Documentary will highlight town’s part in 1983 cult classic movie
SOMERS POINT — Locals offered up fond memories about Tony Mart’s, the Somers Point music scene and cult classic movie “Eddie and the Cruisers” as they reminisced June 21 for a producer filming a documentary for PBS NJ.
The episode is about Somers Point’s role in the 1983 movie. Producer Steve Rogers was at Tavern by the Bay at 800 Bay Ave. to shoot footage of locals talking about partying all night from the 1950s through the early 1980s, how they remain moved by the music of John Cafferty and still love pointing out where the star of the movie drove his car off the old Route 52 causeway and into the water and expected death.
Rogers said the project is “a particular heartfelt one for me,” noting he was 10 when the movie came out and “it stuck with me all these years.”
He is pleasantly surprised that so many people feel the same way.
“I told Carmen (Marotta), ‘Is it just you and me?’ and he said ‘no, you sure are going to find a lot of people on the beach July Fourth.’ There’s something about confirmation that makes you feel so good,” Rogers said.
Executive producer of “Here’s the Story,” he reached out to the Somers Point Beach Committee in May to make arrangements to tell the tale of the city’s part in the film and highlight its unique musical history.
The 1983 film, directed by Martin Davidson, starring Tom Berenger, Michael Pare as Eddie Wilson and Joe Pantoliano and featuring a soundtrack by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, was shot largely at Tony Mart’s — the legendary rock ’n’ roll club at the shore for almost 40 years — as well as in other parts of Somers Point.
It’s about rock star Eddie Wilson, whose car plunged off a bridge — the old Route 52 causeway to Ocean City — in 1964 and disappeared. Two decades later, a renewed interest in the band leads a reporter to question what if Wilson were still alive.
According to tonymart.com, the venue “was a window into the evolutionary popular music from late swing through the golden years of rock ’n’ roll in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and on to the new wave sounds of the early 1980s.”
The movie “immortalized Tony Mart’s as a rock ’n’ roll institution,” according to the site.
Rogers, a 1993 graduate of Stockton University who grew up in the Long Beach Island area, said he completed about 20 interviews during the shoot.
“It was a soulful, entertaining experience, to be sure,” he said. “I wish I had more time, more subjects. The folks that were there were so genuine and wonderful. It was what I was expecting and hoping for.”
Rogers said he did not anticipate the shoot would be “talk show-style,” in which the audience is listening, but “that’s what happens when you make independent films.”
About a dozen people were sitting around at any one time listening and enjoying a cold beverage.
The interviews had people reminiscing about old times in Somers Point and how the movie portrayed the local music scene.
Jim Witchko, 81, of Ocean City, said it really captured “the essence of Somers Point,” noting locals “rocked all night here.”
“We know about bands, we know about parties,” Witchko said.
He said the movie does a nice job of advertising the city, which he said was “built around people enjoying themselves; it’s all about fun.”
Witchko said he was working in Somers Point at the time it was filmed and felt the establishment did not get its just due in the film.
“I’m a little disappointed the movie did not give more credit to Tony Mart’s, which was a fantastic venue,” he said, pulling out framed photos of it and Bayshores across the street.
He said he was not as much a fan of the 1989 sequel “Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!”
“I came over hoping there would be a third sequel,” he told Rogers, who noted Pare is interested in taking part in a third movie.
Charlie Falkenstein had two connections to the movie. He rented a house from Tony Marotta, owner of Tony Mart’s, on Shore Road and George Street, so he frequented the establishment even before the filming. He also provided the two Chevy Novas, a 1963 and 1964, that Berenger drove in the movie.
Falkenstein managed a car lot in Cherry Hill and was approached about selling the two cars, but both had to be light blue with a dark blue interior. He had one that fit the bill and a silver one with a red interior that he had painted and dyed.
He said he got to meet Berenger, Ellen Barkin, David Patrick Wilson, Helen Schneider and Michael Antunes.
After the filming, he said, he was able to attend a casting party in Cherry Hill, which he called “a terrific event for many reasons.”
Falkenstein marveled at the numerous musicians whose careers were launched at Tony Mart’s, naming Conway Twitty, Ricky & the Rockets and Bill Hailey & his Comets.
“I’m just so happy that (Marotta) is keeping this whole thing with ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ and the beach concerts alive,” he said.
“You’re telling me all the names of the local people and places that are somehow connected,” Rogers told him, noting Hollywood often brings everything but in this case, director Davidson and the team “really reached into the community to pull everybody into this.”
“When you talk about it in my generation, people’s eyes light up,” Falkenstein said. “When Cafferty comes to beach concerts, there’s a couple of thousand people down here on our beach.”
He said what he likes the most about the movie is seeing places that have passed into history, noting Dolfin Dock and other establishments on Bay Avenue can be seen.
Somers Point City Council President Janice Johnston was in attendance, but just to watch. She said she lived elsewhere in the ’80s and was not aware of the movie’s connection to the city at the time.
“It was great, very interesting hearing the different stories,” Johnston said the following day.
Referencing a theme picked up on by Rogers during his interviews, she said “when the younger people spoke, it became about a family event, the way they bonded over it.”
On the younger end of the spectrum, Lisa Peters of Haddon Township said she grew up coming to the shore in Somers Point.
She said it was one of her favorite movies growing up, noting she was the last kid in her neighborhood to get cable and remembers watching the movie on HBO.
“‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ was the top movie that summer, and my parents always went to Tony Mart’s before they were married, so any time it came on they would talk about spending time in Somers Point, watching the bands. We would always watch it together,” Peters said.
Rogers said part of the film being a cult classic is the memory of where and how people experienced the movie.
“I think for us, it never got old. Now I’m a mom and driving across the bridge, I say ‘there it is, that’s where Eddie drove off,’” Peters said, adding her children roll their eyes every time.
Dorothy Kornsey talked about her love for Antunes, the saxophone player for Cafferty.
“That’s where you will find me on the Fourth, standing in front of Michael Antunes,” she said, noting she has had the pleasure of meeting him multiple times.
Like many, her favorite part was the soundtrack and her favorite song was “Tender Years.”
“If it doesn’t move you, there’s something wrong with you,” Kornsey said.
Rogers will return to Somers Point on July 4 to shoot footage during the performance of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band in the Somers Point Beach Concert Series.
“The music, obviously, is so essential to this. I want to capture the music in a natural environment — at the Jersey shore in the summer at the beach,” he said.
Gary Gore of Stafford Township and his wife, Jennifer, were both wearing John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band shirts to the event.
Like Rogers, he grew up in Long Beach Island and loved the movie because of its ties to the Jersey shore.
“Even though the movie wasn’t shot in the Long Beach Island area, it was close enough for me as a kid to feel that vibe, that’s for sure,” Rogers said.
“I love the band mainly because of the movie,” Gore said.
He called Carmen Marotta an “unsung hero for what he does with the music and the history.”
Operating Tony Mart’s Presents with his wife, Nancy, “it’s no accident it was voted best beach concert. They deserve a lot of credit,” Gore said.
Marotta said he is excited to see Davidson on the Fourth of July.
“The thing that always comes back to me is, when we first met him and went over to the bar, the way they explained the movie was like where were you in ’62? Now we are doing where were you in ’82 42 years later,” he said.
Marotta said he told Rogers to call the documentary “Where Eddie Lives” because “I think Eddie Wilson lives in Somers Point.”
“I want to keep the legacy alive. I absolutely love the music and the sound of John Cafferty, who is still writing beautiful songs, and I want to support him,” Marotta said.
Rogers said he learned that “Eddie and the Cruisers” was shown on screen at the Gateway Playhouse and told Marotta it was too bad he had not been there for it. Plans may soon be in the works for another showing in early September so Rogers can shoot footage of those anticipating seeing the film again in the town where it was shot.
“I think it would be great to be there before the show, man-on-the-street style. There’s something about the proximity that makes us feel so magical and happy, and that response should be even more special if they were here to see the movie,” Rogers said.
Johnston said Rogers’ passion for the subject is evident.
“I can tell he’s excited, really into what he is doing,” she said, noting she expects an abundant crowd for the Cafferty concert.
Johnston said there couldn’t be a better venue, with people taking in the scene from the beach, from boats in the marina and out in the bay and on the pier.
– STORY and PHOTOS by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff