MovieChat Forums > Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) Discussion > Wendell's tragic death

Wendell's tragic death

posted 9 years ago by cormac_zoso
6 replies | jump to latest

Ya know, considering no one in the band, or anyone on screen for that matter, even talked to Wendell maybe if they would have just reached out and showed they cared for him he wouldn't have overdosed ... i mean no one talks to him and so he has no one to talk to at all ... he never says a word just because those snooty white kids in the band wouldn't talk to him ...

i hope they're happy cuz now he's dead ... except for Eddie of course :P

take care,
cormac

"One star in the sky
so I named it Otis Redding"
-- John Hiatt

[–] crockett_john 9 years ago

That's an interesting take. Poor Wendell didn't get any attention until he died.

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I'm just expressing my opinion.

You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.

[–] cynical_lefty 9 years ago

He actually didn't get any lines because the actor playing him was the real sax player for John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. He wasn't a SAG member, so he didn't get any dialogue. Wendell was actually a pivotal (and talkative) character in the novel the film was based on.

[–] crockett_john 9 years ago

That's interesting. I never knew that.

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I'm just expressing my opinion.

You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.

[–] plasmic_steve 9 years ago

Okay, but actors are allowed to get their SAG cards - they could have easily given him a few lines and paid extra. It wasn't a huge budget movie but that being said, there are still smaller characters in the movie with lines - like Frank/Wordman's former roommate at the college.

[–] jd_suarez 8 years ago

Who cares. What are you his mom ?

[–] ttaskmaster 8 years ago

He got plenty of lines in the second film, so there were probably contractual/legal reasons in the first... or he just wasn't a good enough actor back then.