Dir.
John Landis, US, 1980, 132 mins
Cast:
Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Cab Calloway
Review by
Christopher Upton
“Saturday Night Live” was hot in the seventies. Showcasing new comedy talent, it came as a counter-culture comedy shock to American TV. Its stable of comedians however had transferred badly to the big screen, mainly because of the skit based nature of the comedy, which became strained over extended running times. John Landis' comedy masterpiece The Blues Brothers, which is re-released this week, changed this by becoming one of the greatest and certainly the jazziest film to come from the SNL stable. Featuring an almost impossibly cool John Belushi, fresh from Animal House and giving arguably his most memorable performance and with comedy partner Dan Aykroyd as cooler than cool Elwood, together they created a perfect post disco generation film.
The flimsy story is based around Elwood and Jake's attempts to garner five thousand dollars in order to save the orphanage run by the affectionately named Penguin (Kathleen Freeman). There's so much going on though that by the time it comes to the final stanza you've mostly forgotten that this is the purpose of the brothers ‘mission from God'. What it descends into is a Laurel and Hardy-esque escalating slapstick caper, as the pair annoy everyone from jilted ex's (a brilliantly unhinged Carrie Fisher) to the Illinois Nazis and every sort of law enforcement in the state. This is all done to the best movie soundtrack that had come along in years, which was mercifully short on disco.
The music is what this film is all about. Belushi and Aykroyd's love of R&B acted as the genesis for the original sketches and its inclusion as an integral part of the story is what holds the action together. It is also what keeps audiences returning to a film that has been revisited time and time again. Whether it's for Ray Charles performing Shake Your Tailfeather to a street full of jitterbugging teens, or Aretha Franklin belting out Think in a coffee shop backed by milk gulping patrons, every part of the film swings and dances along, keeping up the frenetic pace pitched by the brothers' antics. The film also worked in the favour of the artistes on screen as their careers took a definite upward curve, when the film was released. This could cause it to be regarded as a musical instead of a comedy, but this isn't just a Grease for hipsters and soul fans, this is above all first rate slapstick.
But while it can now be seen as a classic comedy, because of John Landis' extravagant vision and John Belushi's off-screen antics, the film went spiralling way beyond budget and was in danger of sinking. On the film's release it was evident where all this money had gone. The extra cash went on the systematic destruction of more vehicles than most blockbusters today can boast. It also paid for the demolition of any number of buildings and an extravagant chase inside a shopping mall, most of which also ends up in pieces. In fact so many vehicles were being destroyed on a daily basis that the production had a garage running twenty-four seven throughout the chase scenes in order to recycle the ever growing amount of twisted and destroyed vehicles. Believing in Landis worked though, as the resultant devastation is truly magnificent.
Unfortunately it wasn't only vehicles which were being destroyed. Because of his worsening drug habit culminating in the overdose which saw his career cut tragically short, this film is John Belushi's swan song. While he made appearances in a couple of comedies after, this is arguably his biggest role and the one he will be most remembered for. Never losing his head even when faced with a rocket launcher or a room full of violent rednecks, it was all met with a too cool for school sneer and his trademark knowing look to the camera.
It's a testament to the films quality that, even with the tunes going out of fashion, with the trademark Ray-Bans and an atrociously unnecessary sequel, it's still a classic and an eminently quotable one at that. So get yourself an orange whip and put on your sunglasses, it's time to go on a mission from god. Hit it!
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