Due to the surprising success of my initial Movies Project, I decided to do a part two for 2012. This time around I put a greater emphasis on directors I am not familiar with, but I also tried to compile a mix of different genres and eras. This will be an ongoing project with the finish date being sometime this year.
![The Blues Brothers [1980]](http://twscritic.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/the-blues-brothers.jpg "The Blues Brothers [1980]")
The Blues Brothers [1980]
Director: John Landis
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Music
Starring: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Carrie Fisher
Runtime: 133 minutes (extended: 147 minutes)
“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
As a Chicago resident, it’s almost blasphemous that I just now saw The Blues Brothers for the first time. This much-loved 1980 musical/comedy/action/whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it is pretty much the quintessential Chicago movie, and it has a bit of a legendary status around here. Hell, last month Wrigley Field held a screening of the film (though the $20 bleacher and $40 lawn seats were too pricey for me). To say it was due time for me to familiarize myself with this is an understatement.
![The Blues Brothers [1980]](http://twscritic.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/the-blues-brothers-1980.jpg "The Blues Brothers [1980]")
The eponymous brothers are, of course, “Joliet” Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd). The film begins with Jake being released from Joliet Prison, making sure to grab his retained items on the way out (including “one unused prophylactic” and “one soiled”). Elwood picks him up in what they call the Bluesmobile — a beat-up 1974 Dodge Monaco patrol car. Before being incarcarated, Jake had promised the nun at their childhood orphanage that she would be the first person he would visit after being released. Upon arriving, the brothers are hit with the news that the orphanage will be forced to close unless $5,000 in property taxes are collected. Some financial brainstorming, aided by a trip to a wildly entertaining gospel church service, leads Jake and Elwood to discover a way to help come up with the money. Their plan? Re-form the Blues Brothers rhythm & blues band.
In order to do so, the siblings drive around the Chicagoland suburbs, making stops to attempt to lure their old bandmates back for their fundraiser gig. This hilariously leads to random musical encounters in which they run into legit musicians, all playing minor characters. The aforementioned church service is led by James Brown, who may be the coolest reverend I have ever seen. Other noteworthy appearances include Aretha Franklin running a soul food restaurant, Ray Charles owning a music shop, and John Lee Hooker jamming on a South Side street. Not knowing much about the film, these musical interludes were a pleasant surprise, and many of them were absolute highlights.
![The Blues Brothers [1980]](http://twscritic.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/blues-bros-ray-charles.jpg "The Blues Brothers [1980]")
There are two extended scenes in the film that I loved the hell out of. One is when the band, in their first gig in years, masquerades as “The Good Ol’ Boys”, a country group in a divey hick bar way outside of the city. The bartender reassures the guys that they have “both kinds of music here, Country AND Western“. With little choice, the band hops on stage. Their opening blues jam doesn’t go over well with the local folk, so they improvise by playing — what else? — the “Rawhide” theme song. Throw in a cover of “Stand By Your Man” and slowly they start to win over the increasingly drunker patrons. And with this scene, I fell in love with the movie.
Later, the big Chicago moments arrive. Watching the brothers drive their Bluesmobile through all sorts of familiar locations — lower Wacker Drive, Lake Street and the Daley Center, to name a few — was a lot of fun. Even more entertaining was watching them destroy damn near everything in their path, Daley Center included. As the cop cars continued to pile up, I just couldn’t believe how much damage was being done. This would have been crazy as hell to see being filmed, that’s for sure.
![The Blues Brothers [1980]](http://twscritic.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/blues-brothers-police-car-pileup1.jpg "The Blues Brothers [1980]")
While the stars of the film are undoubtedly Aykroyd and Belushi, it was Aykroyd who nailed it with his famous remark, “Chicago is one of the stars of the movie. We wrote it as a tribute.“
I’m not sure what the differences are between the theatrical cut and extended version, but I watched the latter. I feel there were probably two or three unnecessary scenes included, as the nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime was a little exhausting. Regardless, I can’t say I have seen another film like The Blues Brothers, a rambunctious ode to my favorite city.
“We’re on a mission from god.”
So many great lines in this movie.
“I hate Illinois Nazis.”
I like the scene where they go talk to the nun (The Penguin). Every time she slaps them with that huge ass ruler I fall down laughing so hard.
“I’ll have four fried chickens and a coke.”
“And some dry white toast.”
Haha yeah that was great. I knew I was going to dig the movie after that scene.
What The Heretic said
. Such a fun movie with a stellar soundtrack. Thanks, Eric.
Absolutely. I wasn’t expecting this one to live up to the hype, but I loved it. Especially fun being a Chicago resident.
Yeah, I can see this registering well for someone of The Windy City.
I loved how “The Penguin” never walked, but glided.
Hah, I didn’t even notice that. Brilliant!
“As a Chicago resident, it’s almost blasphemous that I just now saw The Blues Brothers for the first time.” You can go ahead and remove the “almost” there.
You do redeem yourself by saying you “fell in love with this movie”, though. A little.
One of the greatest comedies ever. And a unique offering, due to the musical numbers…
Haha, well better late than never, right? Yeah, this is definitely unique. I wasn’t expecting all of the musical numbers, but it was so much fun seeing Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, etc. Good stuff.
Got dressed as them with my dad to a fancy dress party, it was really funny because my dad is much smaller than me haha
Haha, nice. Sounds like a fun night.
One of my favorites, and depending on the day you ask me, my absolute favorite. This is a great, great film.
Awesome. I could definitely see it becoming a favorite of mine after another viewing or two.
I forgot it was set in Chicago,been a long time since I watched Blues Brothers, the stunts/car chases are epic, right? The sequel was an unnecessary cash-in, though
Oh yeah, the car chases were nuts. That screenshot of the police car pileup doesn’t do them justice.
Is it terribly wrong that I’m from Chicago and still haven’t seen THE BLUES BROTHERS?
Well, according to Fogs it’s “blasphemous”!
Thanks for reminding me of this movie, I haven’t seen it in a while
Sure thing. It was a lot of fun.
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I saw this ages ago and I know my brothers love it! That is interesting that you just saw this though you’re from Chicago, I mean there’s a statue of both of them at the O’Hare airport!
Oh really? Somehow I must have missed that statue. But then again, O’Hare is HUGE!
Ahah indeed it is. Hey, when are you gonna do your Liebster post? I saw that Le0pard13 nominated you
Haha, yeah Michael and seven others
I’m working on answering all of the questions and will try to put something together within the next couple days.
Hi, Eric and company:
Great choice!
Always get a kick out of the films’ many lines and surprising cameos (Twiggy, John Landis, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Frank Oz, etc) throughout.
Must have been nice to have been the mayor and given Carte Blanche for certain areas and malls to be destroyed. Also get a kick out of seeing what looks like every police car from ‘Hill Street Blues’ used in the humongous chase scene!
Hi Jack, yeah, I loved all of the cameos in this. It seemed like with every scene there was some sort of surprise appearance.
I can only imagine how chaotic it was while they were filming. I would have loved to have been there.
Hey, I’m from Chicagoland too! I actually live about 10 miles from Joliet. Glad you finally got a taste of this fine Chicago movie
Oh cool, I didn’t know that! Always fun to run into another Chicago blogger.
Seen this maybe ten times. BB should be on the top 10 list of Sight and Sound!
Nice! It definitely lives up to its classic status. Glad I finally saw it.
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This movie is infinitely lovable. And it captures Chicago so well (even Joliet and… wherever the hell that country and western bar was). I was just there a few weeks ago, in Rosemont, downtown, and Wrigleyville, and everywhere I turned felt like a Blues Brothers scene.
I couldn’t agree more about the musical numbers. The movie is fun enough but adding the music to it makes it transcendent comedy of the era.
Did you catch Steven Spielberg’s cameo?
No, I totally missed that cameo. Where was he at?
He was the city clerk at the end of the movie, the one who was eating his lunch.
Ha, nice. I’ll have to keep an eye out for him next time.
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