Quicksand

In “Quicksand” (1950), Mickey Rooney plays Dan Brady, a mechanic whose desire to impress a pretty girl tempts him to take his first step into crime. After he “borrows” a little money from his employer’s cash drawer, certain he can replace it no harm done, he ends up scrambling from one bad decision to another.

As an example of film noir, this film features a hapless everyman drawn step by step into a life of crime as a result of his own poor choices. Although the ending leaves Dan Brady’s ultimate fate open to the possibility of redemption, the theme implies the best way to get out of moral quicksand is to avoid stepping in it in the first place.