Jersey Boys

Plot synopsis:
Belleville, New Jersey, 1961.Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) walks in to tell the audience that he's the one to go to for the real story. He claims that if it wasn't for him, he and his friends would have wound up in someone's trunk with a bullet in their heads. He goes over to the barbershop to meet with his friend Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young), performing his first shave on Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken), a mob man that is known to take care of business for Frankie and his friends. Tommy's surprise entrance startles Frankie and he accidentally nicks Gyp's cheek, but he brushes it off.After Tommy drops Gyp off, he goes to Frankie's home after he has dinner with his parents. His mother doesn't like the type of friends Frankie is hanging out with. Tommy takes him out, saying they're going to practice for something at the high school, when in reality they, along with Tommy's brother Nicky (Johnny Cannizzaro), are stealing a vault. The DeVitos try hauling it into Frankie's car, but it is far too heavy. Frankie tries to drive the car with the vault weighing it down, and he ends up crashing through the window of a store. The three boys hightail it out of there.Tommy, Nicky, and their friend Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda) play at a club as The Variety Trio. Tommy invites Frankie up onstage to sing. His falsetto voice catches the attention of a pretty redhead in the audience. Backstage, Tommy tells Frankie there are two types of women out there - Type A, which will immediately jump into bed with a man and then break his balls, and Type B, which will need to be wined and dined before breaking any balls. Frankie decides to pick up the redhead and take her out, only to be stopped by the police for the attempted robbery.Frankie, Tommy, and Nicky are taken to court. Frankie's parents order Tommy to stay away from their son, and he is sent to six months at a correctional facility. He is welcomed back pleasantly.Nick brings Frankie and a date to break into a church. They get to the organ and start singing a tune together, which the nun in the church hears. She brings in a cop, who arrests Nick. Just as Tommy is getting out, Nick is going in.A while later, when nobody is in prison, the boys play at the club again. Frankie spots a gorgeous girl named Mary Delgado (Renee Marino), who is with another man. Though Tommy warns Frankie about her, Frankie tells him to find a way to get rid of her boyfriend. Tommy gets the bartender to get him out, leaving Frankie room to talk to her. They go have dinner together, where Frankie says he's changed his last name to Vally. Mary tells him that it should be with an "I" since he's Italian and because "Y" is a useless letter ("Is it a vowel or a consonant?"). She takes him to bed, and not long after, the two are married.Frankie is later driving in his car with two goons named Stosh (James Madio) and Donnie (Jeremy Luke). The two of them get into an argument that ends with Donnie supposedly shooting Stosh in the head and killing him. A freaked-out Frankie is told to run out, while Stosh sits up, laughing. Frankie runs to Tommy about this. Tommy says it's a scam so that they can collect money to make it go away. Otherwise, in a real shooting, all the witnesses would be killed. The boys go to Gyp to make this go away, and he tells Stosh and Donnie to never go near Frankie again.With Nicky out of the group (now called The Four Lovers), Tommy learns from his good friend Joey Pesci (Joseph Russo) about a singer-songwriter named Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen), who had a hit with the song "Short Shorts". They bring in Bob to check the band perform at the club, where he hears Frankie singing, and he declares to the audience (he's taken over the narration) that he must write for this voice. Bob shows the boys a piece of music he wrote, "Cry For Me", which they all begin to perform in front of the waitresses, who are attracted to Bob. Tommy sends them away and tries to negotiate with Bob and Frankie in regards to letting Bob in. Bob wants a four-way split, which Tommy is not cool with. Frankie is fine with it and threatens to leave the group if Tommy doesn't agree. He relents and lets Bob join.The boys try to send their demos to publishers, with nobody interested in listening to them as they go to the studio. Frankie and Bob run into an old friend of Frankie's, the flamboyant Bob Crewe (Mike Doyle), who takes them to a party and later signs them for a contract. After a year, however, Bob realizes the group is just doing backup vocals for other musicians. Crewe tells them that they don't have a unique name or sound just yet.The boys try to play at the bowling alley, but the manager (Billy Gardell) sends them out since he recognizes Tommy for fixing the pins on games. Outside, the neon sign lights up, with the bowling alley's name, Four Seasons, inspiring the boys to name their group after that. Bob then writes a new piece of music, "Sherry", which they sing for Crewe over the phone. Crewe, enchanted by Frankie's voice, tells his assistant to double Frankie's sound.Soon, the radio cannot stop playing "Sherry", and The Four Seasons become sensational. Their next two singles, "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man" hit #1. The boys start enjoying their lavish lifestyles, with Tommy bringing in a girl to help Bob get laid. However, the constant touring and cavorting with women leads Mary to think Frankie is unfaithful, so she kicks him out. He shares one last night with his daughter Francine (Elizabeth Hunter), before leaving the next morning and saying goodbye to his other two daughters.Trouble begins to stir when the boys perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. Frankie is approached by a loan shark named Norman Waxman (Donnie Kehr), who says that Tommy owes him $150,000. As they play the show, Nick (now the narrator) tells the audience that trouble started long before this.Two years earlier, as the boys play at the Ohio State Fair, they are arrested after they learn that Tommy defrauded a hotel they stayed at, owing them $120. Frankie's faith in Tommy dwindles, and it only gets worse after they are both interviewed by a pretty reporter named Lorraine (Erica Piccininni). Frankie meets with her first and starts a relationship with her, and after she meets Tommy, he hits on her, infuriating Frankie. He stops talking to Tommy, which the latter can't understand, as he feels he's been good to him. Though Nick tells the audience that if you think Frankie would have cut Tommy loose then and there, you're not from Jersey.The boys meet with their lawyer so that the money-handling can be transferred to Bob. In a fit of rage, Tommy smashes a chair on the desk. In the present time, Frankie goes to Gyp for help with Tommy's debt. Moved by his devotion to his friend, Gyp doesn't take Frankie's money and says he'll see what he can do. Together, the boys, along with Gyp and Waxman gather and discuss Tommy's debts, which go further when Tommy admits he took money from their tax account, amounting to about half a million. Frankie says the band will pay off the debt together. Nick, having had enough of Tommy's shit, quits the group. It is then decided that Tommy will be sent to Vegas for the mob to keep an eye out on him.With only Frankie and Bob left, the two struggle to find gigs to play, as well as making money to pay off the debts. Frankie receives a phone call from Mary, prompting him to return to Jersey. He learns that Francine (now played by Freya Tingley) has run off to the city. She is brought back by one of Frankie's friends. Frankie meets Francine at a restaurant and encourages her to become a singer, with Crewe being able to sign her. After a while, Frankie and Bob finally pay off the debts to Waxman. Frankie receives his weekly phone call from Francine, only to find that it's a policeman answering, telling him that Francine has died from an apparent overdose. Distraught, Frankie is reluctant to play anymore songs that Bob has written.Following Francine's death, Frankie gets back to singing, starting with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". It starts off slow, and then builds into a bigger song, which he plays to amused crowds.Fast forward to 1990 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frankie, Bob, and Nick have reunited. Tommy makes a surprise appearance and reconciles with Frankie. They perform "Sherry", during which each of them give testimonies. Tommy now works for Joe Pesci. Nick explains his leaving the group as a moment of pride and a desire to go home. Frankie says he'll never forget how his experience with the guys started. Bob says he doesn't care where people thinks he came from, and that he's happy to live in Nashville with his wife. We then see the boys in their younger selves performing "Who Loves You".The film ends with the entire cast performing "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)".

Tags: neo noir, historical, flashback

Review:
I've never seen the musical, but I gotta tell you, if you love 60's, 70's & 80's Frankie Valli songs, your eyes too will adore this movie...
Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite directors and I thought "Jersey Boys" would be one of my favorite films of this year, but I was disappointed by Eastwood's adaptation of the hit Broadway play.
I understand why they made some of the choices and some of them work very well, but I would have liked to have seen more musical moments.A lot of time is placed on the exposition and I thought it kind of slowed the film down.
Other great song moments include "My Eyes Adored You" and the tear jerking rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You."Eastwood's "Jersey Boys" has its faults, but the sheer power of the music and the acting makes it a treat worth seeing..
Jersey Boys is the phenomenal true story of a 'sound' that took four boys from New Jersey's mob controlled suburbs and made them into the icons they are today – legends whose music is still celebrated more than five decades on!Produced and directed by another living legend – Clint Eastwood – Jersey Boys is a Tony Award winning Broadway and West End musical adaptation of the same name.
This is why the audience has to wait a good hour before Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) makes our feet tap to the film's first real track: Sherry.
The stage version centers on the music more, while the film version adds fullness and close up drama and intensity to the story.The "sterile" and "plain" look of the sets that the professional critics didn't like gives a "stage feel" to the scenes.
The fact that Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, who wrote the stage musical, also wrote the movie version, and that Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio were executive producers gives unquestionable credibility to the movie.Now to get to Clint Eastwood.
I did not know much about the Broadway musical before hearing about the movie, so I did not know it was about the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons who I vaguely herd of but am absolutely familiar with their songs (and Valli's unique chops), and this is the kind of musical that I really like.
These are pertinent because they impact one's reaction to the film version.Director Clint Eastwood knew immediately he wanted to bring the Broadway show to the movies.
Piazza is well known from "Boardwalk Empire", but he is just a bit too slick as the guy who scammed the other band members, digging a massive hole of debt - mostly to a mob loan shark named Norm Waxman (played by Donnie Kehr in an excellent performance).Other support work is provided by Mike Doyle as record producer and all-around flamboyant guy, Bob Crewe; Renee Marino starts strong as Mary (Frankie's future wife) but is given little to do as the story progresses; Joseph Russo captures the quirks of a young Joe Pesci, who introduces Gaudio to the band; and the always entertaining Christopher Walken slightly underplays local made guy Gyp DeCarlo who is instrumental in protecting Frankie in those early years.
Frankie Valli, played admirably by John Lloyd Young has the iconic voice which leads the famous Four Seasons and this is the story of the rise and fall and rise again of the kid from New Jersey.
The direction from Clint Eastwood is inspired, has a slight feel of a scorcese film, mainly due to the forth wall been broken by characters talking directly to camera, but I assume this is due to the way the stage production worked.
Overall a film worth seeing whether your a fan of frankie valli or not as there is probably songs in there you love not knowing they were performed by the four seasons.
And the make-up of the aged band members at the end of the film is so ridiculous that I actually burst out laughing.Can't believe this is a Clint Eastwood movie....
'JERSEY BOYS': Four Stars (Out of Five)Film adaptation of the popular (Tony Award-winning) jukebox musical (of the same name); based on the history of the 1960s pop group The Four Seasons.
I found it to be a little too long and clichéd at times but entertaining enough (especially with the great music).The story begins with the four young singers starting out as a 'boy band' in the 1950s and follows their many years of touring, recording, breakup and reunion (decades later).
I've never seen the musical, and didn't really know anything about it's story (prior to seeing the film), but I've heard it's much better than this movie.
(That is, they don't seem fake.)Most of all, this movie uses lots of the Four Seasons' music, reminding me that even though I was never a big fan at the time, they were nevertheless the soundtrack to more of my own life than I had realized.
"Four guys under a street lamp, when it was all still ahead of us, the first time we made that sound — our sound." Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young)It's next to impossible to compare director Clint Eastwood's entertaining Jersey Boys with the popular juke-box stage hit without feeling that the live production is superior.
Or maybe because Christopher Walken's mobster, Gyp DeCarlo, is underplayed.But more to the point, this film is a story of rags to riches with the speed bumps large and disorientations many despite the transcendence of the music (Sherry Baby and Walk Like a Man are only two of the memorable hits by this unusually gifted group).
Eastwood spends considerable opening capital on the home life of the Jersey boys with the overdone Sopranos accent and run-ins with local cops to the exclusion of the actual development of their famous songs.With the emergence of the Four Seasons, the musical becomes vibrant.
As Frankie moves into performances without his original group in order to pay off mob debt for his partner, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), the songs still evidence the greatness of the falsetto and the humanity of the singer.Eastwood builds the sentiment into the narrative arc, beginning roughly in the hood and ending sweetly at the Hall of Fame, where the reunion reminds us of their unique charm even though they are old but not out of tune.
Jersey Boys may not be the fullest musical imaginable with its middlin' family life sequences, but when it breaks into song with tunes accurately fitting the times, the film becomes a testimony to Clint Eastwood's ability in any genre and the glorious sound of real humans trying to balance audience, mob, and songs.
Jersey BoysThe best part of a Doo-Wop group is there are no instruments to lug around.However, the voices in this musical-drama do have baggage.Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), a gifted vocalist from New Jersey, teams with Tommy (Vincent Piazza) Bob (Erich Bergen) and Nick (Michael Lomenda) to start a singing group.Relegated to back-up singing, the boys struggle to get their single Sherry heard.
When the song is heard, it sets off a chain-reaction of number one hits.Regrettably, when Tommy's debt to a Jersey gangster (Christopher Walken) is called in, Frankie must make a tough choice.While the hits are here, the versions in Clint Eastwood's adaptation of the Broadway Musical about The Four Seasons are as lifeless and boring as the script.Besides, why pay $20 to see actors imitating an old Doo-Wop group, when you can see the actual Doo-Wop group at the casino for $15?
Edgar and Hereafter, Clint Eastwood's big screen version of the Broadway smash hit musical Jersey Boys is a frustratingly hollow big screen event that squanders a ripe storyline to become a meandering movie devoid of any real pulse, purpose or cinematic flair.The story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is clearly interesting enough to set Broadway alight and there are enough elements in the story of these entertainers to fill countless movie tales yet Eastwood's plodding direction seems to reign in all possible emotional arcs present.
Eastwood has shown over recent decades a finely tuned directional mind, from the plains of the west in Unforgiven, the suburban streets of old school America in The Changeling or the battlefields of Japan in Flags of Our Fathers, his films have come to life but he can't breathe life into this rise and fall tale especially with his largely unexperienced cast delivering charisma free turns.Without pretending to be a knowledgeable source on anything Frank Valli or the Four Seasons I would assume that the group possessed as healthy dose of charisma that for the most part in Eastwood's tale appears totally non-existent.
Other than Boardwalk Empire's Vincent Piazza as the bands troubled leader Tommy DeVito all other acting members fail to make an impact, which more than likely stems from there history of stage performers not movie actors.
When the best member of the cast is a dancing Christopher Walken in the closing credits you know you're in trouble but blame must largely fall to Eastwood for his direction of his actors and miss-telling of much of this story.After Jersey Boys concluded I felt that I knew the group no better than when I started out, where successful musical tales like Walk the Line and Ray succeeded at shining a light on the genius and the drive these performers had and did so by bringing them totally to life, Jersey Boys feels like a mere splattering of events that never fully develop into anything more than mild curiosity for the audience.2 oversized safe's out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com.
Clint Eastwood's movie version of the hit Broadway musical, "The Jersey Boys," a biographical spin on the '60's pop group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, is pure, old-fashioned entertainment in the best sense.
John Lloyd Young (an exact physical replica of the old movie tough guy Richard Conte if ever there were one) is just dandy in reprising his Tony-winning turn as Frankie (nee Castelluccio), capturing every nuance of Valli's high-pitched virtuosity in songs like "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Sherry," "Walk Like a Man" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." To those of a certain age, the sound is so accurate it will make you want to reach for your dashboard radio to turn the volume up.
Erich Bergen is perfect as Bob Gaudio, who comes to the group as songwriter and singer in the nick of time thanks to the help of a mutual friend _ none other than the future movie star Joe Pesci (played to the hilt with disarming accuracy by Joseph Russo).
Vincent Piazza's Cagney-ish Tommy DeVito, the flawed heart and soul of the group in its early days, is fun to watch and absolutely believable in every way, and Michael Lomenda has excellent moments as Nick Massi, a straight-shooter who finally gets fed up and has the nerve to tell off even Gyp as he speeds away (in a red Cadillac convertible).
Clint Eastwood decided to take a stab not just at the biopic genre, but also the musical genre with his latest, Jersey Boys.Like most musical movies these days, this is based off of the popular Broadway musical of the same name, yet I have not had the privilege to see it yet.
He also has some musical talent as he, a friend Nick Massi and young Frankie Valli (played by John Lloyd Young) like to perform as a trio.They all have dreams to take their voice to bigger places and manages to get a forth guy, Bob Gaudio so that they can get work.
Besides giving plenty of chances for the group to serenade us with many of their hits, we get insights on the band members lives from Frankie Valli's daughter running away to Tommy's further troubles with debts and mobs.The Broadway show's gimmick was that you were watching four actors become the Four Seasons and enjoy their songs while the historical stuff is more of a side event.
With Clint Eastwood in the director's chair, the historical stuff has been expanded upon, taking more focus then the songs themselves.It's a big gamble, considering that the men playing the Four Seasons are the same actors from the stage show.
None of his lines sound natural and he sticks out like a sore thumb, easily one of the worst casting choices in the film.The Verdict: Despite some good acting, good music and staying true to the plot of the stage show, it couldn't keep me awake for me to enjoy.
A very entertaining American success story brought to life under the gentle and skilled hand of Eastwood.The movie follows the Four Seasons from their teens up through their sixties and the work they had to do to reach the top of their profession while giving some insights on the hard knocks in the recording industry.Things I would add, none.Things I would subtract from the movie, none.My 15 year old daughter spent the rest of the day playing 4 Seasons songs on her I-pod and learned to sing a few.
When I saw "Jersey Boys" on stage I thought it would make a great film, a gift for Martin Scorsese; think "Goodfellas" as a musical minus the killings.
I needn't have worried, "Jersey Boys" is terrific; a full-blooded, thoroughly old fashioned biopic that totally transcends the term 'jukebox musical'.It is, of course, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, or rather The Four Seasons, the band that included Valli, and who rose to inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite their connections to the Mob. In some respects it's a gangster musical along the lines of "Love Me or Leave Me" but with a rock n'roll slant.
Based on the Broadway musical the film is the story of four young men who would eventually go onto become The Four Seasons, one of the central doo-wop groups of the sixties.
Okay, having not seen the original Broadway musical version of this, I had really wanted to watch this movie version of this group of men who rise to stardom despite a couple of them spending some time in bars previously.
The only issue we had with this film directed by the great Clint Eastwood is that after Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons had their string of hits during the early to mid 1960's...by the late 60's the British invasion ruled and their hits became less and for a few years disappeared until 1975 Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons had a major come-back with "Who Loves You" and "December 63 Oh What a Night"...but in the movie they go from mid to late 1960's to 1990 and skip their big comeback of 1975.
I don't know if that's the case with Jersey Boys but the film was dreadfully slow, the music was not well used AT ALL, the performances were okay at best but I felt like they really lacked power behind them.
I had really wanted to see the original stage musical instead but welcomed the chance to see the film version although I did have my reservations, particularly over the choice of Clint Eastwood as director and the use of unknowns in the lead singing parts.
I'm afraid both my qualms proved valid and I ended up not enjoying the movie as much as I expected to.The story of the Four Seasons background rise to fame wasn't that well-known beforehand I guess, but even though it has its intrigues and tragedies, it doesn't feel strong enough on which to hang a narrative, not helped, as I said, by the rather character-less actors who get to play the individual group members.
At times the movie also feels like it's playing it safe by following most conventions of the musical biopic genre.
John Lloyd Young played the same role he did in the Broadway musical as Frankie Valli, and he captures that unique voice in the film.
Similarly the recent cinematic version of Les Miserables was filled with so many compelling performances and great set-pieces that it was, and remains, one of the most emotionally-charged films for me of recent years.Unfortunately neither is the case with Clint Eastwood's cinematic version of Jersey Boys, the Broadway and West End smash hit telling the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
"Jersey Boys" is the play and that is it not a great movie piece (bad job Clint, Frankie and Bob), should have shown it with some character and not a play / musical.
I had my trepidation's along with Frankie Valli about movie adaptations from the Broadway stage productions but Jersey Boys does not disappoint.
With amazing vocals by John Lloyd Young and a story which you feel the highs and lows, this movie is definitely for someone who wants to discover good music or have a sing and a dance.
JERSEY BOYS is another winner from director Clint Eastwood and an adaptation of the popular stage musical about the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
The only time I haven't liked one of his films was "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" - pretty awful."Jersey Boys" tells the story of the Four Seasons, from their felonious beginnings to their attempts to break through into the music scene, their name changes, the success, and the burdens that came with it.
The movie is a treasure trove of great music.John Lloyd Young repeats his Broadway star-making role as Frankie Valli.
Jersey Boys is a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical that showed the rise and decline of the 60's rock group, the Four Seasons.
Clint Eastwood's film is about the rise and fall of the New Jersey-bred men who joined together to form a musical group based around Frankie Valli's uncommon voice.
If you are a fan of the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons you will love this movie.