Eddie and the Cruisers

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Summary: Great movie!
Review: I love this movie Eddie and the Cruisers is one of my favorite movies. The story is told so good and the music rocks.

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Summary: DVD Please!
Review: I love this movie and the music that goes with it. What I really want is to get it, along with the sequel "Eddie Lives" on DVD. What can the DVD producers be thinking when it comes to figuring out what to release...

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Summary: Cruisers still cruise
Review: I have to totally disagree with Tom Keogh's review of this film. The worst comments I have ever heard or read were along the lines of, "It was all right." "Not bad." "It was an okay movie." But according to Tom: "...impossible to accept." "...Pare is far from suitable (for the character)." "An all around embarassment." Was this guy having a bad hair day when he wrote this? Here's my two cents: "Eddie and the Cruisers" is a beautiful little movie that combines friendship, mystery, drama, and good music, all wrapped with solid acting, good direction, and a literate script. It's not a 'Citizen Kane', but then again, it doesn't claim to be. I've seen the film at least a dozen times since its release in the early eighties, and it still cruises. If you have yet to watch it, treat yourself to a nice hour-and-a-half (and don't forget the popcorn).

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Summary: One of the great rock movies of all time
Review: With it's great soundtrack by John Cafferty, and great acting by Michael Pare' as Eddie and a young Ellen Barkin as a reporter investigating Eddie's disappearance and assumed death in the mid 1960s, this movie is one of the greatest rock themed movies ever. Eddie is the leader of a rock band which for it's time is cutting edge. In 1963, Eddie & the Cruisers work on an album that is light years ahead of anything they or anyone else had ever done. Through Barkin's interviews with the band members and others who knew Eddie, we discover the perfectionist Eddie was, his commitment to the project of releasing his new album and how he dealt with critical reaction to that album. A great song from the soundtrack is "On the Dark Side," a rocker with a Neil Diamond "Cherry Cherry" chord progression. I love both the movie and it's soundtrack. I highly recommend Eddie & the Cruisers.

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Summary: Energy Boost
Review: This movie and the sequal are the terrific. The energy of the case spills out to whoever is watching it. You can't sit still for a minute. My favorit is the sequal and the part when they are playing on a school campus. The music and dancing are magnificent.

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Summary: Mystery With The Music
Review: Mystery surrounds the death of a rising rock star in director Martin Davidson's "Eddie and the Cruisers," starring Tom Berenger and Michael Pare. With one successful album under their belts, lead singer and guitarist Eddie Wilson (Pare) takes his Cruisers into the recording studio to make an album he hopes will stand the world on its collective ear. Drawing the title from a work by Nineteenth Century poet Arthur Rimbaud, they begin to lay down tracks for "A Season In Hell." But all is not well with Eddie and the band; there is dissent, and at least one among them, bassist Sal Amato (Matthew Laurance) disagrees with the direction in which Eddie has taken their music. Early one morning, toward the end of the recording sessions, Eddie's car goes off a bridge into the river; his body is never found. Now, eighteen years later, a reporter, Maggie Foley (Ellen Barkin) is doing a story on the Cruisers, and attempting to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of the master tapes from the recording sessions, which inexplicably vanished the day after Eddie's apparent death. Pare is perfectly cast as Eddie, the Bruce Springsteen-like rocker; he lip-synchs convincingly to John Cafferty's vocals and deftly captures the persona of an early sixties rock n' roll idol on the rise. Tom Berenger (who is actually the star of the movie) does an excellent job as lyricist Frank Ridgeway, the keyboard player known as "Word Man" by the band. Davidson tells the story by effectively using flashbacks, through which we get to know Eddie and his band, and which establishes the relationships so pertinent to the present day conflicts which emerge during Foley's investigation of Eddie and the missing tapes. The focus is mainly on Ridgeway, therefore as the story unfolds it is predominately from his perspective that we learn what really happened, especially on that last night in the recording studio. That there is a comparison being drawn between Eddie and Jim Morrison of The Doors is unmistakable; the plot draws heavily on the myth that Morrison (and Eddie) is still alive and may have "Pulled a Rimbaud." Poet Rimbaud (who is considered a genius, and to whom the creation of the form of modern poetry as we know it is attributed) committed "artistic suicide" at the age of nineteen, at which time he abruptly quit writing and disappeared for the next twenty years, only to reappear at last on his deathbed in France. That the title of Rimbaud's masterpiece is "A Season In Hell" is no coincidence. The parallels are drawn convincingly, which heightens the interest and adds to the credibility of the mystery. The supporting cast includes Joe Pantoliano (Doc), Helen Schneider (Joann), David Wilson (Kenny), Michael Antunes (Wendell) and Kenny Vance (Lew). An excellent soundtrack of original songs, written and performed by John Cafferty, provided Davidson with a solid base from which to launch his story. "Eddie and the Cruisers" is entertaining, if not entirely memorable, but the music and performances are good, and all in all this movie will do for a pleasant evening's viewing, with maybe a little popcorn thrown in for effect. If you haven't seen this one, try it out; I think you'll be glad you didn't let it pass you by.

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Summary: Eddie and The Cruisers - Live On!
Review: This movie is one of my all time favorite films. If any of you have ever played in a band, you will relate to this move soooooo well.

Rating:
Summary: Eddie & The Cruisers
Review: I really like this movie. Haven't seen it in years, but am ordering a copy. The soundtrack is great...and stands the test of time. Have heard "On the Dark Side" a number of times over the past week on two contemporary stations (not oldies). Tom Berenger plays a sweet, believable character and Michael Pare's Eddie is dark and brooding. And it feels like the sixties. I truly enjoyed this movie and am looking forward to watching it again!

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Summary: If you have nothing to do on a Friday evening...
Review: Eddie and the Cruisers will kill an hour and a half painlessly but it's not going to go down in history as a classic. The plot -- a reporter tracks down those who knew or played with Eddie (Michael Pare) in his legendary 60s band -- crosses Citizen Kane with The Doors but without the originality of either. Pare is mediocre at best, and even Barkin seems flat. The music has a Jersey shore feel, and it's catchy enough, but there's no depth, and thus nothing to explain why anyone cares what happened to Eddie or the Cruisers.

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Summary: A great movie, with awesome music!
Review: I love this movie, I saw John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. When they sang On the Dark Side and Tender Years, I couldn't help but picture Eddie. It's like they were his songs not theirs. I need to find Eddie and the cruisers part II. Please contact me if u have info.