Trivia for
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983) More at IMDb Pro »

• The band actually playing the music is John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, and the actor playing Wendell, the Cruisers' sax player, is the real-life sax player for them.
  
  
• This film's rise to fame is a story in itself. When first released, it did nothing business-wise and nobody had heard of it. However, once the film aired several times on cable, countless people watched it over and over, turning it into a cult classic. For instance, the featured single, "On The Dark Side," would become a belated Top 10 hit a year after its initial release with the film in 1984. Hence the 1989 sequel, which also went nowhere. In addition, the sequel is nowhere near as popular.
  
  
• Tony Mart's was an actual place in New Jersey from the 1950s to the early 1980s which is where the band in the movie plays circa 1963. The building that used to house Tony Mart's still stands, by the bay, in Somers Point, New Jersey.
  
  

• The Palace of Depression was a real place in Vineland, New Jersey (Eddie's hometown as told in P.F. Kluge's book). It was constructed of old junk, sand, clay, etc. by a homeless drifter who charged admission for people to visit. After his death, vandals destroyed the Palace, however the original ticket booth still stands. There is currently a city restoration project underway to rebuild the Palace of Depression.
  
  
• Wendell Newton (Michael "Tunes" Antunes) does not speak in the movie.
  
  
• The building that is seen briefly as a fraternity house (with Greek letters and students on its roof) is actually the home of the president of Haverford College, where the college scenes were filmed. Haverford College has no Greek organizations.
  
  
• Quotations/inspirations from the book that Ridgeway reads are attributed to poet Arthur Rimbaud.
  
  
• Frank says he became a high school teacher in Vineland. However, the exterior shots are from the Vineland Developmental Center, East Campus. This is a NJ State School for the mentally challenged, still in operation today.
  
  
• At the beginning of the movie, as Frank is pulling into the parking lot of his school, he hears the end of one of The Cruisers songs and the DJ announcing their music has been gaining in popularity. The announcers voice is legendary New York DJ Scott Muni. He also announces the call letters WNEW, the station where he was a broadcaster for almost 20 years.
  
  

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