Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.5

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 14, 2015

Note: This film is available in the double feature Eddie and the Cruisers / Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!.

It’s a sad fact of life—and/or death—that many artists in a variety of different media experience their greatest successes after they’ve shuffled off this mortal coil. Witness now legendary artists like Vincent van Gogh, whose works now regularly go for untold millions, that is if they even come to market at all, while during his lifetime he was barely able to scrape together enough money to buy paint. One Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré) would hardly be called a van Gogh level creative artist, but his energetic music seems to be a harbinger of greater things ahead. At least, that is, until Eddie’s car is found crashed off of a bridge and Eddie’s body is nowhere to be found. That’s the basic premise of both Eddie and the Cruisers, an agreeable if problematic drama exploring the vagaries of fame and the music industry, and a pretty boneheaded sequel, Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! The first film laid a rather large egg with both critics and audiences at the time of its release, but then gained a certain cult status through repeated airings on then nascent cable television, to the point that it was actually re-released theatrically for a brief time (again to deafening apathy from paying audiences). While not a commercial success, something about the Eddie saga caught some kind of cultural zeitgeist, and the film’s score became improbably popular, two elements which probably led to the lackluster and rather late to the gate sequel. Shout! Factory has now combined these two cult items in a double feature so that the entire tale of Eddie Wilson can be relived again, like an old hit emanating from an ancient jukebox.

There’s little doubt that the unexpected success of Eddie and the Cruisers on cable after a somewhat disastrous theatrical exhibition led to an equally unexpected spike in sales of the soundtrack album, with the first film’s main anthem “On the Dark Side” actually making it to the top of several national charts literally months after the film had been pulled from theaters and was residing more or less regularly on pay television networks. The fact that the soundtrack album eventually went multi-platinum no doubt attracted the attention of Tony and Ben Scotti, whose Scotti Brothers Records had had some success marketing then current day teenage heartthrobs like Leif Garrett to adoring teenyboppers. The Scotti Brothers’ film production entity was behind Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!, and it’s not hard to imagine that the entire film was created whole cloth out of a desire to, yes, market a fictional teenage heartthrob like Eddie Wilson to adoring teenyboppers.

Filled with now quaint seeming “guest star” turns by the likes of Martha Quinn (remember her?) and Larry King, Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! finds the unsurprisingly alive Mr. Wilson attempting to forge a new life in anonymity, despite all the seeming unending interest in Eddie and the Cruisers decades after their brief heyday. The film jettisons any feeling of verisimilitude as it wends a predictable path of Eddie rejoining society (and/or rock ‘n’ roll), chasing away old demons, and finding that life in the spotlight isn’t so bad after all. Even the film’s song score seems haphazard and ineffective this time around, and the Scotti Brothers must have been seriously disappointed when this film’s music didn’t end up selling millions of copies.

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This outing is very much in line with its double feature sibling Eddie and the Cruisers, with elements in remarkably good condition excepting very minor age related issues. Once again the palette pops very well, and this film tends to venture out of doors a bit more often, offering a better chance for brightly lit elements like stunning blue skies to offer deeply saturated hues. Clarity and sharpness are generally very good, again helped by an at least occasionally brighter ambience than the first film. This transfer suffers from recurrent crush as does the first film, with the darker interior moments sometimes looking pretty murky and ill defined. Grain is intact and resolves naturally and aside from brief telecine wobble during the credits, there are no stability issues to cause concern.

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Again as with the first film, Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that provides suitable support for the somewhat more grandiose (if actually less effective) song score this time around. Dialogue is also presented very cleanly and clearly and, as with the track on the first film, there are no issues with distortion, dropouts or other damage. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range relatively wide, especially when considering some of the more bombastic tunes.

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (480i; 3:03)


• Behind the Scenes (480i; 10:26)


• Interview - Larry Stessel - CBS/Epic (480i; 5:06)


• Interview - Johnny Musso (480i; 3:44)


• Interview - Tony Scotti - Scotti Bros. (480i; 12:27)

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Record labels have had a hard time matriculating into the film world (even the biggest independent of all time, A&M, had a bit of a struggle establishing a film presence), and it's not hard to see why with lamentable results like Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! A pretty turgid trek through a bunch of hoary cliches, and curiously hobbled by a song score that tries way too hard, the film is probably best seen as a nostalgic trip back to an era when MTV actually played music videos. Technical merits are generally very good for those considering a purchase.