- Joann Carlino: [narrating] 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 never 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: [to the audience, a few days after Wendell Newton's death] The other day, I buried 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.
- Sal Amato: [the band is at Benton College where Frank graduated from] Hey, Wordman, this shindig tonight. How are we suppose to dress?
- Frank Ridgeway: Hey, wait a minute. What is the big deal? We've played at colleges before.
- Eddie Wilson: Yeah, sure, we played at "Saint Something" down in Delaware and "Fairleigh 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.
- Frank Ridgeway: I'm telling you they're gonna eat us up. They're just a bunch of college kids, no better than you...
- Eddie Wilson: [interrupts] Hey! I didn't say better, I said different. You oughta remember that.
- Maggie Foley: Frank, how much influence did Rimbaud have on Eddie?
- Frank Ridgeway: Looking for a ghost?
- Maggie Foley: [smiles knowingly] Maybe.
- Frank Ridgeway: You don't really think Eddie's still alive, do you?
- Maggie Foley: I guess not. But what about the coincidence of "Season in Hell"? Frank, what happened to those tapes?
- Frank Ridgeway: Hey look, it didn't work. The record company hated it, they never released the album.
- Maggie Foley: 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 they're any good.
- Frank Ridgeway: I don't know where they are. Honest, we'd like them as much as you would.
- Eddie Wilson: [after he and Joann arrived at the Palace of Depression] You actually believe that you could build a castle out of a bunch of junk. What a crock.
- [looks at the mirror briefly]
- Eddie Wilson: Holy shit. What a phony.
- [smashes the mirror angrily]
- Eddie Wilson: Here we are, guys. Right where we belong. You got your Edsels... Norges... Dumonts... and Eddie Wilson. Together at last, creating our own incredible monument to nothing!
- [shouts and claps his hands]
- Eddie Wilson: Here's to nothing, fellas! Here's to nothing!
- Eddie Wilson: [singing] The dark side's callin' now, nothin' is real, She'll never know just how I feel, From out of the shadows she walks like a dream, Make me feel crazy, make me feel so mean, Ain't nothin' gonna save you from the love that's blind, Slip to the dark side and cross that line, On the dark side, oh yeah, On the dark side...
- Eddie Wilson: [singing] A summer love, a beach romance, Sought her kisses in the sand, Two young hearts filled with fire, Lost in never-neverland. Whoa, whoa, tender years, Won't you wash away my tears, How I wish you were here, Please don't go, tender years...
- Keith Livingston: So, you up for the weekend?
- Frank Ridgeway: Yeah.
- Keith Livingston: Rites of spring! That's perfect. You know who they got playin' tonight at the dance? They got The Cruisers. You know, the mean ass black group out of Newark. The Cruisers.
- Frank Ridgeway: Oh, yeah. I heard of them.
- Eddie Wilson: [angrily charges into the soundbooth after "Season in Hell" is abruptly cut] What the hell are you doing?
- Doc Robbins: [to Lew, 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]
- Lew Eisen: You want to be a poet? Try Greenwich Village.
- Doc Robbins: 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.
- Eddie Wilson: [angrily to Lew, with Sal and Kenny holding him back] 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 been waiting a year for? A bunch of jerk-offs making weird sounds? You not gonna see a red penny!
- Doc Robbins: [to Eddie] Are you crazy? We had the money in our hands and you blew it. You blew it!
- [Eddie pushes him far back]
- Sal Amato: 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 your after!
- Eddie Wilson: I want something great. I want something that nobody's ever done before!
- Sal Amato: Why? We ain't great. We're just some guys from Jersey.
- Eddie Wilson: If you can't be great, than there's no sense in ever playing music again, Sal.
- [Joann follows Eddie as he leaves the studio]
- Sal Amato: [to Frank] Blame this on you. It was you! We were doing good till you came along. And you got us all screwed up!
- Joann Carlino: 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.
- Frank Ridgeway: Joann, that car was destroyed in the accident, remember?
- Joann Carlino: 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.
- Frank Ridgeway: It can't be. It can't be him.
- Joann Carlino: Well, who then? Who?
- Frank Ridgeway: 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.
- Joann Carlino: 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.
- Frank Ridgeway: Take me there.
- Sal Amato: Everybody you bring into this band's an expert - except Sallie. Sallie's just a dumb guinea, right?
- Maggie Foley: I am going to do a tribute to a group of guys who were ahead of their time.
- Frank Ridgeway: You don't understand. The night Eddie died, the Cruisers died with him.
- Doc Robbins: [on the phone] We got to talk. How soon before you get your ass over here?
- Frank Ridgeway: Well, where are you?
- Doc Robbins: Right back where we started kid, Asbury Park.
- Eddie Wilson: What I want is songs that echo. The stuff we're doing now is like - somebody's bed sheets. Spread 'em out. Soil 'em. Ship 'em out to laundry. You know? But, our songs, I want to be able to - fold ourselves up in 'em - forever. Do you understand? That's the most you'll ever get out of me, Wordman. Ever.
- Eddie Wilson: He's got somethin' we need.
- Doc Robbins: Like what?
- Eddie Wilson: Words and music, Doc. Words and music.
- Kenny Hopkins: We had some fun times for a while, huh? I liked being on top. What's not to like? You're out there in the back of the caddy, balling some chick, you know. One of our tunes come on the radio - whoa! I mean, who was better than me, right?
- Sal Amato: [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.
- Frank Ridgeway: What did you tell her?
- Sal Amato: I told her I don't have a clue. For all I care, they could a gone down with Eddie. You understand?
- Frank Ridgeway: Sally, you were on those tapes too.
- Sal Amato: If they find those tapes, what's in it for me, huh? I just about broke my fingers trying to play that stuff.
- Frank Ridgeway: Well, if it must be worth money, somebody's wanting to pay for them.
- Sal Amato: 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.
- Frank Ridgeway: [after unmasking Doc] Why did you do this?
- Doc Robbins: Shortcuts, kid. I never could do things the easy way.
- Frank Ridgeway: Doc, why this little game and the car business?
- Doc Robbins: I figured Joann had the tapes, I knew she wasn't gonna give them to me. Maybe you, Wordman, maybe if she'd give them to you.
- Joann Carlino: What would you do if you had the tapes, Doc.
- Doc Robbins: Try me, just try me. I have it made. For once in my life, I'd bring home a winner... I'd like that.
- Joann Carlino: 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."
- Doc Robbins: He was the only real friend I ever had.