Eddie and the Cruisers (DVD, 2001)
This was a fun movie about an early rock style "bar band" that made it big. Eddie Wilson was the star and leader of EDDIE and the Cruisers. It was the late 1950's and rock-'n-roll was getting popular. Eddie wore the typical black leather jacket; drove the Chevy convertible; had combed back oily hair, and a cheap looking girlfriend. They exactly fit the description of the "rebel" bad-boy band. Success was theirs, until too much success drove them apart. Eddie (Michael Pare') and a young kid, just a waiter with a talent for words and lyrics, Tom Berenger, are the principles of this movie. Eddie is not satisfied with the music they are playing; yeh, it's OK, but he wants to create something better, something never done before, something great. He knows that Berenger can get him there; he calls him "The word Man". Through the constant tifts and spats that all groups go through, and with the drug overdose death of their sax player, Wendel, who is Eddie's best friend, Eddie moves further and further into retreat. Their audience wants them everywhere now and their producers advance them $10K against their next album. After an extended period of time, it is ready, but the producers hate it and demand their money back. It is great music, but twenty years ahead of what anybody is producing at that time, and totally misunderstood by all. This rejection is too much for Eddie. . .He snaps and says that if his music is worthless, there is no reason to ever make music again. He drives off into history. The next morning his car is found underwater, having driven off a bridge. Eddie's body is never found. Skipping forward twenty years, Tom Berenger is a high school teacher. The old music of Eddie and the Cruisers is suddenly all over the radio again. A TV reporter, Ellen Barkin, is pushing a story that maybe Eddie Wilson wasn't killed, but maybe he just took a powder. . . Berenger, decides to see if any of the old band members are still around, and if they feel that way too. He finds them all, still clinging to the profession, still all wondering just what may have been. . .if Eddie hadn't died. Their old PR man, Joe Pantaleoni, contacts Berenger. He is trying to locate those old tapes, the rejected music, "A Season in Hell". He thinks that this is just the thing to put them back on top. . .The old tapes are recovered where Eddie had hidden them twenty years ago, and are turned over to the reporter for her special on the group. The music is played and everyone now loves it. This was a great movie with a lot of live great-sounding music. It's like listening to the old American Bandstand again. You'll enjoy this one.Read full review
