If you don't mind the anachronistic approach the movie takes it can be fairly entertaining. The music is upbeat and designed to move your feet, but the whole time I listened to the Cruisers of 1963 I couldn't help but think about the actual music of the era bearing no relationship at all to what the band was playing. OK, it was mentioned that their music was ahead of it's time, but it actually took twenty years for Springsteen, Southside Johnny and John Cafferty to make their mark with the Asbury Park sound. This movie had it up and running during the Dion and Elvis era, and even before the Beatles led the British Invasion to the States which occurred a year later. So that part of the movie didn't work for me.
But if you were born in the Eighties and watch this film today, not having the perspective of growing up with the music of the Sixties probably won't make much difference. The hunt for the missing 'Season of Hell' recordings drives the story as former members of the Cruisers make an attempt to relive past glory without their leader, who mysteriously disappeared in a car wreck following a recording session. When Doc Robbins (Joe Pantoliano) was exposed by Frank (Tom Berenger) for running the Eddie scam on Joann (Helen Schneider) it solved one mystery, but who was it that went around wrecking the rooms of the other band members looking for the missing tapes? That was never adequately addressed, and if it was Doc himself, he got a much bigger pass for being a jerk than the story allowed.
At least in keeping with the spirit of the Sixties, there's a handful of tunes like 'My Little Runaway" and 'Run Around Sue' to keep things anchored in the proper time frame, and that song about Betty Lou and her new pair of shoes would have been right up Jerry Lee Lewis's alley. I see the movie has it's base of fans on this board, including some who regard it as one of the best music films ever. But writing today, when I plug the picture into my list of 'Concert and Music Movies' I've reviewed here on IMDb and run the list in ranking order, it comes out #45 out of fifty seven films. That places it one notch above the Four Seasons flick "Jersey Boys" - who would have come up with that coincidence?
But if you were born in the Eighties and watch this film today, not having the perspective of growing up with the music of the Sixties probably won't make much difference. The hunt for the missing 'Season of Hell' recordings drives the story as former members of the Cruisers make an attempt to relive past glory without their leader, who mysteriously disappeared in a car wreck following a recording session. When Doc Robbins (Joe Pantoliano) was exposed by Frank (Tom Berenger) for running the Eddie scam on Joann (Helen Schneider) it solved one mystery, but who was it that went around wrecking the rooms of the other band members looking for the missing tapes? That was never adequately addressed, and if it was Doc himself, he got a much bigger pass for being a jerk than the story allowed.
At least in keeping with the spirit of the Sixties, there's a handful of tunes like 'My Little Runaway" and 'Run Around Sue' to keep things anchored in the proper time frame, and that song about Betty Lou and her new pair of shoes would have been right up Jerry Lee Lewis's alley. I see the movie has it's base of fans on this board, including some who regard it as one of the best music films ever. But writing today, when I plug the picture into my list of 'Concert and Music Movies' I've reviewed here on IMDb and run the list in ranking order, it comes out #45 out of fifty seven films. That places it one notch above the Four Seasons flick "Jersey Boys" - who would have come up with that coincidence?