The Blues Brothers (film)

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The Blues Brothers
The movie poster.
Directed by	John Landis
Produced by	Bernie Brillstein George Folsey Jr. David Sosna Robert K. Weiss
Written by	Dan Aykroyd John Landis
Starring	John Belushi Dan Aykroyd Carrie Fisher John Candy
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	20 June 1980
Running time	133 min. (extended:148 min.)
Country	US
Language	English
Budget	$27 million[1]
Followed by	Blues Brothers 2000
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical-comedy directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. It features musical numbers by soul legends, including James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, and epic car chase scenes.

The story is a tale of redemption for the paroled convict Jake and his brother Elwood, who take on "a mission from God" to save a Roman Catholic orphanage from closure. To do so they must reform their rhythm and blues band, the Blues Brothers, and organize a performance to earn $5,000 to pay the tax assessor. Along the way, they are targeted by a "mystery woman" and chased by the police, Nazis and a country and western band.

The film is set in Chicago, Illinois, and also features non-musical supporting performances by Carrie Fisher, John Candy and Henry Gibson.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 The Band 3 Production 3.1 Origins 3.2 Location 3.3 Casting 4 Soundtrack 4.1 Soundtrack album listing 4.2 Other songs in the film 5 Reception 6 Alternate versions 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Plot

"Joliet" Jake Blues is released from Joliet Prison into his brother Elwood's custody after serving a sentence for armed robbery. Jake is irritated that his brother has picked him up in a former City of Mount Prospect police car, a 1974 Dodge Monaco, instead of the Cadillac the brothers used to own. Jake is somewhat mollified when Elwood says that he traded the Cadillac for a microphone, and then demonstrates the "new" Bluesmobile's powers by vaulting it over an open drawbridge.

Over Jake's vehement protests, their first stop is the inner-city Roman Catholic orphanage that was their childhood home. They learn that it is to be shut down unless the $5,000 in back property taxes on the building can be paid within a short time. When Jake and Elwood hear the news, Jake indicates that they can easily score some quick cash, but the orphanage director, a strict nun referred to as "The Penguin", emphatically refuses to accept any "filthy, stolen" money from the brothers.

At the prompting of Curtis, the elderly orphanage worker and father figure who introduced the brothers to the blues, a visit to an evangelical church service gives the duo an epiphany: they can legitimately raise the necessary funds by reforming their legendary rhythm and blues band.

As they drive home, Elwood's reckless driving habits attract the unwanted attention of two Illinois State Police troopers named Daniel and Mount; the troopers' on-board "SCMODS" computer indicates that Elwood has 56 warrants for 116 parking violations. Elwood proceeds to earn the pursuing officers' undying enmity by driving through a shopping mall to escape capture.

With the assistance of parole officer Burton Mercer, the troopers track the brothers down to the flophouse where Elwood is living, but only after being thrown off the trail because Elwood had falsified his driver's license, giving a home address of 1060 West Addison Street, which is the location of Wrigley Field. Just as the three police are about to move in for the arrest, the flophouse is blown up by a "Mystery Woman". Miraculously, the Blues Brothers climb out of the smoking rubble unhurt and dust themselves off, still wanted by the police.

The Blues Brothers begin their mission of tracking down members of their old band and convincing them to re-join. The core rhythm section of the group – guitarist Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, drummer Willie "Too Big" Hall, trombonist Tom "Bones" Malone and keyboardist "Murph" Dunne are found playing at a Holiday Inn lounge as Murph and Magic Tones. They are easily convinced that they were happier playing with the Blues Brothers than in the hotel lounge.

Another member, the trumpet player Mr. Fabulous, is the maître d' at the Chez Paul, Chicago's finest French restaurant. He is harder to convince to rejoin the band, but after Jake and Elwood cause a disturbance in the restaurant, Mr. Fabulous has no choice.

The lead guitar player, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and saxophone player Blue Lou, are working in a soul food restaurant on Maxwell Street, with Matt's wife. Against her advice that he rethink joining back up with his "old white hoodlum friends", Matt leaves the restaurant and his wife, taking Blue Lou with him.

The reassembled group then obtains instruments and equipment from Ray, the blind owner of a pawn shop, Ray's Music Exchange.

Along the way, the brothers disrupt the rally of the American Socialist White People's Party ("The Illinois Nazis"), a neo-Nazi group modelled on the American Nazi Party. A band from Nashville called the Good Ol' Boys, led by Tucker McElroy, chase the Blues Brothers after the band steals their gig at a bar called Bob's Country Bunker, where bands perform behind a chicken wire barricade and play both kinds of music: country and western. Bob, owner of the Bunker, joins the pursuit when the brothers run out on their huge bar tab. And throughout, the Mystery Woman, eventually revealed to be Jake's jilted fiancée, reappears at regular intervals, attempting without success to kill Jake and Elwood using various methods including a rocket launcher, a flamethrower and an assault rifle.

Eventually, the Blues Brothers blackmail booking agent Maury Sline to land their big gig – a performance at the Palace Hotel Ballroom, located north of Chicago on the shore of Lake Wazzapamani. After being driven all over the Chicago area promoting the concert, the Bluesmobile runs out of gas, making Jake and Elwood late for the show. The ballroom is packed and the crowd is restless. To settle them down, Curtis appears and performs "Minnie the Moocher" with the band. Then the police arrive and surround the place. The Good Ol' Boys are there, too. Jake and Elwood finally arrive and manage to sneak into the hotel through the women's restroom. They perform two songs before escaping from the surrounding police cordon with the timely help of a record executive.

With a full tank of gas and the money in hand to pay the orphanage's tax bill, the brothers hit the road back to Chicago with the entire "Illinois law enforcement community" in pursuit. They somehow elude them all, leaving massive pileups of police cars in their wake. The Good Ol' Boys are sidelined when their recreational vehicle is driven off a lake pier because the accelerator pedal had been sprayed with epoxy by Elwood. With the help of their Bluesmobile, which has the power to fly, the Blues Brothers also escape the Illinois Nazis, who drive their Ford Pinto off an unfinished elevated freeway, and smash through the street below, creating a hole that a car carrying the rest of Nazis drives into.

Eventually Jake and Elwood arrive at the Richard J. Daley Center, crashing through the lobby and rolling to a halt on a sidewalk outside, where the Bluesmobile literally goes to pieces. They make their way up to the office of the Cook County Assessor, only to discover that it is closed for lunch. As they wait, the building is stormed by hundreds of police, firefighters, and the Illinois National Guard. Fortunately an assessor clerk finally appears, and the brothers pay the tax bill. Just as their receipt is stamped, handcuffs go on their wrists and they find they are surrounded by hundreds of policemen and soldiers, all pointing weapons at them. Jack and Elwood and the rest of the band are sentenced to prison, where they play "Jailhouse Rock" for their fellow inmates.

[edit] Cast

• Cab Calloway as Curtis
• Carrie Fisher as Mystery Woman
• Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy
• Ray Charles as Ray
• James Brown as Reverend Cleophus James
• John Candy as Burton Mercer
• Kathleen Freeman as Sister Mary Stigmata, "The Penguin"
• Henry Gibson as Head Nazi
• Steve Lawrence as Maury Sline
• Twiggy as Chic Lady
• Frank Oz as Corrections Officer
• Jeff Morris as Bob
• Sheilah Wells as Claire
• Charles Napier as Tucker McElroy
• Steven Williams as Trooper Mount
• Armand Cerami as Trooper Daniel
• Chaka Khan as Choir soloist
• John Landis as State trooper
• Stephen Bishop as State trooper
• Joe Walsh as Prisoner
• Paul Reubens as Chez Paul waiter
• Steven Spielberg as Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk

[edit] The Band

Main article: The Blues Brothers

• John Belushi as "Joliet" Jake Blues, lead vocals
• Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues, harmonica and vocals
• Steve Cropper as Steve "the Colonel" Cropper, rhythm guitar and backing vocals
• Donald Dunn as Donald "Duck" Dunn, electric bass
• Murphy Dunne as Murphy "Murph" Dunne, piano and organ
• Willy Hall as Willy "Too Big" Hall, drums
• Tom Malone as Tom "Bones" Malone, trombone, saxophone and backing vocals
• Lou Marini as "Blue Lou" Marini, tenor saxophone and backing vocals
• Matt Murphy as Matt "Guitar" Murphy, lead guitar
• Alan Rubin as Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin, trumpet and backing vocals

[edit] Production

[edit] Origins

The characters, Jake and Elwood Blues, were developed by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in performances in "Saturday Night Live". When it was decided the act could be made into a movie by Universal Pictures, Aykroyd set about writing the script. He had never written a screenplay before, he said in the 1998 documentary, Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers, and he put together a very descriptive volume that explained the characters' origins and how the band members were recruited. It was 324 pages, which was three times longer than a standard screenplay. To soften the impact, Aykroyd made a joke of the thick script and had it bound with the cover of the Los Angeles Yellow Pages directory for when he turned it in to producer Robert K. Weiss. John Landis was given the task of editing the script into a usable screenplay.

One premise of the plot, that a church-owned orphanage had to pay taxes (normally church-owned property is exempt from taxes), was actually based on a real bill that was being put through at the time of the writing of the film. The bill was never enacted into law.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Location

Much of the film was shot on location in Chicago, Illinois and the surrounding area, between July and October of 1979. Made with the cooperation of Mayor Jane M. Byrne, it is credited for putting Chicago on the radar as a venue for filmmaking. Mayor Richard J. Daley had all but prevented movies from being produced there up until his death in 1976. This is alluded to in a line by Mr. Fabulous, when he said, "No, sir, Mayor Daley no longer dines here. He's dead, sir." Since then, nearly 200 movies have been filmed in Chicago.

"Chicago is one of the stars of the movie. We wrote it as a tribute," Dan Aykroyd told the Chicago Sun-Times in a article written to mark the film's 25th anniversary DVD release. ^[2]

The first traffic stop was in Park Ridge, Illinois. The mall car chase was filmed in the real, albeit abandoned, Dixie Square Mall in Harvey. The bridge jump was filmed on an actual drawbridge, the 95th Street bridge over the Calumet River, on the southeast side of Chicago. Other chase scenes included Lower Wacker Drive and Richard J. Daley Center.

In the final car chase scene, the production actually dropped a Ford Pinto, representing the one driven by the "Illinois Nazis," from a helicopter at an altitude of more than a mile — and had to gain a special "air-unworthiness" certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration to do it. The FAA was concerned that the car could prove too aerodynamic in a high-altitude drop, and pose a threat to nearby buildings. The shot leading up to the car drop, where the "Illinois Nazis" drive off a freeway ramp, was shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the Hoan Bridge, an unfinished freeway ramp at the time, that wasn't completed until more than a decade later. Several Milwaukee skyscrapers are visible in the background as the Bluesmobile flips over, notably the U.S. Bank Center.

The building where the band performs its climactic concert is now the South Shore Cultural Center, located in the Chicago neighborhood of the same name. However, the actual concert scenes were filmed in the Hollywood Palladium.

It held the record for the most cars destroyed in one film until surpassed by its own sequel.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Casting

In addition to recognized soul and rhythm and blues stars James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, the members of the Blues Brothers band are notable for their musical accomplishments as well. Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn are architects of the Stax Records sound and were half of Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Horn players Lou Marini, Tom Malone and Alan Rubin had all played in Blood, Sweat & Tears and the "Saturday Night Live" band. Drummer Willy Hall had played in the Bar-Kays and backed Issac Hayes. Matt Murphy is a veteran blues guitarist. Blues performers were featured in the cast as well, with John Lee Hooker backed by harmonica player Big Walter Horton and guitarist Pinetop Perkins, playing "Boom Boom" on Maxwell Street.

As the band developed at "Saturday Night Live", pianist Paul Shaffer was part of the act, and was cast in the film. However, due to contractual obligations with "SNL", he was unable to participate. So actor Murphy Dunne was hired to take his role.^[3]

Carrie Fisher, Kathleen Freeman, Henry Gibson and John Candy were cast in non-musical supporting roles. The movie is also notable for the number of cameo appearances by established celebrities and entertainment industry figures, including Steve Lawrence as a booking agent, Frank Oz as a corrections officer, Twiggy as a woman whom Elwood propositions at a gas station and Steven Spielberg as the Cook County Assessor's clerk. John Landis plays a state trooper in the mall chase. Paul Reubens (pre Pee-wee Herman) has a small role as a waiter in the Chez Paul.

The character portrayed by Cab Calloway, Curtis, is an homage to Curtis Salgado, a Portland, Oregon, blues musician who inspired the Blues Brothers characters.

[edit] Soundtrack

The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack
Soundtrack by The Blues Brothers
Released	June 20, 1980
Genre	R&B, soul
Length	40:27
Label	Atlantic
Producer(s)	Bob Tischler
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Blues Brothers chronology
Briefcase Full of Blues (1978)	The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack (1980)	Made in America (1980)

The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack was released in June 1980 as the second album by the Blues Brothers band, which also toured that year to promote the movie. "Gimme Some Lovin'" was a Top 40 hit. The album was a followup to their debut, the live album, Briefcase Full of Blues. Later that year they released a second live album, "Made in America", which featured the Top 40 track, "Who's Making Love". It was the last Blues Brothers album to feature Belushi's Jake Blues.

The songs on the movie soundtrack album are a noticeably different audio mix than in the film, with a prominent baritone saxophone in the horn line (also heard in the film during "Shake a Tailfeather", though no bari sax is present), and female backing vocals on "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", though the band had no backup singers in the film.

[edit] Soundtrack album listing

1. "She Caught The Katy" – composed by Taj Mahal and Yank Rachell; performed by the Blues Brothers with lead vocals by Jake Blues
2. "Peter Gunn Theme" – composed by Henry Mancini; performed by the Blues Brothers Band
3. "Gimme Some Lovin'" – composed by Steve Winwood, Muff Winwood and Spencer Davis; performed by the Blues Brothers with Jake Blues, lead vocals
4. "Shake A Tail Feather" – composed by Otis Hayes, Andre Williams and Verlie Rice; performed by Ray Charles with the Blues Brothers (Jake and Elwood, backing vocals)
5. "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" – composed by Jerry Wexler, Bert Berns and Solomon Burke; performed by the Blues Brothers (Jake Blues, lead vocals; Elwood Blues, harmonica and vocals)
6. "The Old Landmark" – composed by A.M. Brunner; performed by James Brown and Rev. James Cleveland Choir (with additional choir vocals by Chaka Khan credited in the film)
7. "Think" – composed by Ted White and Aretha Franklin; performed by Aretha Franklin and the Blues Brothers with backing vocals by Brenda Corbet, Margaret Branch and Caroline Franklin and Jake and Elwood
8. "Theme From Rawhide" – composed by Dimitri Tiomkin; performed by Elwood and Jake and the Blues Brothers
9. "Minnie the Moocher" – composed by Cab Calloway and Irving Mills; performed by Cab Calloway
10. "Sweet Home Chicago" – composed by Woody Payne; performed by Elwood and Jake and the Blues Brothers
11. "Jailhouse Rock" – composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; performed by Jake Blues and the Blues Brothers (Over the closing credits in the film, verses are also sung by James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and "crew".)

[edit] Other songs in the film

In addition to music by the Blues Brothers, there is a film score, consisting of "God Music" by Elmer Bernstein. There are many other songs in the film, and they include:

• "Shake Your Moneymaker" – composed and performed by Elmore James
• "Soothe Me"/"Hold On! I'm Comin'" – composed by Sam Cooke/Isaac Hayes and David Porter; performed by Sam and Dave
• "I Can't Turn You Loose" – composed by Otis Redding; performed by the Blues Brothers
• "Let the Good Times Roll" – composed and performed by Louis Jordan
• "Anema e Core" – performed by Ezio Pinza
• "Cuando, Cuando, Cuando" – performed by Murph and the MagicTones
• "Just the Way You Are" – composed by Billy Joel; performed by uncredited group
• "Boom Boom" – composed by John Lee Hooker; performed by John Lee Hooker (as "Street Slim"), vocals and guitar' Big Walter Horton (as "Tampa Pete"), harmonica. Pinetop Perkins (as "Luther Jackson") guitar; Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, drums; Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, guitar; Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, bass
• "Mama Lawdy"/"Boogie Chillen" – composed and performed by John Lee Hooker
• "Your Cheatin' Heart" – composed by Hank Williams; performed by Kitty Wells
• "Stand By Your Man" – composed by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill; performed by the Blues Brothers
• "I'm Walkin'" – performed by Fats Domino
• "Ride of the Valkyries" – composed by Richard Wagner; performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
• "The Girl from Ipanema" – composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim; performed by uncredited group

[edit] Reception

The Blues Brothers opened on June 20, 1980 with a limited release in 594 theaters. It took in $4,858,152, ranking sixth for that week and 10th for the entire year. By genre, it is the sixth-highest grossing musical and the eighth-highest earner among comedy road movies. It ranks second, between Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, among films adapted from Saturday Night Live sketches. ^[4]

The movie has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] Among the positive reviews at the time, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised it for its energetic musical numbers and "incredible sensational chase sequences".^[6]

It won the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing and Sound Effects, is 14th on Total Film Magazine's List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time and is No. 69 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".^[7]

As with the Blues Brothers act in general, music critics derided the film, saying it was demeaning to the rhythm and blues performers. In his book, Sweet Soul Music, critic Peter Guralnick called the film "an almost unmitigated disaster" for the "great black artists involved", though he does praise Aretha Franklin's performance on her musical number, "Think" as "an on-screen explosion".^[8]

[edit] Alternate versions

The theatrical version of the film was 133 minutes. The running time was expanded to 148 for the "Collector's Edition" DVD release in 1998, in which some footage concerning Elwood Blues and the Bluesmobile was reinserted.

In one scene, Elwood is shown parking the Bluesmobile inside an electrical substation that was is to power the Chicago Transit Authority's "L" trains. In the documentary "Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers", Dan Aykroyd explained that the Bluesmobile would get charged from the substation, enabling it to do impressive stunts.

Another scene involves Elwood's job in an aerosol-spray can manufacturing company. He is shown removing some cans from the assembly line and putting them in his briefcase. He then goes to his boss and explains that he has to quit because he's joining the priesthood. This scene explains where Elwood obtained the spray epoxy ("This is glue ... strong stuff.") that he used to sabotage the Good Ol' Boys' Winnebago.

There are also longer versions of some of the musical numbers, including the Maxwell Street blues band scene with John Lee Hooker, showing the band getting into an argument with an audience member over who wrote "Boom Boom". There is a slightly longer opening scene, showing the prison guards having to use their nightsticks to wake Jake up. A scene with Sister Mary Stigmata ("The Penguin") is slightly longer, as she explains what missions she might be sent to.

[edit] See also

• Blues Brothers 2000
• Blues Brothers: Private
• The Blues Brothers (video game)

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ "Movie still remembered after 25 years", Chicago Sun-Times, June 20, 2005 (link is now behind an archive; fragment of the story found at Kentucky Democrat on November 16, 2006).
3. ^ Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers, documentary feature on 1998 DVD and 25th Anniversary DVD (2005).
4. ^ The Blues Brothers, Box Office Mojo, retrieved on November 15, 2006.
5. ^ The Blues Brothers, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved on November 15, 2006.
6. ^ Ebert, Roger. January 1, 1980. The Blues Brothers, Chicago Sun-Times.
7. ^ "Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies List is Laughable", Manroomonline.com, June 2, 2006.
8. ^ Guralnick, Peter. 1986. Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom. Little Brown. ISBN 0-316-33273-9 (Page 352).

[edit] External links

• The Blues Brothers at the Internet Movie Database
• The Blues Brothers at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blues Brothers Central
• Chicago Filming Locations based on Google Maps