Review of The Blues Brothers (1980) by Daniel O — 04 Jun 2013

Contrary to popular belief, I don't inherently despise all musicals - just most of them. For me, there are four categories of musical cinema: those with great tunes and an absorbing story (Singin' In The Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, most Disney cartoons), films with catchy music but an awful plot (RENT, Mamma Mia!), films with unacceptable or badly-performed songs but with an interesting story (Repo! The Genetic Opera, pretty much all Phantom of the Opera flicks) or movies in which everything is heinously wrong (any High School Musical incarnation, Rock of Ages, Les Misérables). Obviously the first of these is the preferred group, but aside from various Disney animations and Muppet movies, it's rare to find a truly great musical which was made post-1960.

However, The Blues Brothers is the exception to the rule; a golden goose among the flock of turkeys, if you will. Released in 1980, the cult classic stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, two impeccably-dressed and hilariously deadpan fading hipsters who just adore the blues. Following a five-year stint at "'the joint", Jake reunites with Elwood, but the pair soon discover that the orphanage in which they grew up is in financial difficulty with the taxman. They have eleven days to find five grand, and they undertake a cross-country quest to group the original band back together in order to play one more, money-raising gig.

This film is loony. It starts out like a gritty crime drama, fooling you into believing that this may actually be a serious feature. However, it's not long before women armed with RPGs, levitating nuns and white supremacists start showing up, amid a mish-mash of ridiculously catchy showtunes. It's stuffed with insane car chases and features a massive amount of extras too numerous to count (the finale requiring five hundred alone) . Costing $30,000,000 to make and boasting the highest number of wrecked cars in any film - 103! (before Blues Brothers 2000 broke one more), The Blues Brothers is an ambitious and gloriously over-the-top extravaganza which makes zero sense, but revels in the fact.

Apart from enlisting the stars and hiring a silly amount of extras, a lot of money clearly went into the locations, as this film is borderline Homeric in terms of getting from A to Z, via each letter in between. Chicago is ripped open as several sleazy locations are explored (most interesting is their apartment building, which doesn't remain in one piece for very long). Friends and potential band members are found in music shops, saunas, gospel churches and diners, with random and unexpected outbursts of musical numbers dotted throughout. The film culminates in a car chase so grand and so unbelievable that its legacy as a surrealist masterpiece of epic proportions is cemented.

But put the batshit crazy story to one side for a moment: music is the focal point here, and The Blues Brothers has a surprising amount to say on the matter. Working as both an homage to a dying genre (this was the dawn of the eighties, after all) and a critique of country and disco, it's one of those films which was clearly constructed with an almost maternal love for its subject matter. For those unaware, 'The Blues Brothers' were a real band, spawned from the lead actors' hilarious minds while working on Saturday Night Live, and aside of course from their own original music, famous faces of funk like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles all show up to belt out a signature tune or two. This film is basically a love letter to a bygone era of unique, unrepeatable music.

That's not to say the film is perfect; The Blues Brothers starts off very slowly and takes a while to get rolling. It seems to begin with a vaguely religious tone, as empathy for the suffering (yet simultaneously terrifying) nun gives way to a raucous scene at a church, where James Brown preaches in the funkiest way possible and Jake experiences a divine revelation. The film seems to forget about this almost instantly though, as the spiritual odyssey gives way for battles with rednecks and neo-Nazis. Some may find it overblown and bloated, but I'm not sure if this criticism applies to musicals, which are inherently ludicrous. It might be a tad overlong, but to say that I was bored even once would not be telling the truth; this movie is a blast.

Paced like a rollercoaster as chilled out scenes give way for over-the-top musical explosions, which in turn calm down momentarily before throwing a gratuitous car chase at you, The Blues Brothers is thoroughly entertaining. I think its cult status represents the underground nature of the music after which the film is named; that said, it has aged wonderfully. A funny, batshit insane but still very real snapshot of the past, give it a look-see!