The Blues Brothers | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Jake and Elwood Blues' "mission from God" was to find $5,000 to rescue a Catholic orphanage from closure. Instead, they set a new standard for movie excess and reinvented the careers of many Blues and Soul Music stars, including Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and Ray Charles. In light of the roots of the Blues Brothers Band, this was the true mission of a movie that critics reviled as excessive but has since become a bona fide cult classic.

The Blues Brothers Band was born during a road trip from New York to Los Angeles. Saturday Night Live stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi discovered a common love for Blues music. They were already cooperating on writing sketches for Saturday Night Live, and they took this love of Blues music and developed a warm-up act for the television show. The popularity of The Blues Brothers in the studio gave them the ammunition they needed to convince the producers to put The Blues Brothers on the telecast, and the reaction was phenomenal.

The Blues Brothers soon followed up their television success with a best-selling album (Briefcase Full of Blues), a hit single ("Soul Man"), and a promotional tour. Aykroyd, meanwhile, was working with John Landis (director of National Lampoon's Animal House) to bring the band to the big screen. The script they came up with began with Jake Blues being released from Joliet State Penitentiary and returning with his brother to the orphanage where they were raised. Learning it is to close unless they can get the $5,000, the brothers decide to put their band back together. Most of the remainder of the first part of the movie focuses on their attempts to find the rest of the band, while the second half's focus is on the band's fundraising efforts.

Throughout the movie the brothers get involved in many car chases, destroying a mall in one scene, and most of the Chicago PoliceDepartment's cars in another. The film has been universally criticized for the excessive car chases, but this is a part of the cult status The Blues Brothers has since earned. Another part of this cult status is influenced by the performers the brothers encounter on their "Mission from God." In cameos, Blues and Soul performers such as James Brown (a gospel preacher), Cab Calloway (the caretaker at the orphanage), Aretha Franklin (wife of a band member), and Ray Charles (a music storekeeper), appear and steal scenes from the Blues Brothers. Audiences especially remember Aretha Franklin's thundering rendition of "Think."

The Blues Brothers opened in 1980 to a mixed reception. The Animal House audience loved it, seeing the return of the Belushi they had missed in his other movies. While his character was not Bluto, it was the familiar back-flipping, blues-howling Joliet Jake Blues from Saturday Night Live. Critics, however, thought it was terrible, and one went as far as to criticize Landis for keeping Belushi's eyes covered for most of the movie with Jake's trademark Ray Bans. Yet, one of the most lasting impressions of the movie is the "cool look" of the brothers in their black suits, shades, and hats.

We best remember the movie for its music. The band has released albums, both before and after the movie, that cover some of the best of rhythm and blues music. Since Belushi's death, the band has gone on, at times bringing in his younger brother James Belushi in his place. Aykroyd, too, has continued to develop the Blues legacy, with his House of Blues restaurant and nightclub chain, and, with Landis, a sequel movie, Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). The latter has Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) coming out of prison to learn that Jake is dead. Rehashing part of the plot of the first movie, Elwood puts the band back together, with John Goodman standing in for Belushi (and Jake Blues) as Mighty Mack. Besides the obligatory car chases, the sequel is much more of a musical, with many of the same Blues stars returning. Aretha Franklin steals the show again, belting out a new version of her signature song, "Respect." The Blues Brothers, as the title of the new movie implies, are alive and well, and ready for the next millennium.

Ansen, David. "Up From Hunger." Newsweek. June 30, 1980, 62.

Hasted, Nick. "Blues Brothers 2000." New Statesman. May 22,1998, 47.

Maslin, Jane. "A Musical Tour." The New York Times. June 20,1980, C16.

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