Eddie and the Cruisers - Mini Review (1 Viewer)

[Eric Finn]

Well this title is one I've been asking for and waiting for just about since I got into DVD. I don't know why, but as a kid I saw this movie and loved it from the start. Shortly after I got into HT I started looking into some of my favorite movies and I could find nothing on this movie. It took me a few posts here at the HTF to even find out who currently owned the rights to this film. It turns out that MGM owns the rights. I've posted a couple times in the last few years asking for MGM to release Eddie and I finally found out they would do just that on Sept. 4. I picked this up from deepdiscountdvd.com for $9.36 and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in my mailbox when I got home on Tuesday. So without further ado, onto the review.
This movie is now 18 years old and it wasn't exactly filmed with a big budget when it was released in 1983. The sound is simply Dolby Surround, but it is in the OAR of 1.85:1 and it is anamorphic. I must admit that I'd be happy having this movie no matter how it looked and sounded simply because I love this film. (Don't ask me why? Its not a rational feeling I guess. ) In any case I was very disappointed with the video quality of this DVD. There are white flecks, dust, and other anomalies all over the place. They were so bad as to be distracting about every 5 minutes or so. IOW I would be drawn out of the movie and distracted by the video quality. Now this is no small problem since I'm only watching this on a little 27" direct view tv at the moment. I don't remember it looking this bad when I saw the P&S version on HBO so why is the DVD quality so poor? You'd think they could at least fix the obvious problems. This is especially annoying since a good portion of this movie involves dark settings or backgrounds so the white dust marks really stand out.
Now the audio on this DVD seemed fine to me. There are no fancy special effects or deep bassy scenes to show off your system, just a good clean soundtrack. However, it did seem as if the audio was at least good enough as to not be distracting. Of course this is a biased opinion since I really enjoy the original songs by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band that make up this soundtrack. There are virtually no extras on this DVD. Spanish and French subtitles, chapter stops, and the theatrical trailer are all you'll get.
In short, if you're a fan of the film its well worth the

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I was rather disappointed in the video transfer as well. This film is a guilty pleasure of mine, so I am still happy to finally have it on DVD. However, it's too bad that MGM did not do more to clean up the picture.
On the bright side, the DPL soundtrack is quite good. I love the music in this film, and while a DD5.1 track would have been great, the DPL audio is much better than the video transfer.
As Eric said, the disc is still worth picking up at it's low price if you are a fan of the film.
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My DVD Collection
AFI 100 Films to watch: 40 -> 5

 

[John P Grosskopf]

What do we expect for less than $10?
As far as I'm concerned, the film looks as good as it did at the theater (which I saw at least 5 times on original release). E&TC was a VERY low budget production, and the film shows this wonderfully, giving it a dcoumentary feel. The DVD captures this.
The DVD is a vast improvement over the original VHS (& Laserdisc) transfer, which is way too red, and obscured much of the picture during darker shots. Sound is top notch as well, delivering all of it's original (and dated) goodness.
I'm very happy having the DVD as it is. Not every movie requires an upgrade to 5.1 sound or a digital restoration. It would not make economic, or sometimes, even artistic sense to change a film just to please critical DVD fans. The same people wanting an upgrade would probably be against colorizing B&W films. Much of the sonic upgrading DVD enthusiasts keep clamoring for is akin to colorization. Unless the original producer and/or director are involved or give consent, older films should be given nothing other than a transfer that retains the artistic integrity of the original piece and delivers an experience AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to original theatrical presentation.
I look forward to more of the MGM releses at bargain basement prices. The trade-off for few features is outweighed by the simple economics of favorite films at under $10 tax included.
It's the movie that's important. A good transfer that retains the artistic value (intent) of the original production at a decent price is all that is ever warranted. The rest (special features, re-mixed sound, etc.) is gravy, that many times, is way over-priced for what we get.
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"If you can't hunt with the big dogs, stay on the porch with the puppies."
[Edited last by John P Grosskopf on September 06, 2001 at 02:48 PM]
[Edited last by John P Grosskopf on September 06, 2001 at 03:04 PM]
[Edited last by John P Grosskopf on September 06, 2001 at 03:11 PM]

 

[Jeff_A]

Considering the age and the allotted budget (at the time) for this film, I had no problem with video transfer. As far as the audio was concerned, I was extremely impressed. Dialogue and music were clean and powerful. I am very happy with this release.
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The Dark Tower

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