''Quicksilver'' is a 1986 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Thomas Michael Donnelly and starring

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

. The film, which was distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, also stars

Jami Gertz Jami Beth Gertz (born October 28, 1965) is an American actress. Gertz is known for her early roles in the films ''Crossroads'', ''The Lost Boys'', '' Less than Zero'' and '' Quicksilver'', the 1980s TV series ''Square Pegs'' and 1996's ''Twister ...

, Paul Rodriguez,

Louie Anderson Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. Anderson created the cartoon series '' Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom '' The Louie Show'', and wrote fou ...

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

, and

Rudy Ramos Rudy Ramos (born September 19, 1950) is an American actor and musician, born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma. His acting career has covered six decades. It started with an appearance on the television show ''Ironside (1967 TV series), Ironside'' i ...

Plot

Jack Casey (

) is a young

floor trader A floor trader is a member of a stock or commodities exchange who trades on the floor of that exchange for his or her own account. The floor trader must abide by trading rules similar to those of the exchange specialists who trade on behalf of ot ...

on the

Pacific Exchange The Pacific Exchange was a regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California. In 1882, the San Francisco Stock and ...

who loses all of his company's and family's savings on a risky trade. Deflated and disenchanted with his profession, he quits his job and becomes a

bicycle messenger Bicycle messengers (also known as bike or cycle couriers) are people who work for courier companies (also known as messenger companies) carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business di ...

. Casey has to deal with his parents and his girlfriend, who are disappointed with his new job. Along with the colorful characters that work with him, he saves a troubled young woman named Terri (

) from a gang. Although frustrated, Casey enjoys the freedom that comes with his lower responsibility. He also uses his education and business acumen to help his co-workers. When some of them are involved in dangerous or difficult matters, Casey must decide whether he should become involved. Those matters lead to a sinister web of murder and intrigue. In the final section of the film, Casey returns to the floor of the exchange for a day, buying shares of a plummeting penny stock and holding on until it recovers. He thus restores his family's fortune and enables his bike-messenger friend, Hector (Paul Rodriguez), to afford the hot dog stand he has dreamed of. Terri is again menaced by drug dealer Gypsy but is rescued by Casey's fellow bike messengers. In retaliation against Gypsy, Casey engages in an extended car-versus-bike confrontation that ends with Gypsy driving off the end of an uncompleted highway. The film flashes forward to Casey applying for 'normal' jobs and Terri deciding to become a paramedic, and the pair buying hot dogs from Hector.

Cast

as Jack Casey *

as Terri * Paul Rodriguez as Hector Rodriguez *

as 'Gypsy' * Andrew Smith as Gabe Kaplan * Gerald S. O'Loughlin as Mr. Casey * Larry Fishburne as 'Voodoo' *

as 'Tiny' *

Charles McCaughan Charles McCaughan is an American actor and director. Filmography Director and writer *'' Angel on Fire'' (2005) *'' Picture of Priority'' (1998) Acting *''The Cisco Kid'' (1994, TV) - Haynie *''V.I. Warshawski'' (1991) - Trumble Grafalk *''Legal ...

as 'Airborne' * David Harris as 'Apache' *

Whitney Kershaw Whitney Kershaw (born April 10, 1962) is an American singer and actress, best known for her roles on television. Her most well known role was that of Merilee Gunderson during the first season of ''Major Dad'' in 1989 and 1990. Kershaw originated ...

as Rand *

Joshua Shelley Joshua Shelley (born Joshua Kurzweil; January 27, 1920 – February 16, 1990) was one of the actors blacklisted by movie studios as a result of the House Un-American Activities Committee's ( HUAC) investigation of the Communist Party in Hollywoo ...

as 'Shorty' *

Georgann Johnson Georgann Johnson (born Georgia Anne Johnson, August 15, 1926 – June 4, 2018) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was also known as Georgiann Johnson and Georgianne Johnson. Early years Johnson was born in Decorah, Iow ...

as Mrs. Casey

Music

The film's theme song is "

Quicksilver Lightning "Quicksilver Lightning" is a song by Roger Daltrey, who at the time was the former lead singer of The Who. The track is credited as being written by Dean Pitchford and being composed by Giorgio Moroder. The track is the Theme music, theme tune f ...

" by

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

and

Dean Pitchford Dean Pitchford (born July 29, 1951) is an American songwriter, screenwriter, director, actor, and novelist. His work has earned him an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for three additional Oscars, two more Golden Globes, eig ...

. Performed by

Roger Daltrey Roger Harry Daltrey (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer, musician and actor. He is a co-founder and the lead singer of the Rock music, rock band The Who. Daltrey's hit songs with The Who include "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Ge ...

, it was a minor hit on the pop charts. The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed by Tony Banks, of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

fame. Other music is contributed by performers such as

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

and

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

. "

The Motown Song "The Motown Song" is a song performed by British singer Rod Stewart featuring American vocal group the Temptations. The song is from Stewart's 16th studio album, ''Vagabond Heart'' (1991). It was written by Larry John McNally and was originally ...

" would later be covered by

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

with

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

in 1991 and would become a hit on the pop charts.

Soundtrack

# "

" –

# "Casual Thing" –

Fiona Fiona is a feminine given name. The name is associated with the Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland (through the poetry of James Macpherson), but has also become popular in England.. It can be considered either a Latinisation of names, Lati ...

# "Nothing At All" –

# " Shortcut to Somewhere" –

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and Tony Banks # "Through the Night (Love Song from Quicksilver)" –

John Parr John Stephen Parr (born 18 November 1952) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his 1985 single "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", charting at number one in the US and number six in the UK, and for his 1984 US number- ...

and

Marilyn Martin Marilyn Martin (born May 4, 1954) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 1985 hit duet with Phil Collins, "Separate Lives", her only number one. Early life Marilyn Martin was born on May 4, 1954, in Tennessee but raise ...

# "One Sunny Day/Dueling Bikes from Quicksilver" –

and

Helen Terry Helen Terry (born 25 May 1956) is a British singer and television producer, known for her backing vocal work with Culture Club. As a solo performer, she scored a Top 40 hit single in 1984 with "Love Lies Lost", and released one album in 1986, ' ...

# "

" – Larry John McNally # "Suite Streets-From Quicksilver" -

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); ''The Sha ...

# "Quicksilver Suite I/Rebirth/The Gypsy" – Tony Banks # "Quicksilver Suite II/Crash Landing" – Tony Banks

Home media

The DVD for ''Quicksilver'' was released on December 10, 2002 by

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

.Quicksilver

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Flixster Flixster is an American social-networking movie website for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies, currently owned by parent company Fandango. The formerly independent site, allows users t ...

Reception

The film received negative reviews and as of January 2021 has only a 13% rating on

based on 16 reviews. In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Walter Goodman wrote "As long as the characters are doing stunts or whizzing impossibly through city traffic to a strong rock beat, there's something to watch. For the rest of the time, ''Quicksilver'' is as much fun as a slow leak."

Bacon's views on the film

In 2008, Kevin Bacon called the film "the absolute lowest point of my career."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0091814, title=Quicksilver 1986 films 1986 drama films American drama films Cycling films Films set in New York City Films set in San Francisco Films shot in San Francisco Trading films Columbia Pictures films 1986 directorial debut films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films