Review of The Blues Brothers (1980) by Chris T — 18 Apr 2010

Everything about this movie is amazing. The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite movies of all time, and for good reason.

For those who don't know, it tells the story of "Joliet" Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Akroyd) Blues, two brothers who fronted a blues band. The band broke up, though, when Jake was sent to prison. Upon being released on parole, him and his brother visits the orphanage where he and Elwood were raised, and they learn that the orphanage needs $5,000 to pay taxes to stay open. The two get their old band back together, and try to get the money.

And boy, is it funny as hell! Throughout the whole movie, ridiculous events occur, and they are just shrugged off as if nothing happened. Elwood's place of residency is blown up by Carrie Fisher, and the brothers simply get up, dust themselves off, and just walk away. And it's never mentioned again.

Another scene shows them evading the police by driving through a mall. From what I hear, that wasn't a set, it was an actual mall which was scheduled for renovation, so they let them destroy as much of it as they wanted. Later in the movie, they are being chased by cops again, in what I consider the best (and probably one of the longest) chase scenes in any movie. Elwood pulls off the highway, with all the cops following him, and a massive crash follows, destroying many cars. The length which the makers of this movie went with these scenes is astounding, and all of it was real.

Being a movie about musicians, it would be natural for there to be lots of music. There are many a musical scene, featuring many star performers in random roles throughout the movie. James Brown plays a priest at a church, Aretha Franklin plays Matt "Guitar" Murphy's wife, who works in a soul food kitchen, and Ray Charles owns a music store. The biggest of these roles, though, is Cab Calloway, who plays a sort of father-figure character to the brothers, and performs a highly entertaining "Minnie the Moocher" late in the film. All the music is great.

The movie is plenty long, and never gets boring. This is one of those movies that you'll find yourself quoting often, whether talking about being "on a mission from God" or asking a friend "You got my Cheese Whiz, boy?" If you haven't seen it, and like comedies or musicals, or both, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.