"What they want to eat?"
"The tall one wants white toast, dry, with nothin' on it."
"Elwood."
"And the short one wants four whole fried chickens, and a Coke."
"And Jake. Shit, the Blues Brothers."
During their time as regulars on Saturday Night Live John Belushi & Dan Aykroyd would help the band warm up before the show, often playing blues songs. This led the duo to become The Blues Brothers and appear as the musical guest on the show a few times. Due to the popularity of their performances The Blues Brothers recorded a blues album and in 1980 made a movie. The film begins as Jake (Belushi) is released from prison...he robbed a store to pay the band, but was caught. Although the film begins when he is still dressed as an inmate (and without his trademark suit, hat & sunglasses) the audience does not see his face until he is outside the prison walls. He is met by his brother Elwood (Aykroyd) who also sports a black suit, hat, and sunglasses and they drive away in a used police car. The brothers go to the orphanage where they were raised by a strict nun, Sister Mary Stigmata whom they call 'the Penguin' (Kathleen Freeman), and Curtis (Cab Calloway) a blues lover who dresses like the brothers (including the sunglasses). The orphanage is in debt several thousand dollars and it is up to the brothers to save it. They seek guidance from a local church and during a moving speech/song by the honorable Rev. James (James Brown) they believe this is a mission from God. Their solution: find their former bandmates (who still haven't been paid and now have "straight" jobs) and perform to raise the money.
The rest of the film is ODTAA (one darn thing after another) as the brothers run from the local cops (led by John Candy) and the Illonois Nazi Party (Henry Gibson) and a country-western band (led by Charles Napier) and from the mysterious woman who is trying to kill them (Carrie Fischer) and try to raise awareness for the orphanage and their show. In between the crazy car chases and other random events are songs (Roger Ebert calls this film "a sort of musical Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (check out the rest of his review here also look at my review of It's a Mad (x4) World) sung by the Blues Brothers and a diverse group of popular musicians: Aretha Franklin (Mrs. Murphy), James Brown (mentioned above), Cab Calloway (Curtis), Chaka Khan (Choir Soloist) and Ray Charles (Ray).
Almost all the members of the band performed with the Brothers on their SNL appearances (some were unable to appear in the film for various reasons) and are as follows: guitarists Steve (Colonel) Cropper and Matt (Guitar) Murphy, saxophonist Lou Marini, and trombonist Tom (Bones) Malone, drummer Willie (Too Big) Hall (added for the film) and keyboardist Murphy Dunne (also added for the film).
While there is a lot going on in the film its a fun ride! Probably my favorite scene is the band's first gig after regrouping. They play in a bar where the patrons only like two kinds of music "country & western". Separating the band from its audience is a wall of wire mesh. This wall is for the bands protection since the customers continually throw their beer bottles at the stage. O my! Despite all this, the chaos is controlled by the plot (and director) and Aykroyd & Belushi have amazing chemistry, plus the music is AMAZING and the car chases are a riot.
Buy it b/c it's good: it's hardly a 'classic' or a 'great' film, but definitely worthwhile in the long run...and you can totally impress your friends with your comic selection
Dude, it's quotable: ITS THE HUFFING BLUES BROTHERS! They are cultural icons...even if you don't (or didn't) like SNL they are memorable, funny characters with some fascinating dialogue (and by 'fascinating' i mean funny but a tad risky)
The Blues Brothers (1980) 133 min (extended version is 148 min)"The tall one wants white toast, dry, with nothin' on it."
"Elwood."
"And the short one wants four whole fried chickens, and a Coke."
"And Jake. Shit, the Blues Brothers."
During their time as regulars on Saturday Night Live John Belushi & Dan Aykroyd would help the band warm up before the show, often playing blues songs. This led the duo to become The Blues Brothers and appear as the musical guest on the show a few times. Due to the popularity of their performances The Blues Brothers recorded a blues album and in 1980 made a movie. The film begins as Jake (Belushi) is released from prison...he robbed a store to pay the band, but was caught. Although the film begins when he is still dressed as an inmate (and without his trademark suit, hat & sunglasses) the audience does not see his face until he is outside the prison walls. He is met by his brother Elwood (Aykroyd) who also sports a black suit, hat, and sunglasses and they drive away in a used police car. The brothers go to the orphanage where they were raised by a strict nun, Sister Mary Stigmata whom they call 'the Penguin' (Kathleen Freeman), and Curtis (Cab Calloway) a blues lover who dresses like the brothers (including the sunglasses). The orphanage is in debt several thousand dollars and it is up to the brothers to save it. They seek guidance from a local church and during a moving speech/song by the honorable Rev. James (James Brown) they believe this is a mission from God. Their solution: find their former bandmates (who still haven't been paid and now have "straight" jobs) and perform to raise the money.
The rest of the film is ODTAA (one darn thing after another) as the brothers run from the local cops (led by John Candy) and the Illonois Nazi Party (Henry Gibson) and a country-western band (led by Charles Napier) and from the mysterious woman who is trying to kill them (Carrie Fischer) and try to raise awareness for the orphanage and their show. In between the crazy car chases and other random events are songs (Roger Ebert calls this film "a sort of musical Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (check out the rest of his review here also look at my review of It's a Mad (x4) World) sung by the Blues Brothers and a diverse group of popular musicians: Aretha Franklin (Mrs. Murphy), James Brown (mentioned above), Cab Calloway (Curtis), Chaka Khan (Choir Soloist) and Ray Charles (Ray).
Almost all the members of the band performed with the Brothers on their SNL appearances (some were unable to appear in the film for various reasons) and are as follows: guitarists Steve (Colonel) Cropper and Matt (Guitar) Murphy, saxophonist Lou Marini, and trombonist Tom (Bones) Malone, drummer Willie (Too Big) Hall (added for the film) and keyboardist Murphy Dunne (also added for the film).
While there is a lot going on in the film its a fun ride! Probably my favorite scene is the band's first gig after regrouping. They play in a bar where the patrons only like two kinds of music "country & western". Separating the band from its audience is a wall of wire mesh. This wall is for the bands protection since the customers continually throw their beer bottles at the stage. O my! Despite all this, the chaos is controlled by the plot (and director) and Aykroyd & Belushi have amazing chemistry, plus the music is AMAZING and the car chases are a riot.
Buy it b/c it's good: it's hardly a 'classic' or a 'great' film, but definitely worthwhile in the long run...and you can totally impress your friends with your comic selection
Dude, it's quotable: ITS THE HUFFING BLUES BROTHERS! They are cultural icons...even if you don't (or didn't) like SNL they are memorable, funny characters with some fascinating dialogue (and by 'fascinating' i mean funny but a tad risky)
Rating: R (mostly for language...they drop the F-bomb a few times)
Director: John Landis
Starring: John Belushi as Jake
Dan Aykroyd as Elwood
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