MovieChat Forums > Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (1989) Discussion > I love this movie, heres why

I love this movie, heres why

posted 18 years ago by vindicator19
5 replies | jump to latest

There are some pretty deep moral messges being displayed in the eddie movies. First is about how we treat each other. the first eddie movie was about greed and how destructive a force it can be. Those outside the entertainment industry only see the final products of movies , television and music. But what we ignore is that muscicians and artists are people as well with feelings.

The second movie was about ambition and how destruction ambition addictions can be. We got the young guy who will do anything to play with eddie, we got the main character eddie feeling somewhat euphoric when his music begins being popular again. Eddie wants to get his usic out there os bad that he drives his band very hard.

There are deep messages in these movies. Acting asside and 80's styles asside,the messages in the eddie movies are undeniable.

[–] hansonbrothershockeychick 18 years ago

I also love this movie. I think it's one of those movies you have to watch more than once, as it really grows on you. I remember seeing this when it first came out in 1989 and I hated it. But I just recently bought a copy of it and now I love it...even better than the first. I felt the same way about Rocky Horror, hating it the first time I saw it. It's now one of my all time favorite movies. My advice is to give this movie another viewing.

[–] ballet_man 17 years ago

I saw part II before the original when it came out. I loved it. I just saw the first movie tonight. The two films are fairly different. The second one seems to focus more on how Eddie wants to prove to himself that he can get his music out there without any fame, notoriety or expectations from fans and record agents based on previous successes. That theme comes out alot more strongly after seeing how disilusioned Eddie was in the first movie after his new album that eh poured his heart and soul into was rejected and compared it to the old man who "thought he could build a castle out of garbage."

Both are great films in my opinion.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jmb721 17 years ago

ballet_man:

I really like both films, too! To add to your thoughts about how the films differ -- my take on this is that each movie is told from a different perspective.

The original Eddie and the Cruisers is really the story of Frank Ridgeway's (Wordman) journey. It's Frank, the college kid, who comes to the Jersey shore, meets up with the Cruisers, joins the band, begins to write music, and finds himself living in a new and exciting world. The action revolves around him. Despite the name of the movie, Eddie Wilson isn't the central character (if you really watch the movie carefully, you'll see that Michael Pare, who plays Eddie Wilson, doesn't really have many lines in the movie).

Eddie and the Cruisers Part II -- Eddie Lives! IS Eddie Wilson's story. All the action revolves around him... about what he's been doing for 20 years, how he feels about "dropping out" of society, his guilt over Wendell Newton's death, his relationship with Diane.

Different perspectives make for very different movies. Both good, just different.

Note to cjay2 -- I'm a big Michael Pare fan, too!

[–] carolekindsvatter 17 years ago

I aggree with you. The first film really is not about Eddie. The second movie centers around him and his feeling of hiding because his second album was not released. He was very emotional when it is anounced the satin records were going to release his second album. Like he said people like him better dead than alive. Although this turns out not to be true when at the end of the movie he reveals who he really is. Great movie.