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

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 14, 2015

Note: The above scores are averages for the two films put together. Please see the individual reviews (linked below) for scores for each film separately.

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.

Reviews of each of the films included on this double feature disc can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Eddie and the Cruisers Blu-ray review

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! Blu-ray review

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

Video quality of each film is addressed in the above linked reviews.

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

Audio quality of each film is addressed in the above linked reviews.

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

Supplementary material for each film is addressed in the above linked reviews.

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

Eddie and the Cruisers is a reasonably compelling story that does better when it focuses on the dynamics between the band members than when it tries to create supposed interest out of its not very convincing mystery elements. Unfortunately the sequel is a largely dunderheaded attempt to cash in on what was seen as a marketable cult property. Technical merits are generally very good to excellent for both films, and taken as a whole (with a decided push to the scores created by the first film), this double feature comes Recommended.