a treat to watch as usual.Competently directed by Irving Pichel ('They Won't Believe Me'), it's the story by Robert Smith ('Sudden Fear') and the great shadow-rich cinematography by Lionel Lindon ('The Manchurian Candidate') that firmly push this movie into noir territories, also helped by the majority of the movie taking place during night-time. The scenes inside Lorre's arcade especially are worth the price of admission. All in all, it's a good B-noir that pushes all the right buttons, except for those really awkward voice-overs...

Martin Teller A young mechanic borrows $20 from the till to take a dame out on the town, setting in motion an escalating series of crimes. This is a really enjoyable "out of the frying pan, into the fire" situation as Mickey Rooney digs himself in deeper and deeper. Maybe not as hard-edged as I usually prefer my noir, but the story moves at a rapid clip and never slows down. And I don't mean to imply it's light-hearted, although there is some amusement in how incompetent the protagonist is at committing crimes. It's also kinda funny to see the diminutive Rooney square off against the equally diminutive Peter Lorre (sadly, not a large role, but his presence is welcome). I'm only familiar with the "Andy Hardy" Rooney by reputation, but as a noir actor he's growing on me more and more. There's a simplistic but entertaining good girl/bad girl dichotomy with Barbara Bates (a little too earnest, but cute) and Jeanne Cagney (Jimmy's sister, and a delightful performance). Some beautiful lighting and shot composition as well. Exciting, fun, and memorable... I'm buying a copy of this one for my collection.

Michael_Elliott Quicksand (1950) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A squeaky clean mechanic (Mickey Rooney) asks a hot blonde (Jeanne Cagney) out on a date and she accepts but he has a problem and that problem is that he's broke. He winds up snatching twenty-bucks from his bosses cash register but this here just leads to one problem after another and he soon finds himself running from the police. This crime-noir film really isn't anything overly special but I think fans of Rooney are going to find it interesting as he both ruins and helps the film. He somewhat ruins it because he's just not believable in the early scenes where he's picking up the hot girl, acting like a poor boy and there's even a couple scenes where he's smoking and obviously not knowing what he's doing. The low-budget nature of the film probably kept an outtake in where he tries to light a cigarette but messes up and has to strike a match to light it again. The early noir moments of our typical male hero just really wasn't made for someone like Rooney. However, it somewhat works in the film's favor because the screenplay here is pretty stupid as what we've basically got is an idiot guy who does something stupid, tries to correct it by doing something dumber and soon this dumb guy is running for his life. The entire premise is pretty far-fetched and at times very silly but this is where Rooney starts to work. Since you don't expect someone like Rooney to be a criminal these dumb mistakes his character makes seems somewhat natural because of who is doing them. Rooney makes it somewhat plausible that his character, being new to crime, would commit such stupid mistakes over and over and on this level the performance and movie works. I thought it was rather fun seeing Rooney doing some of this stuff including strangling a man and getting into several fights with the girl's ex-boss who is played by Peter Lorre. Seeing good boy Rooney going up against sleaze ball Lorre made for some fun scenes. Both actors are just fine in their roles as is Cagney as the femme fatale. You can't help but enjoy her performance because she perfectly captures that poor brat who will take advantage of any sap just to get what she wants. Barbara Bates plays a woman in love with Rooney and we even get Richard Lane playing the main cop. I think noir fans will probably find a lot of the movie silly due to Rooney so that's why I think it's going to appeal to his fans more than anyone else. The movie has a lot of silly moments and I think it's fair to say that too much happens to this guy in such a short amount of time but it still features enough to make it worth viewing. It's certainly not a classic but as a fan of Rooney I enjoyed it.