RATING:


By Shawn McKenna
Date Reviewed: 2/14/2000

"We're on a mission from God." -- Elwood Blues

Here is a movie that has a miasma of music, comedy, and car crashes. It is almost obscene how many times I have seen this film -- while the amount of times I have seen Star Wars is obscene. The Blues Brothers went way over budget with its vast destructiveness and cool cameos. Its exuberance is what helped this movie become a pop-cult classic and it would be John Belushi's last box-office hit. It is one of the first movies based on a Saturday Night Live and still, along with Wayne's World, one of the best.

The Blues Brothers are Elwood and Jake Blues, two brothers who just reunited after Jake's incarnation in Juliet. They visit an old orphanage of theirs that is in desperate need of money. The orphanage needs 5,000 dollars or it will be forced to close. Now Elwood and Jake can collect the money through dirty deeds, however they have an epiphany instead. During a James Brown sermon, a beam of light begets an idea -- the band. They need to hunt down their former band members and put the band back together. It has to work; they are on a mission from God.

This film has two spectacular and unbelievable car-chase scenes. They rank with Bullitt, The French Connection, and To Live and Die in L.A. as among the best filmed automotive-chase sequences. The first pursuit involves the Blues Brothers avoiding the 'rollers' by driving in a mall. The amount of destruction by the brothers, while spouting irreverent quips and the pursuant police is overwhelming, but fun to watch. They crash through stores, run over merchandise stands, avoid the mall-walkers, and create utter chaos. The second memorable chase involves the destruction of many cars. It is a long awesome sequence, that I will not spoil here, that was very costly and went over the expected budget for this film.

At the very heart of this comedy is the music. This film is essentially a blues musical. There are performances from James Brown, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, and many more. These entertainers also act in this film with varying degrees of success. Belushi and Ackroyd also perform several blues and country songs in this film. As amateurs, they are good. Belushi has a raspy singing voice, while Ackroyd has a baritone/bass quality to his voice. However, they still cannot compare to Charles proving the vitality of a piano or James Brown serving a sermon.

This is also a very funny film. Belushi had tremendous talents as a comedic actor and Ackroyd works very well here. One of the funniest scenes involves them trying to persuade their former horn player, who now works at a French restaurant, to come back to the band. Their antics amongst themselves horrify the bourgeois patrons as they guzzle food down, throw it at each other, and ask people if they are willing to sell their women. Also, look for a quick cameo in this scene by Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman).

Comedy is very subjective. However, it is hard to find too many people that do not like this film. It was even on a few critics top ten lists for 1980, i.e. Gene Siskel and Belushi's second box office hit (Animal House was his first). This film offers so much: music, comedy, and action. It is one of my favorite comedies and I have seen it at least twenty-five times. The 'R' rating is a bit misleading. It is there for the colorful and metaphorical language. If you have any inkling for blues and comedy then watch this film. If not, watch it anyway.



THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980)
CAST
Jake Blues: John Belushi
Elwood Blues: Dan Aykroyd
Curtis: Cab Calloway
Mystery Woman: Carrie Fisher
Ray: Ray Charles
CREDITS
Director: John Landis
Written by: Dan Aykroyd and John Landis
STATS
Running Time: 133m.
Rated: R
Genre: Action/Comedy/Musical
Country: USA


Other Critics:

Roger Ebert ½
Leonard Maltin