Stubs - The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers (1980) Starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, Henry Gibson Directed by John Landis. Screenplay by Dan Aykroyd and John Landis. Produced by Robert K. Weiss. Runtime: 133 minutes. USA Color Musical, Comedy

It is not often that a Saturday Night Live skit has translated well to the silver screen, though it is something that has been tried more times than I would care to count. The fact that you can count them on one hand and have two fingers left is an example of how many misfires there have been. There is Wayne’s World, Wayne’s World 2 and The Blues Brothers.

John Belushi sings "I'm a King Bee" on Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd plays the harmonica.

Born from an idea by Howard Shore, the original sketch on January 17, 1976, called "Howard Shore and his All-Bee Band" which featured the TV’s house band in the bee costumes worn in their earlier “The Killer Bees” sketches. The act featured John Belushi singing the Slim Harpo song “I’m a King Bee” with Dan Aykroyd playing the harmonica.  Later that year, Belushi and Aykroyd would return as “Juliet” Jake and Elwood Blues, the Blues Brothers as musical guests on the show airing April 22, 1978. On that show, they sang "Soul Man", and "Hey Bartender".

Elwood (Aykroyd) and Jake (Belushi) appear as the Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live.

After releasing a live album, Briefcase Full of Blues, which reached number 1 on the Billboard 200, it didn’t seem like a stretch to star the pair in their own movie. Belushi was already a film star thanks to the success of National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). There was a bidding war between Paramount and Universal for the story, with the latter winning. However, there was still no script and no budget.

Dan Aykroyd took it upon himself to write one himself, something he had never done before. Not using a standard screenplay format, he wrote a 324-page draft that was more prose than anything else. Director John Landis was given the responsibility of turning it into a movie screenplay, something that took him two weeks to do.

Filming began in July 1979, still without a budget. The production went smoothly, though it was probably over the agreed-to a budget of $17.5 million that first month. After that things got worse, as Belushi started to party when not on the set and use cocaine. As a result, he would miss or delay shooting.

While cocaine was reportedly widely used and widely available, Aykroyd would claim it was even budgeted for, Belushi’s went above and beyond anyone else’s. It got so bad that Landis asked Carrie Fisher, then Aykroyd’s girlfriend and an actress on the film, to keep him away from the drug. It took an intervention of sorts involving Aykroyd and Belushi’s wife Judy to get things back on track.

Production returned to Los Angeles, from Chicago, and the final performance was shot at the Hollywood Palladium. However, Belushi would get injured in an accident on a borrowed skateboard and hurt his knee. It took Lou Wasserman, the head of Universal, to persuade an orthopedic surgeon to postpone his weekend plans to Belushi's knee so the scene could be filmed.

The story starts when Jake (John Belushi) Blues is released from prison after serving three years of a five-year sentence and is picked up by his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) in the new Bluesmobile, a battered former police car. In Jake’s absence, Elwood had traded the old Bluesmobile for a microphone. Jake is skeptical of the new car but Elwood demonstrates its capabilities by jumping an open drawbridge.

Elwood (Aykroyd) and Jake (Belushi) go to their old orphanage to see the Penguin.

Elwood takes Jake to visit the Roman Catholic orphanage where they were raised, based on a promise made to the Penguin when Jake went away to prison. Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman), for old-times sake, beats them with a yardstick before asking for a favor. They learn from her that the orphanage is in danger and will be closed unless they can raise the $5,000 in property taxes.

Sister Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman) gives the boys a welcome home.

While at the orphanage, they go downstairs and visit with Curtis (Cab Calloway) who had been an early influence on them, playing for them the blues music he loved. He suggests they go to church. Despite Jake’s objections, they end up at the Triple Rock Baptist church. During a sermon by the Reverend Cleophus James (James Brown), Jake has an epiphany: they can re-form their band, the Blues Brothers, and raise the money to save the orphanage.

Cleophus James (James Brown) delivers a sermon which inspires Jake.

That night, Elwood gets pulled over and state troopers, Trooper Mount (Steven Williams) and Trooper Danie (Armand Cerami), attempt to arrest him for driving with a suspended license due to 116 parking tickets and 56 moving violations. But Elwood doesn’t surrender. Instead, he takes them on a high-speed chase which ends up driving through the Dixie Square Mall.

The car chase ends up going through a mall.

Afterward, the brothers escape. Arriving back at the flophouse where Elwood lives, the brothers are attacked by a mysterious woman with a rocket launcher. After surviving, the brothers go up to Elwood’s room and eventually sleep.

The next morning, as the police arrive at the flophouse, led by Burton Mercer (John Candy), the mysterious woman detonates a bomb that demolishes the building, but miraculously leaves Jake and Elwood unharmed, and saves them from being arrested.

Murph and the Magic Tones play at a Holiday Inn lounge.

Next, Jake and Elwood begin tracking down members of the band. Five of them, Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass guitar, Murphy Dunne ("Murph") – keyboards, Willie "Too Big" Hall – drums, ”Blue Lou" Marini – saxophone, and Matt "Guitar" Murphy – lead guitar, are playing a deserted Holiday Inn lounge as Murph and the Magic Tones. It doesn’t take much to convince them to rejoin.

But "Mr. Fabulous" Alan Rubin – trumpet initially turns them down as he is the maître d' at an expensive restaurant and doing quite well. But the brothers make such a nuisance and refuse to leave the restaurant until he finally relents.

On their way to meet the final two band members, the brothers find the road through Jackson Park blocked by an American Nazi Party led by Head Nazi (Henry Gibson) who are demonstrating on a bridge. Professing his hatred for Illinois Nazis, Elwood drives the Bluesmobile, around the barricades and runs the Nazis off the bridge into the East Lagoon.

The last two band members, Matt "Guitar" Murphy – lead guitar and Blue Lou" Marini – saxophone now run a soul food restaurant, with Matt’s wife (Aretha Franklin). Despite Franklin singing “Think” to Matt, he rejoins the band. Not wanting him to be left behind, Franklin tells Marini to follow.

Aretha Franklin sings "Think" but her husband Matt "Guitar" Murphy doesn't listen.

The reunited group obtains instruments and equipment from Ray's Music Exchange in Calumet City, and Ray (Ray Charles), as usual, takes an IOU.

Ray Charles makes an appearance as the owner of a music store.

As Jake attempts to book a gig, the mystery woman blows up the phone booth he is using; once again, he is miraculously unhurt.

Without a real gig, Jake has the group drive around until they come across a bar, Bob's Country Bunker, a local honky-tonk. There is a sign outside welcoming the Good Ol’ Boys. Jake tells the band it’s a mistake and then goes into the bar and pretends to be the leader of the country band they’re expecting.

The band plays behind chicken wire for their own protection at Bob's Country Bunker.

Of course, a blues band is not at first welcomed by the rowdy crowd at Bob's Country Bunker. However, they win them over by singing the "Theme from Rawhide". Even though they end up having a successful first show the band runs up a bar tab higher than their pay. When the night’s over, the real country band that was actually booked for the gig shows up. And they are for some reason as upset as the bar owner who is about to get stiffed. Of course, Jake and Elwood drive off without paying but the bar owner, in the Good Ol’ Boy’s RV, takes chase.

During the chase, they pass Trooper Mount and Trooper Danie, who join in. But the RV and the police collide, allowing the Blues Brothers to escape.

Still, they need one big show to raise the money for the orphanage. They manage to persuade their old agent, Maury Sline (Steve Lawrence), to book them in the Palace Hotel Ballroom, north of Chicago, for the next night.

To help promote the gig, they place a loudspeaker atop the Bluesmobile and drive around the area promoting the concert. While they’re at it, they are also alerting the police, the Nazis and the Good Ol' Boys of their whereabouts.

The Blues Brothers drive around making announcements for their gig that night.

That night, the ballroom is packed with blues fans, police officers, and the Good Ol' Boys. But after having driven around all day, the Bluesmobile runs out of gas. Jake pushes the car into a gas station only to discover that their tanks are empty. While they wait for the supply truck to arrive, Elwood tends to a customer, a chic lady (Twiggy) who is on her way to date but still weighs Elwood’s invitation to meet later after the show.

The police are lying in wait for Jake and Elwood to appear.

To keep the crowd from getting rowdy, Curtis performs "Minnie the Moocher" with the band transformed to an old-fashioned band complete with bandstands. Afterward, they transform back.

Cab Calloway sings his hit "Minnie the Moocher" to keep the crowd quiet.

Jake and Elwood get gas and manage, finally, to sneak into the ballroom. They perform two songs then sneak offstage, as the tax deadline is rapidly approaching. A record company executive, Clarion Records' President (Michael Klenfner), offers them a $10,000 cash advance on a recording contract—more than enough to pay off the orphanage's taxes and Ray's IOU with money left over for the band members. He then shows the brothers how to slip out of the building unnoticed.

Jake's vengeful ex- (Carrie Fisher) tries one more time to kill him.

As they make their escape via an underground service tunnel, they are confronted by the mystery woman: Jake's vengeful ex-fiancée (Carrie Fisher). After her volley of M16 rifle bullets leaves them miraculously unharmed, Jake offers every ridiculous excuse in the books that she, for some reason, accepts, allowing the brothers to escape to the Bluesmobile and leaving her alone again.

With dozens of state and local police, as well as the Good Ol’ Boys, in hot pursuit, Elwood and Jake drive through the night to Chicago, eluding their pursuers with a series of improbable maneuvers. 

But, hey, they are on a mission from God, as Elwood keeps repeating, to save the orphanage. They also manage a miraculous escape from the Nazis, finally making it to the Richard J. Daley Center. They rush inside the Chicago City Hall with troopers still in pursuit.

They take the elevator up to the Cook County Assessor’s office and then break the elevator. They also block the doors giving them just enough time to make good with Cook County Assessor (Steven Spielberg). No sooner is their receipt stamped, then they are arrested.

The film ends with the band, all in jail, playing “Jailhouse Rock” for their fellow inmates.

Released on June 20, 1980, the film, made on a budget of $30 million, would gross $115.2 million, pretty evenly divided between the U.S. and overseas, so it would be considered a hit. It also generally received favorable reviews, though some would criticize it for things like shortchanging viewers on more details about Jake and Elwood's affinity for African-American culture as well as being held up for positive symbolism and moral references that can be related to Catholicism.

Over the years, the film has found what is called a cult following, with some screenings apparently turning into an audience participation event. All in all, it is that rare SNL film, meaning memorable. A belated sequel, Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), would not be so well-received and would, in fact, lose money.

While the film is memorable, it is not to say there are no problems. To begin with, the premise of The Blues Brothers, paying off the tax bill for the orphanage they once lived at, is specious at best. Catholic orphanages, like other religious groups and other not-for-profit organizations, are typically exempt from federal or state taxes. This is what you get by making a one-note sketch into a full-length feature film written by someone who has never written a screenplay. You have to overlook this as a necessary evil, or otherwise, most of the plot, as it were, doesn’t make sense.

There is a certain amount of anarchy in this film and I don’t just mean the disruptive nature of Jake and Elwood on everyone and everything around them. So much of the story is either one miraculous escape or a huge coincidence followed by another miraculous escape or coincidence. How many times does the mysterious woman try to kill Jake and he walks away without a scratch? Or, the Bluesmobile manages to outrun every cop car in the state of Illinois? And the list goes on and on. This is not really great story-telling by that measure. Not to mention the over-reliance on car crashes for comedic effect. It should come as no surprise that the film once held the record for the most car wrecks.

That is not to say the film isn’t funny. There are many laugh-out-loud moments throughout. John Belushi was a major talent with the ability to make people laugh with just a gesture. Dan Aykroyd is more of an acquired taste and not as outwardly funny as his cohort in comedy and crime.

Many of the cameos and there are many, are essentially one-note characters. Carrie Fisher is a little wasted as the mysterious woman. Frank Oz is given a rather lowbrow joke to pull off. Steven Spielberg has a rather blink-and-you’ll-miss-him role as the County Assessor. And John Candy isn’t particularly funny as Burton Mercer.

Oh yeah, Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, plays a waiter in the film.

One of the great delights of the film is to see the performances of the guest artists, like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, John Lee Hooker and Cab Calloway. This film is to be congratulated for breathing new life into some artists’ careers, as an example, the film has been credited with helping Franklin turn her career around; and introduce some older acts, like Calloway, to a whole new audience.

At the root of the film is the music and there is lots of it throughout. The Blues Brothers are fun to watch when they play and their choice of music is very eclectic. Many of the songs they play are not strictly blues: “The Theme from Raw Hide”, “Jailhouse Rock” and "Peter Gunn Theme" come to mind. For real blues, see John Lee Hooker’s rendition of “Boom Boom” in what is essentially a throwaway scene in the movie.

Warts and all, The Blues Brothers film is worth at least one viewing. While there are some off-moments, for the most part, the film is pretty funny and enjoyable. And more than likely, it will spark your interest in at least one or more of the musical acts that it features. Come for the comedy stay for the blues.