Quicksand (1950 American film noir)

Quicksand is a 1950 American film noir that stars Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre and portrays a garage mechanic's descent into crime. It was directed by Irving Pichel shortly before he was included in the Hollywood blacklist (which was instituted by the House Un-American Activities Committee to block screenwriters with suspected Communist affiliation from obtaining employment). The film provided Rooney with an opportunity to play against type, performing in a role starkly different from his earlier role as the innocent "nice guy" in MGM's popular Andy Hardy film series.

Plot
Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney), a young auto mechanic in California, "borrows" $20 ($225 today) from the cash register at his job to pay for a date with blonde femme fatale Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney), who works at a nearby diner.

In a scheme to return the pilfered $20, Dan decides to pay only one dollar as a down payment at a jewelry store for a $100 wristwatch ($1,126 today), a deal that requires him to sign a sales contract to buy the watch over time with regular installment payments. He then promptly goes to a pawnshop where he hocks the watch for $30 cash ($338 today), using most of that money to cover the missing funds at the garage. However, the next day Brady is tracked down by an investigator who informs him that he has violated the installment contract by pawning a watch he does not legally own. The investigator tells him that if he does not pay the jewelry store the full $100 for the watch within 24 hours, he will be charged with grand larceny, a crime punishable by three years in state prison.

Cast
Mickey Rooney as Dan
Jeanne Cagney as Vera
Barbara Bates as Helen
Peter Lorre as Nick
Taylor Holmes as Harvey
Art Smith as Mackey
Red Nichols as himself
Wally Cassell as Chuck
Richard Lane as Lt. Nelson
Patsy O'Connor as Millie
John Gallaudet as Moriarity
Minerva Urecal as Landlady
Sidney Marion as Shorty
Jimmie Dodd as Buzz (as Jimmy Dodd)
Lester Dorr as Baldy
Kitty O'Neil as Madame Zaronga
Jack Elam (uncredited speaking role as bar patron)

Production
Rooney co-financed Quicksand with Peter Lorre, but their shares of the profits were reportedly left unpaid by a third partner. Most of the film was shot on location in Santa Monica, California, with exterior scenes at the old Santa Monica Pier. Jazz cornetist Red Nichols with His Five Pennies group are seen and heard in a nightclub scene.