There were so many things I wanted to say to him, so many questions I wanted to ask. But Eddie and I, we had a deal, we had talked about the future. We thought the present was so fine, why ruin it by planning ahead? But as Eddie drove off, I knew, I knew it then... it wasn't gonna be any future. In the morning, they told me that Eddie was gone, and they hadn't found his body.
Eddie Wilson
Michael Paré · 8 quotes
Frank Ridgeway
Tom Berenger · 6 quotes
Doc Robbins
Joe Pantoliano · 3 quotes
Joann Carlino
Helen Schneider · 3 quotes
Maggie Foley
Ellen Barkin · 3 quotes
Sal Amato
Matthew Laurance · 3 quotes
Most scenes together: Eddie Wilson & Doc Robbins (2), Frank Ridgeway & Joann Carlino (2), Frank Ridgeway & Sal Amato (2)
Eddie and the Cruisers quotes
Page 1 of 2"A Season in Hell", a spiritual and confessional autobiography. Arthur Rimbaud was a genius, his writings were a quest. A search for perfection, an attempt to find total freedom. At the age of nineteen, Arthur Rimbaud commited suicide, not of the flesh, but of the mind and the soul. It means he never wrote another word, and disappeared off the face of the earth. He was not seen nor heard from again for nearly twenty years, until he reappeared in a hospital within Marseille on his deathbed.
[to Eddie]
Are you crazy? We had the money in our hands and you blew it. You blew it! [Eddie pushes him far back]
Eddie, you're wrong! You're wrong! Now listen to me, I love you. I've known you longer than anyone else. But you're wrong. They want "On the Dark Side"! Why are we giving them some damn opera? I don't even know what you're after!
I want something great. I want something that nobody's ever done before!
Why? We ain't great. We're just some guys from Jersey.
If we can't be great, than there's no sense in ever playing music again, Sal.
[Joann follows Eddie as he leaves the studio] [to Frank]
Blame this on you. It was you! We were doing good till you came along. And you got us all screwed up!
Can I help you guys?
Yeah, tell Tony Eddie and the Cruisers are here.
Why did you do this?
Shortcuts, kid. I never could do things the easy way.
Doc, why this little game and the car business?
I figured Joann had the tapes, I knew she wasn't gonna gove them to me. Maybe you, Wordman, maybe if she'd give them to you.
What would you do if you had the tapes, Doc?
Try me, just try me. I have it made. For once in my life, I'd bring home a winner... I'd like that.
I once asked Eddie why he kept you around. You know what he said? He said, "Doc's a dreamer, and the world needs dreamers."
He was the only real friend I ever had.
Frank, I know you're gonna think I'm crazy. But I have to tell you something. Last night, there was a car sitting in my driveway: a '57 Chevy, just like Eddie's.
Joann, that car was destroyed in the accident, remember?
I know, but whoever it was, must have seen me looking out the window. He blinked his headlights high, then low, then high again, just like Eddie.
It can't be. It can't be him.
Well, who then? Who?
It's not Eddie. Now, whoever it is that's watching you is looking to cash in on those tapes. But it is not Eddie.
Frank, I know where those tapes are. After the accident, I had to say goodbye in my own way. I went to Satin Records, got the tapes, and drove back to Palace Depression.
Take me there.
[On the bridge Eddie wrecked on]
The innocence of the 50s was over and so was rock and roll as we knew it. We were entering a new age, an age of confusion, an age of passion, of commitment. Eddie Wilson saw it coming. "Season in Hell" is the total innovation for its time. It was a signal a greatness yet to come. Eddie Wilson was a step ahead of us and I don't think we've caught up with him yet. Eddie's been dead for almost 18 years, but his music is as alive today as the day he recorded it. For me and for everyone who listens to music, Eddie Wilson lives and always will.
Frank, how much influence did Rimbaud have on Eddie?
Looking for a ghost?
You don't really think Eddie's still alive, do you?
I guess not. But what about the coincindence of "Season in Hell"? Frank what happened to those tapes?
Hey, look, it didn't work. The record company hated it, they never released the album.
Frank, I want to get a hold of those tapes and play them on my show. Let's let them be heard, and let the people decide whether their any good.
I don't know where they are. Honest, we'd like to find them as much as you would.
[about Maggie]
You know what she really wanted to talk about? Those old tapes: "Season in Hell". She said something about them being missing, and wanted to know if I knew where they were.
What did you tell her?
I told her I don't have a clue. For all I care, they cook on down with Eddie. You understand?
Sally, you were on those tapes too.
If they find those tapes, what's in it for me, huh? I just about broke my fingers trying to play that stuff.
Well, if it must be worth money, somebody's wanting to pay for them.
But we ain't gonna see a dime from that. They'll find a way to screw us, they always do. Guys like you and me, they strike oil under your garden and all you get is dead tomatoes.
[The band has just finished recording their album] [about Eddie's album]
There's nothing can't be fixed, am I right?
Lew Eisen
This won't fix, this is a disaster. [to Eddie] You want to be a poet? Try Greenwich Village.
Lew, listen, another couple of weeks. We've been working for months.
Lew Eisen
Doc, take six weeks. I still wouldn't know what to do with it.
[to Lew]
You want to know what you can do with it? I'll tell you what you can do with it, you son of a bitch!
Lew Eisen
Hey! I put up ten grand, and I expect something for my money. This is what I've waiting a year for? A bunch of jerk-offs making weird sounds? You're not gonna see a red penny!
[The band is at a college where Frank graduated from]
What is the big deal? We've played at colleges before.
Yeah, sure, we played at "St. Something" down in Delaware and "Fairly Ridiculous" up in Madison, but we ain't never played at no finishing school like this. This is a mistake, we don't belong here. These people are different.
I'm telling you they're gonna eat us up. They're just a bunch of college kids, no better than you...
[singing]
The dark side is calling now, nothing is real / She'll never know just how I feel / From out of a shadow, she walks like a dream / Makes me feel crazy, makes me feel so mean / Ain't nothing gonna save you from a love that is blind / Slip to the dark side across that line / On the dark side, oh yeah / On the dark side, oh yeah
[to Frank]
Joann was telling me you write music, thinks that might be good. I can give you a try. What I want is songs that echo. The stuff we're doing now is like somebody's bedsheets. Spread 'em out, soil 'em, ship 'em out to laundry, you know? [Frank nods] But our songs... I want to be able to fold ourselves up in them forever. You understand? That's the most you'll ever get out of me, Wordman, ever.
[to the audience]
The other day, I heard of one of my best friends. He was the best sax player I ever heard. And they tell me I gotta come up here and entertain you people now. I don't think I'll be able to do that. [walks off the stage]