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The Blues Brothers (1980)

Author
Geoff Gershon
Published
Wed 09 Apr 2025
Episode Link
None

It's 106 miles to Chicago, they've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and they're wearing sunglasses....

The brothers are Joliet Jake Blue (John Belushi) and Elmwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd)....and they're on a mission from God.  Well actually they're on a mission to save the Catholic home where they grew up and to get the band back together.  Seems simple enough but there are a LOT of obstacles in their way including US Marshalls, Chicago police, Illinois State Troopers, the Illinois Nazis, the Good Ol' Boys, and...the late, great Carrie Fisher playing "Mystery Woman" who comes HEAVILY armed! :o John Landis (Animal House, Coming to America, An American Werewolf in London) directed this wildly ambitious action comedy musical loosely adapted from the two titular fictional brothers who performed on Saturday Night Live around this time.  Plot is but an afterthought when you have wall-to-wall car chases and/or extended musical numbers from several R&B music luminaries including Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, and Chaka Khan.  And that's not even accounting for an extended stacked cast including Kathleen Freeman, John Candy, Steven Williams, Henry Gibson, Charles Napier, and countless others!

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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