On a Mission from God: Film #228 – The Blues Brothers (1980)

I don’t really have time to talk properly about The Blues Brothers. While not a perfect film, it was one of the most significant ones from my youth and if I start to really talk about it I’ll go on for days. So instead, just a few points about the film that have stuck with me all these years.

  • The soundtrack is fantastic. Not only do the Blues Brothers themselves perform great renditions of classic songs, you’ve got multiple recordings from legendary R&B acts like Ray Charles and James Brown. I even feel that Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “Think” and Cab Calloway’s rendition of “Minnie the Moocher” are superior to their original recordings. My old LP (which I still have, thank you) is *worn out*.
  • Carrie Fisher is fabulous as Jake’s jilted fiancĂ©e. Her multiple attacks are great the way they build to the final showdown. That the boys are being safeguarded is never clearer than when she can’t kill him from close range with an automatic gun. (BTW, I have a Mexican lobby card of that scene hanging in my front entranceway.)
  • The “Illinois Nazi” material, topical in its day, has not aged well. The Bob’s Country Bunker stuff, on the other hand, still rings true.
  • This is a surprisingly heartfelt movie. One would almost have expected something more profane than profound. But once Jake sees the light, even their dastardliest deeds have a wholesome edge. And they pay for their actions in the end.
  • A virtuoso performance from the leads, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Belushi was just coming into his own, but Aykroyd was no less impressive. It doesn’t work if they don’t *both* work.
  • If ever there was a comedy that did *not* need a sequel, this is it.
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