![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/q/quicksilver.jpg)
Quicksilver
Dear lord, is there really any reason for Quicksilver? During its 1986 theatrical run, a few teenage girls doubtless bought tickets to see Kevin Bacon in his post-Footloose ascendancy (or decline, as the case may be). Today, it appears the film's primary purpose on DVD is to bolster the skills of folks who like to play "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." Of course, if you're a playa' you've got the standard power strokes — you use Apollo 13 to tap into Tom Hanks' filmography, or A Few Good Men to access the Jack Nicholson viaduct, or The River Wild for at least a couple decades' worth of Meryl Streep weepies. If you're really good, you've mastered the ensemble pieces, such as Diner, JFK, and Queen's Logic. But those who know how to dish the Bacon haven't missed Quicksilver, because here's where you can play the tightest angles, drop the softest lobs, and earn your "oohs" and "aahs" as if we all played SDOKB on the grass at Wimbledon in July. Perhaps no other film lets you link our Kev to such celebs as Marlon Brando, Donna Summer, and Mike Tyson in just two moves (yep, for real). As for the movie itself, Quicksilver is about San Francisco bond trader Jack Casey (Bacon), a financial whiz-kid who, on one fateful day, bets it all and loses. Fresh out of money and self-confidence, Jack thus grows his hair long and decides to take up the profession of bicycle courier — which, according to this movie at least, is hippest, coolest, most flat-out gnarly gig you can get. After all, Jack gets to hang out with a multi-culti gang of cyclists with nicknames like Voodoo, Airborne, Apache, and Cha Cha. And eventually he tangles with a street hoodlum named Gypsy (Rudy Ramos) who's got a weird thing for token-cute-female messenger Terri (Jami Gertz). But in the end, Quicksilver is twentyfourseven-Kevin — the hair, the attitude, that vague East Coast accent. The same swagger he had in Footloose, and probably all of the songs that didn't make the cut for that film's soundtrack, gloriously heard here in all of their mid-'80s awfulness. Said soundtrack can only be complemented by the crew of cyclists, who all look like bicycle messengers who would appear in a Michael Jackson video circa 1985 had MJ ever bothered to write a pop-hit about bicycle messengers who wear bandannas and puffy coats and have big hair and scowl. Co-stars include Larry Fishburne and Paul Rodriguez as fellow messengers, while Louie Anderson plays office help and actually gets to act tough once or twice. Quicksilver isn't a good movie — not by any stretch of the imagination — but it's probably a good choice if you're in the mood for a "bad movie" night. And apparently Columbia TriStar hasn't chosen to give the film much more respect than that — the DVD features a full-frame transfer (1.33:1) with the original Dolby 2.0 Surround audio. Trailer gallery, keep-case.
—JJB
(For those who've bothered to stick with this review to this point:
Mike Tyson appeared in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles with Paul Rodriguez who appeared in Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon.
Marlon Brando appeared in Apocalypse Now with Larry Fishburne who appeared in Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon.
Donna Summer had a cameo in Coming to America with Louie Anderson who appeared in Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon.)