Looking for an Echo

The movie was on cable, I didn't choose it on purpose... but I stood there in the middle of the living room thinking "oh my god... what is this?" The harmonies were amazing... I don't like oldies as a rule--I love soul, r&b, hip hop, even heavy metal--but I had to see this movie again. Then, I had to have it. It's just one of those. I find myself dragging my kid's keyboard out of the back room, and sitting in front of the TV during Anthony's acoustic version of Vinnie's song, playing it over and over and over, thinking to myself "this is so simple and perfect, I can play this... I can sing this..." but there is something magical about the song, the performance... that just can't be captured in real life... it's not a pasteurized, homogenized, production version either... I can't explain it. You have to see it. *whew*

The 80s masterpiece, "Eddie & the Cruisers" by director Martin Davidson asked the age old question Neil Young sang and Kurt Cobain quoted in his suicide note: is it "better to burn out than to fade away"? Musicians, artists, inventors, athletes and achievers from all walks of life have wondered this after reaching a pinnacle of success. In "E&tC", Davidson approaches the subject from the "burn out" perspective, and here 20 years later he revisits it from the "fade away".

As such, this is not the explosive, energetic story of the rock n roll martyr Eddie, but instead it's the quiet, thoughtful, relatively uneventful story of the retiree Vinnie. While it features some stunning, passionate scenes that you won't forget, it's essentially just the story of an Everyman dealing with everyday life in the wake of long gone glory.

I have to admit after seeing this I felt slightly unfulfilled, thinking there should've been more of a big conflict, nerve-ripping climax and bam finish. But then I realized that's precisely NOT what Davidson wanted, nor would it have been appropriate. Vinnie is a somber man who chose to retire from his fantasy past in order to face the less-poetic challenges of life. The conflict within him is what this story is about. So the movie doesn't need any fancy theatrics, plot twists & melodrama.

With that in mind, be forewarned: for the entire first half, almost nothing happens. And I mean nothing. Like the main character's life, it didn't really have much direction, passion or intrigue. But like a growing toothache, the conflict builds inside him as he really begins to question his station in life, particularly through the vicarious thrill of his son's budding music career. The climax comes in growing spurts as the film progresses, culminating with a powerful, wonderfully acted scene at the end when we see Vinnie finally give voice to the demons that have been secretly plaguing him. Armand Assante pulls it off like no other actor could have.

I have the sudden urge to watch "Eddie & the Cruisers" and then watch "Looking for an Echo" again. If you enjoy quiet, pensive films about everyday human beings, I'm sure you'll want to see this at least once. And for pete's sake, if you haven't already seen it, go see E&tC right away! These are two unappreciated films that each capture the nostalgia of a bygone musical age, putting the past in context with our lives today.

"Looking for an Echo" is a slice of 50-year-old life flick with Asante as a widower, a bartender, a has-been pop singer/musician, and the father of a daughter with cancer. The flick offers a whole lot of doo-wop singing and carousing with old singing pals while working in side plots involving the daughter's illness, romance with a nurse, and family issues. Ill focused, "Looking...." seems to have little plot or purpose but makes for an easy-going, soapy watch which tries hard to leave the audience feeling good. With little to fault and little to praise, "Looking...." is a lukewarm but sincere film product which will be most enjoyed by lovers of vocal harmonizing (circa 50's-60's) and Asante fans. (C)

"A place to live in harmony, a place we almost found." Kenny Vance

In 1964, I used to hang around a bar in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (where "Looking..." is set). I wasn't from the neighborhood, but they'd let me in even though I was but seventeen - the legal age at that time was eighteen. Most Fridays would find me at the bar, drinking and listening to the bar band play...and sing. It was obvious that the band guys could sing, but they were singing stuff like "Wooden Heart," maybe a Beatles tune or two - nothing that you could call doo-wop.

I began to bug the band with taunts like, "Hey, why doncha sing some harmony, man!?" and when they weren't performing I would talk to them a bit. They were local guys. One night after their set, after they'd heard one too many jibes from me, they dragged me into the men's room and sang some very nice harmony. They really hit some notes and I never taunted them again.

"Looking For An Echo" reminds me of those days. I found myself singing along to the harmony parts of "Please Say You Want Me," a song much-loved and covered in mid-1960s Brooklyn and Queens. And also, of course, that latter-day hymn to harmony, "Looking For An Echo."

A kind of musically oriented "Goodfellas" where the fellas really are good. A must-see for anyone who's ever sung a note of harmony.

I grew up in the Metro New York area during the do wop period in rock and roll so I know the music well. I've also been acquainted with some "one hit wonders" living in serene obscurity. I discovered I was living next door to the lead singer of a do wop group with a very big hit record for fifteen years only after another neighbor mentioned it to me in passing.

This small budget movie was written, directed and acted by people who know the territory. The cast is uniformly excellent with Armand Assante, Diane Venora, Edoardo Ballerini, Christy Carlson Romano and Joe Grifaci leading the way.

Shot on locations around Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay and Bay Ridge in Diners, Taverns, Wedding Halls and under the Verrazano Bridge, the film captures the sense of the Italian Irish Brooklyn that predominated in the late 50's and early 60's and lives on today in small enclaves.

Kenny Vance from Jay and the Americans wrote the title song and did the vocals for "Vinnie". A small quibble about the music: the big hit from the fictional Vinnie and the Dreamers was "This I Swear", a bona fide hit for the real life "Skyliners". It might have worked better if they had picked a more obscure song from that era.

One notable attribute about the "one hit wonder" from the 50's and 60's that I personally know and the way he is accurately portrayed by Armand Assante is how easily they took their "15 minutes of fame" and moved on to mundane lives as cops, teachers, bartenders, etc. The groups of that era were financially ripped off and rarely got any significant money. This is a stark contrast to today's reality show contestants who get agents and linger on the fringes as long as they can.

Bottom line: this movie was made by people who cared.