Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - quicksilver is an awful movie

not only is the plot bad but the actual biking scenes are hardly impressive or realistic
but it won't be long now before they make a new bike messenger movie

louie anderson = win
you = suck

so there

ps punctuationisgood

i love how the hills of san francisco can double as new york city.
and then that great montage scene where kevin bacon gets all dirty and long haired and then suddenly finds that bike in the window... and an instant later is a full on messenger.

but really, i like the movie. its fun. sweet soundtrack too.

punctuation! this is the internet!
is that a young louie anderson?

and i figured the hills were like queens or something

They made a point of never actually saying where the movie took place. And don't forget a young Lawrence Fishburne as: a young Samuel L. Jackson (he wishes). :D

I love this movie.. the dance / bike scene is priceless!

fishburne is the best character in the movie

yea and that dude in the beginning... there's no way he could be that fast. he'd have to be an olympian or something.

this film is truely great, though when i first watched it i was expecting something along the lines of footloose or flashdance. sadly its not as good as footloose.
have you noticed that when the gipsy crashed his car of that bridge at the end, for like a few frames they use a photograph of him while zooming in, and it looks really tacky because he's screaming over the top of it. class.
the bike tricks are totally amazing, i wish i was a trained dancer/messenger.
the best line in the film for me is this:

her -"what you doing?"
bacon - "oiling my chain.."
her - "why?"
bacon - "make it go faster"

its the way he says it, its fukin hilarious.

... still searching for that damn movie on the bittorrent pages ...

I haven't seen it since I was a kid and alas, I don't think it's available on DVD.

not only is the plot bad but the actual biking scenes are hardly impressive or realistic
but it won't be long now before they make a new bike messenger movie


Smiling Jack Casey could beat your ass down on his worst day.

i remember watching this when i was a wee freestyler and so hungry to see anything having to do with a bike that we'd watch this over and over again, even if they were riding "lame 10 speeds." and actually, i doubt hollywood will go thru the trouble of writing a new film, but will probably just do a remake ala "the warriors".

of course it's available on dvd.. it's a friggin' timeless masterpiece.. get on it.

... still searching for that damn movie on the bittorrent pages ...

I haven't seen it since I was a kid and alas, I don't think it's available on DVD.

netflix! you'll have it in 2 days, watch it once and then want to get it back in the mail as soon as its over. It's totally worth watching once. the bike trick/party/dance scene is great.

That movie is required watching for all urban biker messenger wannabes, it defines the genre. It's classic.

Then go out and watch yourself some Dark Angel.

It is no Strawberry Pancake, that is for sure.

But there is some really good acting, and nobody has even mentioned the off-the-cuff comedic pathos of Paul Rodriguez.

It doesn't live up to the 'actual good movie-ness' of Breaking Away, but it is highly competitive with American Flyers.

I watched Quicksilver again this past weekend. It's so good.

Quicksilver = Gleaming the Cube.

I watched Quicksilver again this past weekend. It's so good.

Quicksilver = Gleaming the Cube.

Gleaming the Cube = best ever...

But didn't they change the name to "A Brother's Justice" years ago?

To the OP, if you cannot thoroughly enjoy watching Quicksilver, I only feel sorry for you.

not to nitpick, but i consider quicksilver to be more "rad" than "gleaming the cube" since the only real skating in gleaming the cube was in the end credits. anyhow, agreed, hard not to like quicksilver.

http://www.uploadhouse.com/images/733101505invaaaasion.jpg

Amazon has it (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006S4O5/qid=1126196873/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8704608-8982331?v=glance&s=dvd) for $13.. only 2 left in stock! I actually haven't seen this, but if it's anything like Gleaming the Cube then it's gotta be good.

... still searching for that damn movie on the bittorrent pages ...

I haven't seen it since I was a kid and alas, I don't think it's available on DVD.

Here's all you really need

http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=1309&VideoKbRate=300&AltID=&CustomerID=97135&WM=True&Ads=True&Play=False&Shorten=False

It doesn't live up to the 'actual good movie-ness' of Breaking Away, but it is highly competitive with American Flyers.

i was expecting something atleast as good as breaking away and for some reason i thought it would be a lot grittier

i was expecting something atleast as good as breaking away and for some reason i thought it would be a lot grittier

Why on earth would you expect Quicksilver to be as good as Breaking Away? Breaking Away won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay when it came out. It was like the Good Will Hunting of its day (without, you know, Matt and Ben). I don't expect 90% of the movies I see to be as good as Breaking Away. But in the end, it is really like comparing apples and oranges. Two completely different things that are meant to be enjoyed and appreciated in two entirely different ways.

i don't know i just did

I love Quicksilver, even the unrealistic parts; Kevin Bacon coasting down the stairs on a bike that was fixed a couple seconds ago, dancing with his girlfriend on the bike, all that. But I have a big problem with the theme it puts across. At the end, Kevin Bacon goes back to being a stockbroker, Jamie Gertz becomes an EMT, and Paul Rodriguez gets his hot dog cart. So it seems to me like messengering was a place for them to: (a) hang out and get your **** together until you can return to the trading floor, (b) get a leg up until you can get into a profession which is acceptable for your gender/social class, and (c) meet a nice educated white guy who can play the market and parley your nest egg into enough money to turn you into a street vendor (another class/ethnicity-appropriate profession message). The main characters put away their "childish things" (i.e. bicycles, outsider culture in general) and rejoin society. It was fun messing around (no pun intended) for a while, but now it's time for us to be Responsible Adults (TM) and get Real Jobs (TM, R, C).

But I'm an English major, so I may be overanalyzing a dumb 80's movie that's just a piece of entertainment.

But I'm an English major, so I may be overanalyzing a dumb 80's movie that's just a piece of entertainment.

What else is an English major suppose to do? Could be worse, you could be an Art student.

anarchocyclist, that sounds exactly like me and my gf when we watch movies.

Actually, when my wife and I watch movies together, I usually spout off like that and she rolls her eyes so extremely you can almost hear them grind in their sockets.

At least you didn't start talking about how the mis-en-scene supports your argument, or about how framing devices used were meant to reflect Kevin Bacon's "separation" from society, etc. blah.

That's what you would do if you were a film major (like I was).

I love Quicksilver, even the unrealistic parts; Kevin Bacon coasting down the stairs on a bike that was fixed a couple seconds ago, dancing with his girlfriend on the bike, all that. But I have a big problem with the theme it puts across. At the end, Kevin Bacon goes back to being a stockbroker, Jamie Gertz becomes an EMT, and Paul Rodriguez gets his hot dog cart. So it seems to me like messengering was a place for them to: (a) hang out and get your **** together until you can return to the trading floor, (b) get a leg up until you can get into a profession which is acceptable for your gender/social class, and (c) meet a nice educated white guy who can play the market and parley your nest egg into enough money to turn you into a street vendor (another class/ethnicity-appropriate profession message). The main characters put away their "childish things" (i.e. bicycles, outsider culture in general) and rejoin society. It was fun messing around (no pun intended) for a while, but now it's time for us to be Responsible Adults (TM) and get Real Jobs (TM, R, C).

But I'm an English major, so I may be overanalyzing a dumb 80's movie that's just a piece of entertainment.

Sounds like the stuff on IMDB. My favorite is he rides a fixed gear but they show him changing gears for dramatic effect.

Sounds like the stuff on IMDB. My favorite is he rides a fixed gear but they show him changing gears for dramatic effect.

I don't recall him changing gears ever (although other messengers do in the movie, but they are riding ten-speeds) although I could be wrong. However there are definitely scenes where he is coasting (the staircase is most obvious, also on a scene where he is going downhill you can see that his knees aren't moving even though they only show the upper half of the bike).

What gets me is the one close shot, early on I believe, where they show a rear cassette down-shifting (bigger sprocket) and the guy subsequently going faster.

Doood! He was dropping it into passing gear!

<rethreadjack> its nowhere near as good as Breaking Away </rethreadjack>

I raced a taxi with Kevin Bacon in it...u have to be born before 1978 (at least) to like this movie.it was shot in nyc and sf or seattle.

u have to be born before 1978 (at least) to like this movie.
Guilty as charged.

u have to be born before 1978 (at least) to like this movie

1982....there goes your theory

gleaming the cube < thrashin'

nuff said

Wasn't one of the actor/messengers an Olympic level track bike ...err... guy? And wasn't he actually a messanger in SF? Its been some time!

Nelson Vails, New York bike messenger and track racer at Kissena. Took silver in the 1984 Olympics, hailed from Harlem. He was the rider in the opening scene where he blasts the cab.

Classic movie - at a time when any kind of a bike in a movie was unheard off.

Yeah, its Kevin Bacon, Mr. Seven Degrees of Dirty Dancing, but it aint that bad. It is probably an age thing.

I hear they are making a remake of it with Keannu Reeves. There will be lots of slow motion pedalling scenes and some scenes of him riding up the side of buildings to get his office delivery quicker.

What gets me is the one close shot, early on I believe, where they show a rear cassette down-shifting (bigger sprocket) and the guy subsequently going faster.

frequently, when i'm out on my road bike, i will shift into a slightly larger cog to stand and sprint.

or if i'm cruising along in my big ring, i'll drop down to my 38 for a sprint, then go back to the big ring to maintain the speed.

Nelson Vails??? I just ran across of photo of him in Bicycling magazine... an article about Kissena. He looks DECADES older than the guy (sweaty beret blowing off and KB picking it up and wearing it... weird and gross at the same time) in the opening scene.

God, is that movie that old?

BTW - www.amazon.com has it for sale on DVD... at least they used to.

frequently, when i'm out on my road bike, i will shift into a slightly larger cog to stand and sprint.

or if i'm cruising along in my big ring, i'll drop down to my 38 for a sprint, then go back to the big ring to maintain the speed.

Except that one doesn't go from a little cog to a big cog, keep the same cadence, and go faster.

if only we could all find immaculate track bikes in thrift stores...


has anyone seen this other movie about messengers, that's a thousand times worse? it takes place in monteal, and is super cliche, and ALL the messengers ride mountain bikes. the main character is a woman, and then theres this old tolken italian mechanic guy.... anyways, it sucks. it's pretty much just a looong GT ad.

haven't see the MTL flick, but does anyone remember RAD, the BMX flick from '82 or something? BMX's are technically single speeds, right?

not only is the plot bad but the actual biking scenes are hardly impressive or realistic
but it won't be long now before they make a new bike messenger movie

yes but when i was in 5th grade it was pretty cool. kevin bacon just had a smash hit of footloose. it was awesome!
if you didn't like that one try breaking away. its awesome!

i guess breaking away is not a messenger movie, but the underdog wins.

yes but when i was in 5th grade it was pretty cool. kevin bacon just had a smash hit of footloose. it was awesome!
if you didn't like that one try breaking away. its awesome!
That movie is what first got me interested in cycling...and distrusting Italian Pros. Classic movie, worth the watch. There is one other one with the dances with wolves/If you build it/waterworld guy - Kevin Kostner....American Flyers. Kinda sappy, but not bad. Not singlespeed though, sorry.

Heres a good list I found.
http://uk.geocities.com/mikstar123/films.html#Cycling%20Films.%20Main%20List....