In order to get a credible looking and sounding band for the film, Davidson hired Kenny Vance, one of the original members of Jay and the Americans. We had 500 extras standing around, and Michael was having a hard time finding it. He talked to George Thorogood and the J. Geils Band before finding Kenny Vance, who then found Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Cruisers Do it like I'm doing Let's rock and roll. | Jason Scott It's about Eddie (Michael Pare), a New Jersey rocker who hit the big time in 1963 and then drove off a bridge. If you take it too seriously. Marty and I were not friends. It was just so unfair. | By The 80s Ruled | Facebook | So, what's not bad? [11] Initially, Cafferty was only hired to write a few songs for the film, but he did such a good job of capturing the feeling of the 1960s and 1980s that Davidson asked him to score the entire film. The problem is that it finally lacks the storytelling resources to tell enough of an intriguing story about a musical mystery man. Some of the details ring uncannily true, like the slick ''oldies'' nightclub act that one of the Cruisers is still doing nearly 20 years after Eddie's supposed death. But "Eddie" got a second life during the summer of 1984 on HBO. It's scary, a dangerous feeling. And Helen Schneider, as the tambourinist, looks sultry but distinctly out of place, since she's a young woman playing what was then - and still is, for the most part - very much a young man's game. He was understandably upset and a couple of days later he went out to dinner and met a secretary who had worked on his first film. Hes taking it seriously.. I put him through hell, he says. And Eddie and the Cruisers, which was about music anyway, really became some version of a really great song., It came onto HBO, and I remember hearing immediately about sales of the album, says Matthew Laurance, who played band member Sal Amato. 10 Things You Didnt Know about Eddie and the Cruisers, Remembering Eddie Mekka: Actor Died at 69, 10 Things You Didn't Know about Eddie Jackson, 10 Things You Didnt Know about Hacksaw Ridge, 80s Cult Classic Slumber Party Massacre is Getting a Remake on Syfy. I was at this very college Im teaching at now when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, he says. This scene happened after Joann saw and heard Frank playing the piano at Tony Marts. It would go on to make $4.7 million in North America. Other aspects of the movie are inexplicably wrong. Leaning over Frank, Eddie said, "What I want is songs that echo. They held a movie-band meeting and sent David Wilson, playing drummer Kenny Hopkins, to talk to Davidson. In the fall of 1984, the single "On the Dark Side" from the soundtrack album suddenly climbed the charts, as the film was rediscovered on cable television and home video, prompting the studio to briefly re-release the album. A new Blu-ray edition featuring "Eddie" and the much-maligned 1989 sequel, "Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!" Ive now had these amazing experiences of people talking about that movie even now. During the documentary interviews, the band expresses a desire to relive the past, but many of their memories are humiliating. I don't know. Not adept at writing lyrics, Eddie hires Frank Ridgeway aka "Wordman" to be the band's keyboard player and lyricist, over the protests of band manager Doc Robbins and bassist Sal Amato. But is Eddie dead? Kluge, the books author, loves the idea of the scene. Vance also told Davidson stories about the band, some of which he incorporated into the script. They also wonder where the ''Season in Hell'' tapes have gone, since the album was never released and the tapes would undoubtedly be valuable. A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released albu Read allA television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album.A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album. A television documentary is soon in the works, exploring the mystery of the band's second album, which had disappeared from the vaults of Satin Records the day after Eddie's disappearance. In September 2018, Tommy Marz released a series of interviews he conducted with members of the film's cast, as well as members of the production team. Par thought playing Eddie Wilson again could spark his own comeback. There was an audience for it. I always thought that stuff was brilliant., How a box-office bomb sells 3 million albums, Kluge set his book in the doo-wop era, but Davidson imagined melding Dion, Jim Morrison and Bruce Springsteen. No, man. The radio station used wasnt realistic in its range. Kluge Stars Tom Berenger Michael Par Joe Pantoliano Pare remembers, "The first time we played together - as a band - was a college concert. He was really worried because, you know, if Eddie Wilson didnt work, he didnt have a movie. At one point, the Cruisers got word that Pars spot was in jeopardy. I dont know what to think of it. I say, No, this is for real.. Michael Par was discovered in a New York City restaurant working as a chef. In the early morning hours, Eddie's car crashes through the railing and over the Stainton Memorial Causeway. Davidson argued with Cafferty over two songs, Tender Years and Wild Summer Nights, which the band had already released as a 45. "Eddie and the Cruisers" isn't a lost masterpiece, but it's a solid, thoughtful, enjoyable film about one of the great driving narratives of Western culture: The Artist Ahead Of His (or Her) Time, doomed to be ignored during life, then rediscovered after death. The behind-the-scenes drama - the wild ambition, the wheeling and dealing, the image making - convey such different sentiments from the music's explosive, euphoric feeling that there's bound to be a built-in incongruity, for one thing. Author P.F. That sparked the soundtrack, recorded. At first, the extras simply did what they were told. Vance asked Davidson to describe his fictitious band and their music. It was built by a drifter out of trash, sand, and clay. [23] Looking back, Davidson said, "that picture should have been a theatrical success. Inspired by the bleak, fatalistic poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Eddie wants something far more ambitious than their previous pop songs and he pushes his bandmates beyond their limits, musically and personally. The building and the business were very real, but the structure was demolished in the 1980s. It also created a cult following for the film. Eddie and the Cruisers - Down on my knees and Hang up rock - YouTube We'll just say it was your first movie and they just didn't release it." Then, as the music heated up, so did the audience. [12] Nine months after the film was released in theaters, the main song in the film, "On the Dark Side", was the number one song in the country on Billboard's Mainstream, Rock, and Heatseeker charts;[13] and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The sequel Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! [4] He told her what had happened to his film, and she gave his script for Eddie and the Cruisers to her business partners. the music. Eddie and the Cruisers was a massive 80s flop. A few girls made a dash for the stage, tearing at Michael's shirt. The Palace of Depression was a real place in Vineland, New Jersey. This article was published more than8 years ago, Eight Degrees of "Eddie and the Cruisers": What you need to know about the seemingly ignored 1983 film about fictitious rock god Eddie Wilson, What:The film stars Michael Par, Tom Berenger, Ellen Barkin and Joe Pantoliano. 5. Eddie and the Cruisers II Eddie Lives - Archive The filmmaker told Vance to find him someone that could produce music that contained elements of these three bands. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album. The film bombed at the box office, grossing less than $4 million during a short run in 1983. Eddie's startling good looks (in the John Travolta-Matt Dillon street-kid style) and his energetic sound (the songs are by John Cafferty, who also does Eddie's singing) are accompanied by enough artistic self- importance to make the character less sympathetic than he might be. But, you know, what was always inspiring to me was the whole through line of Rimbaud and the poet and the fake suicide, that was the only way to sort of have artistic freedom. Ridgeway is a high school English teacher in Vineland, New Jersey.
