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).

[1][2] Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney), a young auto mechanic in California, "borrows" $20 ($253 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.

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.

Nick Dramoshag (Peter Lorre), the seedy owner of a penny arcade on Santa Monica Pier and a man who has had his own intimate history with Vera, discovers evidence of Dan's mugging.

Outside Vera's apartment, Dan's still-loyal but unappreciated former girlfriend Helen (Barbara Bates) waits in his car to talk with him.

The Los Angeles Times also draws particular attention to the performances of supporting cast and to subtleties in Rooney's portrayal of Dan Brady:Without undue gestures or mugging, Mickey gets over his emotions and thoughts chiefly through his eyes....Jeanne Cagney plays the role of the girl who can only be described by a five-letter word, and makes the part vivid.

Peter Lorre is duly sinister, and Barbara Bates as a "patient Griselda" sweetheart will please you even if you do feel at moments like hitting her one for being so dog-devoted to an indifferent Mickey.

[6] Herm Shoenfeld of Variety, the entertainment industry's most widely read trade paper in 1950, characterizes Quicksand as "an okay meller with a crime-does-not-pay moral" and with a screenplay that is "fast, straightforward".

Headlining her assessment "Rooney Is Cast as a Criminal in 'Quicksand'", she describes the film as "unpretentious" and expresses a decided preference for the storyline's first half when compared to its "contrived" latter half:The early scenes are brisk and believable, but about midway the action becomes obviously contrived, and the happy ending requires much strenuous juggling which is entirely unconvincing.

[8]The New York Times in its review is far less kind to the film, calling it an "uninspired melodrama" that "hammers home several unoriginal ideas in a fairly stodgy fashion.

"[11] He therefore questions in his 2009 review the validity of attaching broader issues or more complex interpretations to the film decades after its initial screening.

"It's doubtful", he contends, "whether 'Quicksand' reflects the social uncertainty of the period, as some have claimed, but it certain[ly] proves the danger that slick operators offer to a gullible dufus like Dan.