Looking for an Echo

This film missed its audience in theatrical release. It will be an entertaining rental and good watch on cable. A man's struggle to overcome his past brings him full circle. Great soundtrack by Kenny Vance and the Planotones.

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.

"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.

While channel surfing I stumbled on this movie and now I own it. I don't buy many movies but this is one I had to have. A perfect movie to put on when it's one of those rainy days when you just want to relax. The music draws you in and you find you want more music and less talking. Being a fan of Armand Assante I found this one of his best. The love his character had for his children was so evident and you knew all he wanted was their happiness. And then there was Edoardo Ballerini. Great eye candy and if that was his voice - can't wait to buy his CD's. This is one of those movies that makes you wish for the days when music made you swoon....

"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)