Podcast 19: The Blues Brothers

Recorded on 6/17/202110

In this episode we review the movie The Blues Brothers (1980) starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin and Henry Gibson. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS.

The 3 Guys Podcast

Notes From The Show

Released: June 20, 1980 (Same day as Empire Strikes Back)

Director: John Landis

Screenplay: Dan Aykroyd

Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, Henry Gibson, John Candy

Plot: Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

How did this movie do:
Budget: $30 million
Box office: $115 million

Olivia Newton-John was considered for the role of the Mystery Woman. But she was unavailable as she was working on Xanadu (1980).
Chaka Khan: In the choir at The Triple Rock Church.
Paul Reubens: the waiter serving Jake and Elwood, when they go to find Mr. Fabulous.
Judy Jacklin: A waitress when Jake and Elwood meet with Murph and The Magictones.
John Landis: The state trooper driving the second car, the one that shows up after the first car calls for backup, that chases the Bluesmobile through the shopping mall.
Appearances by Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg.

John Belushi was nicknamed “The Black Hole” because he went through hundreds of pairs of sunglasses during production. He would do a scene, and then lose the pair before filming the next one.
According to Dan Aykroyd, cocaine was included in the film’s budget to help the cast and crew stay awake during night shoots. According to Aykroyd, John Belushi enjoyed it the most, and felt that it enhanced his performance.
According to John Landis, John Belushi sprained his back falling down the stairs in the desk from the Penguin’s office. He was in a back brace and on painkillers for the rest of filming.
When John Belushi wasn’t on-set, he went everywhere in Chicago. When he did, everybody was slipping him vials and packets of coke. That was in addition to what he could procure, or have procured, for himself, often consumed in his trailer, or at the private bar on-set he had built for himself, his longtime friends, the cast, and any visiting celebrities. Carrie Fisher, who John Landis had warned to keep Belushi away from drugs if she could, said almost everyone who had a job there also dealt, and the patrons could (and did) score almost anything there.
Right before shooting the final scene, which required him to do all sorts of on-stage acrobatics, while performing at the Hollywood Palladium in front of an audience of hundreds of extras, John Belushi tried out some kid’s skateboard, and fell off and seriously injured his knee. Lew Wasserman, the head of “Universal Pictures,” called the top orthopedist in Los Angeles, and made him postpone his weekend until he could shoot Belushi up with enough anesthetics to get him through filming.
When the Bluesmobile crashes through the widow of the record store, a cardboard cut out of Robin Williams is visible, promoting his new album “Reality…What a Concept!” Williams was the last famous actor John Belushi talked to on March 5, 1982, the night of Belushi’s fatal overdose.

John Belushi disappeared while filming one of the night scenes. Dan Aykroyd looked around and saw a single house with its lights on. He went to the house and was prepared to identify himself, the movie, and that they were looking for Belushi. Before he could, the homeowner looked at him, smiled and said, “You’re here for John Belushi, aren’t you?” The homeowner told them Belushi had entered their house, asked if he could have a glass of milk and a sandwich, and then crashed on their couch. Situations like that prompted Aykroyd to affectionately dub Belushi “America’s Guest”.
Carrie Fisher became engaged to Dan Aykroyd during this shoot shortly after he saved her from choking, by applying the Heimlich maneuver.
Permission to film in downtown Chicago was given after John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd offered to donate $50,000 to charity after filming.
A world record 103 cars were wrecked during filming. “The Junkman (1982)” broke the record 2 years later, wrecking 150 cars and a plane. That record held for 2 decades, until over 300 cars were wrecked during the filming of “The Matrix Reloaded (2003).”
Some performers were not used to lip-syncing to pre-recorded songs, standard procedure for movie musicals. James Brown ended up singing his number live with a recorded backing (the rest of his choir was lip-syncing). John Lee Hooker’s performance of “Boom Boom” was recorded live at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market. Aretha Franklin’s performance is cut together from many, many takes, using the parts where her lip-syncing was actually in sync.
After the concert, the State Troopers chase the Blues Brothers back to Chicago. The scene in which several troopers’ cars crash off the highway embankment was filmed at a closed section of Illinois State Highway 53 in Palatine, Illinois. They had trouble getting the cars to flip over when they went down the embankment, so they dug a hole into the embankment to help the cars flip over as they hit it.
The scene in which Henry Gibson taunts the assembled counter protesters, and leads his men in a pledge of allegiance to Adolf Hitler, was taken almost word-for-word from “The California Reich (1975).” Gibson introduces his Nazi group as the “American Socialist White People’s Party”, the acronym of which, ASWPP, is a diminutive of “ass wipe.”
Producers rented the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, for the mall chase scenes. The mall had been closed for over a year. Rumors spread in the community that the mall was being refurbished, and would be reopened after filming was complete. Universal was later sued for over $87,000 for failure to “return the mall to its original condition”, something that had never been agreed upon. After years of political wrangling, the Montgomery Ward anchor store and mall power plant were demolished, while the rest of the dead mall rotted. The rest of the mall was finally torn down and cleared away in 2012.
While filming of the opening scene, guards at the prison fired at the helicopter filming overhead shots, thinking it was an attempt to spy on the structure.
For the 30th anniversary of the movie, The Vatican newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano” called the film “a Catholic classic”, recommending it as good viewing for Catholics.
When Cab Calloway originally recorded “Minnie The Moocher” in the 1930s, the chorus lyrics were simply “Ho-dee-hody” rather than the lengthened “Hody-hody-hody ho”. In an interview, Calloway explained that one time when he was singing the song, he suddenly forgot the words, so he immediately shouted “Hody-Hody-Hody-ho!”, and carried on the song that way. That proved to be more popular with fans than the original, so he had been singing it that way ever since.
Dan Aykroyd’s script was originally titled “The Return of the Blues Brothers” and was three hundred twenty-four pages. It was intended to be a two-part film. John Landis spent three weeks paring the script down.
When recording the soundtrack, Cab Calloway was needed to record his hit “Minnie the Moocher” in better quality than his original album. When he came into the studio, he was prepared to do the disco version, which had just been released. The filmmakers asked for the original version, which Calloway reluctantly gave them.
The line “They broke my watch!” occurs three times in the film, each time spoken or voiced over by a policeman on the losing end of a car chase with the Blues Brothers. The first line is in the shopping mall, the second is in the rollover ditch, and the third is in the pile-up under the elevated train line. The broken watch theme starts when Jake’s broken watch is returned to him when he is released from prison at the beginning of the film.
The Bluesmobile is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. The vehicles used in the film were used police cars purchased from the California Highway Patrol, and featured the “cop tires, cop suspension, and cop motor, a 440-cubic-inch plant” mentioned by Elwood in the film. A total of twelve Bluesmobiles were used in the movie, including one that was built just so it could fall apart. Several replicas have been built by collectors, but one original is known to exist, and is owned by the brother-in-law of Dan Aykroyd. Dodge Monacos from 1974-77, including the upscale Royal Monaco, especially those which came with the A38 police option, are now considered collector’s items. They have been used as replica Chicago P.D. and Illinois State Police cars, including Bluesmobile tribute cars. This has led to the scarcity of this generation of Mopar C-bodies, leading some replica squad cars and Bluesmobiles to use the Plymouth Gran Fury or Chrysler Newport instead. Universal Studios Hollywood has a replica Bluesmobile on the lot; it’s a 1974 Dodge Coronet, since the Monaco has became so rare.
Carrie Fisher was the guest host for “Saturday Night Live: Carrie Fisher/the Blues Brothers (1978),” in which the Blues Brothers were the musical guest.
Paul Shaffer was an original member of the Blues Brothers Band, and was supposed to be in the film. According to Shaffer’s memoir, he was also working on “Gilda Live (1980),” and John Belushi fired him for being disloyal to the band.
The popularity of the film boosted Ray-Ban’s Wayfarer sunglasses, which were then experiencing some renewed popularity thanks to the rise of the “New Music” movement. From a few thousand sold through the mid-1970s, sales rose to eighteen thousand during 1981, partly because of the film, bringing the model out from the verge of withdrawal. Their later use in the similarly Chicago-set Risky Business (1983) solidified their renewed popularity.
Dan Aykroyd’s original script was so long that, as a joke, Aykroyd had it bound in the covers of the Los Angeles Yellow Pages.
The exteriors and many interiors at Daley Center were shot on-location, including the shot of the Bluesmobile plowing through the courthouse lobby. In a 1998 interview for Universal, John Landis credited mob help, for getting permission from the Cook County Board of Commissioners for this (alluding to the Board being mob-controlled at that time).
In the original script, the Illinois Nazis were trying to buy the orphanage, and set it up as their new headquarters.
At the Bob’s Country Bunker gig, Jake introduces “Stand By Your Man” by saying it’s a favorite of the horn section. The horn section doesn’t play in the song.
According to Dan Aykroyd, many theaters in the American South refused to show the film because they felt that there were too many African-Americans in it. Aykroyd believes the film would have done even better at the box office if not for the racism in the American South.
Little Richard was asked to appear and perform in this film. He declined, because he was only performing gospel music at the time this film was made.
When Carrie Fisher is in the hair salon doing her nails, and reading the instruction manual for the flamethrower, the three pictures on the table are Fisher’s character and Jake Blues. In every picture, Jake is wearing his sunglasses and hat.
Over five hundred extras were used for the next-to-last scene, the blockade of the building at Daley Center, including two hundred National Guardsmen, one state and city police officers, with fifteen horses for the mounted police (and three Sherman tanks, three helicopters, and three fire engines).
Elwood removes his hat three times in the film: when going to sleep in his room, to break the window to get into the Palace Hotel, and towards the end of the movie, when the Bluesmobile falls apart. His sunglasses are removed once in the scene where he quits his job at the glue factory “to become a priest”. Jake is seen without hat and sunglasses for the opening sequence in the prison, until he is given them by the corrections officer. His face is not seen at this time. Later, he removes his sunglasses once, when he is talking to Carrie Fisher, but never removes his hat. In the DVD and cable versions, Elwood doesn’t wear sunglasses when he quits his job.
The SCMODS (State County Municipal Offender Data System) Readout for Elwood is as follows:
- Blues, Elwood
- Illinois License: B263-1655-2187
- Currently under suspension
- Warrants Outstanding: Parking 116
- Moving Violations: 56
- (Flashing) Arrest Driver. Impound Vehicle
At the time, it was one of the most expensive films ever made, costing $30 million. For comparison, Steven Spielberg’s contemporary film 1941 (1979) cost $35 million. It was even rumored that Landis and Spielberg engaged in a rivalry, the goal of which was to make the more expensive film. Its been suggested that it was amiable, since they were both friends at the time and have cameos in each others film. Coincidentally, both films feature Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and John Candy.
The film was considered to be a box office bomb until it became a blockbuster in overseas markets.
The interior for the Blues Brothers’ concert was the Hollywood Palladium. Audience members were recruited through radio station promotion. The exterior was Chicago’s South Shore Country Club, located at 7059 South Shore Dr., which was later purchased by the city, and reopened as the South Shore Cultural Center.
In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
The “Palace Hotel Ballroom”, where the band performs its climactic concert, was at the time of filming a country club, but later became the South Shore Cultural Center, named after the Chicago neighborhood where it is located. The interior concert scenes were filmed in the Hollywood Palladium.
The Bluesmobile’s Illinois license plate is BDR-529. It’s a reference to Dan Aykroyd’s motorcycle club, The Black Diamond Riders. Their clubhouse was located at #529 on a street in Toronto.
In the original script, The Magictones were Mexican immigrants. Also, The Blues Brothers Band was scattered across three states. Among their new lives: Willie Hall, a.k.a. “Too Big”, is a drug dealer, Steve Cropper, a.k.a. “The Colonel”, is a pool shark-turned-Hutterite, and Donald Dunn, a.k.a. “Duck”, and Lou Marini, a.k.a. “Blue”, work in different parts of security.
Released on the same day as Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Both movies starred Carrie Fisher and Frank Oz
“Universal” kept trying to get the filmmakers to replace the blues and soul stars with more contemporary, successful acts like Rose Royce. John Landis stuck to his guns, but because he did, some large theater chains refused to book it into theaters in white neighborhoods.
The fleabag hotel where Elwood rents a room is the Plymouth Hotel at Van Buren and Plymouth Ct. next to the El in Chicago. It is the same hotel – and actually the same closet-sized room – rented by Kirk Douglas’ character in “The Fury” released a year earlier. In that film, Douglas performs a remarkable stunt for a 63-year-old actor, by walking onto a ledge outside the building and leaping onto an El stanchion to escape pursuing villains.
The first line of dialogue that Jake (John Belushi) says is “Well thank-you. The day I get out of prison my own brother picks me up…in a Police car! ” is a subtle homage to legendary comedy double act, Laurel & Hardy. Belushi and Dan Ackroyd were both big fans of Laurel & Hardy as children and as this film is also about a comedy duo of underdogs with a musical inclination, Ackroyd added the line into the script and Belushi deliberately said it in the style of Oliver Hardy to acknowledge the influence.
The first cut of the film lasted two and a half hours, with an intermission. After one early screening, Lew Wasserman demanded it be shortened, and 17 minutes were cut.
The rough draft of the script, written by Dan Aykroyd, was more of a free form than a clear story. It didn’t have a clear beginning, middle, or end.
Carrie Fisher’s shop is the “Curl Up and Dye”.
In the original script, the band took over a house in a developing neighborhood for rehearsal. To avoid the owners, Elwood detonates the house with cans of hairspray.
The film quickly surpassed its original budget, and back in Los Angeles Lew Wasserman grew increasingly frustrated. He regularly confronted Ned Tanen, the executive in charge of production for Universal, in person over the costs. Sean Daniel, another studio executive, was not reassured when he came to Chicago and saw that the production had set up a special facility for the 70 cars used in the chase sequences. Filming there, which was supposed to have concluded in the middle of September, continued into late October.
Both Aretha Franklin and Matt Murphy who plays husband and wife and owners of the Soul food cafe passed away in 2018.
At their concert, Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) uses a Shure 520DX “Green Bullet” blues harp microphone.
After the band plays at Bob’s Country Bunker, Bob tells Jake that the band drank $300 in beer. In 1980, the average price of a bottle of beer was about $1.50. That means the ten members of the band drank about 200 beers, or about 20 each, that night.
A distressing number of viewers have failed to recognize that the entire premise of The Blues Brothers follows the theme of “comic impossibility,” or comic amusement, where the normal rules of suspension of disbelief and physics do not apply. That fifty police cars would pile on top of each other, that the police would follow the Blues Brothers and destroy a shopping mall and follow them at ridiculous speeds through downtown Chicago, that the Nazi car fell from a height higher than the Sears tower, that the Blues Mobile flipped around backwards and landed on its wheels, that the Blues brothers survived a missile attack and a building demolition attack (the St. Regis hotel where they were staying–all of these are part of the theme of comic amusement where the normal rules of physics do not apply. It’s supposed to be more like a comic book than a real-life drama.
The speaker that Elwood and Jake tie to the roof of the Bluesmobile is a Canadian CLM model 927290P air raid siren.
Marks the only time competing actors John Candy and John Belushi appeared in a movie together. Belushi and Candy were often competing for the same roles, being the same kind of rotund, over-the-top slapstick Second City/SNL performer. For example, Candy got a role as Ackroyd’s zany sidekick in The Great Outdoors, a role probably originally envisioned for Belushi.
Elwood and Jake get champagne and Elwood uses the wrong glass. Symbolizing The duo, tall and skinny, short and fat.

The 3 Guys Rating

 4/5

About The Movie From IMDB

The Blues Brothers (1980) Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Music, Musical | 133min | June 20, 1980 (United States)

7.9

Director: John LandisWriter: Dan Aykroyd, John LandisStars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab CallowaySummary: After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit "The Penguin", the last of the nuns who raised them in an orphanage. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help, and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their "mission from God" they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time? —Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com>

Photos

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Videos

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Cast

John Belushi

...

Joliet Jake

Dan Aykroyd

...

Elwood

Cab Calloway

...

Curtis

John Candy

...

Burton Mercer

Tom Erhart

...

Prison Guard

Gerald Walling

...

Prison Guard

Walter Levine

...

Prison Guard

Frank Oz

...

Corrections Officer

Kathleen Freeman

...

Sister Mary Stigmata

Donald Dunn

...

Donald 'Duck' Dunn

Alonzo Atkins

...

Choirmaster

James Brown

...

Reverend Cleophus James

Chaka Khan

...

Choir Soloist

Southern California Community Choir

...

Choir

Armand Cerami

...

Trooper Daniel

Steven Williams

...

Trooper Mount

Stephen Bishop

...

Charming Trooper

Carrie Fisher

...

Mystery Woman

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Countries: United StatesLanguages: EnglishBudget: $27,000,000 (estimated)

Quotes From The Movie

7.9

The Blues Brothers (1980) 133min | Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Music, Musical | June 20, 1980 (United States)

Director: John LandisWriter: Dan Aykroyd, John LandisStars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway

Summary: Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

Countries: United StatesLanguages: English

Quotes

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

Jake: Hit it.

[repeated line]

Elwood: We're on a mission from God.

Police Dispatcher: Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers HAS been approved.

Elwood: What kind of music do you usually have here?

Claire: Oh, we got both kinds. We got country *and* western.

Elwood: Illinois Nazis.

Jake: I hate Illinois Nazis.

Mrs. Murphy: May I help you boys?

Elwood: You got any white bread?

Mrs. Murphy: Yes.

Elwood: I'll have some toasted white bread please.

Mrs. Murphy: You want butter or jam on that toast, honey?

Elwood: No ma'am, dry.

[Mrs. Murphy gives him a look, then turns to Jake]

Jake: Got any fried chicken?

Mrs. Murphy: Best damn chicken in the state.

Jake: Bring me four fried chickens and a Coke.

Mrs. Murphy: You want chicken wings or chicken legs?

Jake: Four fried chickens and a Coke.

Elwood: And some dry white toast please.

Mrs. Murphy: Y'all want anything to drink with that?

Elwood: No ma'am.

Jake: A Coke.

Mrs. Murphy: Be up in a minute

Jake: What's this?

Elwood: What?

Jake: This car. This stupid car! Where's the Cadillac?

[Elwood doesn't answer]

Jake: The Caddy! Where's the Caddy?

Elwood: The what?

Jake: The Cadillac we used to have. The Bluesmobile!

Elwood: I traded it.

Jake: You traded the Bluesmobile for this?

Elwood: No, for a microphone.

Jake: A microphone?

[pause]

Jake: Okay I can see that. What the hell is this?

Elwood: This was a bargain. I picked it up at the Mount Prospect city police auction last spring. It's an old Mount Prospect police car. They were practically giving 'em away.

Jake: Well thank you, pal. The day I get outta prison, my own brother picks me up in a *police* car!

Elwood: We're so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight. And we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of Illinois's law enforcement community that have chosen to join us here in the Palace Hotel Ballroom at this time. We certainly hope you all enjoy the show. And remember, people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there're still some things that makes us all the same. You. Me. Them. Everybody. Everybody.

Jake: How often does the train go by?

Elwood: So often that you won't even notice it.

Jake: We're putting the band back together.

Mr. Fabulous: Forget it. No way.

Elwood: We're on a mission from God.

[while standing at the entrance to the Triple Rock church watching the service with much dancing and Hallelujah choruses, a heavenly light shines down on Jake and he has an epiphany]

Jake: The band? The band.

Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?

Jake: THE BAND!

Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?

Elwood: What light?

Reverend Cleophus James: HAVE YOU SEEEEN THE LIGHT?

Jake: YES! YES! JESUS H. TAP-DANCING CHRIST... I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!

[Elwood Blues Jake Blues has a fight over the police car Elwood Blues got after he traded away the original bluesmobile for a microphone]

Elwood: You don't like it?

Jake: No I don't like it...

[Elwood Blues floors the pedal and jumps over an open drawbridge]

Jake: Car's got a lot of pickup.

Elwood: It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?

[a brief thinking pause while Jake attempts to light a cigarette]

Jake: Fix the cigarette lighter.

Jake: [to Sister Mary Stigmata] Five grand? No problem, we'll have it for you in the morning. Let's go, Elwood.

Sister Mary Stigmata: No, no! I will not take your filthy stolen money!

Jake: Well then... I guess you're really up Shit Creek.

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues with a ruler for using that kind of language]

Sister Mary Stigmata: I beg your pardon, what did you say?

Jake: I offered to help you... You refused to take our money. Then I said: I guess you're really up Shit Creek!

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues with the ruler again]

Elwood: Christ, Jake. Take it easy man.

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Elwood Blues]

Jake: Oh shit!

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Jake Blues]

Elwood: Jesus Christ!

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Elwood Blues]

Jake: Shit!

[to man in restaurant]

Jake: [fakes accent] How much for the little girl? How much for the women?

Father: What?

Jake: Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters... sell them to me. Sell me your children!

[after a burst of gunfire from the Mystery Woman, Jake climbs to his feet, covered in mud from the tunnel floor]

Jake: It's good to see you, sweetheart.

Mystery Woman: You contemptible pig! I remained celibate for you. I stood at the back of a cathedral, waiting, in celibacy, for you, with three hundred friends and relatives in attendance. My uncle hired the best Romanian caterers in the state. To obtain the seven limousines for the wedding party, my father used up his last favor with Mad Pete Trullo. So for me, for my mother, my grandmother, my father, my uncle, and for the common good, I must now kill you, and your brother.

[Jake falls to his knees]

Jake: Oh, please, don't kill us! Please, please don't kill us! You know I love you baby. I wouldn't leave ya. It wasn't my fault!

Mystery Woman: You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.

Jake: No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

[Elwood covers his head in anticipation of more gunfire, Jake removes his sunglasses to make a wordless appeal, and the Mystery Woman visibly softens]

Mystery Woman: Oh, Jake... Jake, honey...

[Jake embraces the Mystery Woman and they kiss]

Jake: [to Elwood] Let's go.

[He drops the Mystery Woman and walks off]

Elwood: [to the Mystery Woman as he steps past her] Take it easy.

Mrs. Tarantino: Are you the police?

Elwood: No, ma'am. We're musicians.

Murph: Tell me a little about this electric piano, Ray.

Ray: Ah, you have a good eye, my man. That's the best in the city Chicago.

Jake: How much?

Ray: 2000 bucks and it's yours. You can take it home with you. As a matter of fact, I'll throw in the black keys for free.

Jake: We'll put the band back together, do a few gigs, we get some bread. Bang! Five thousand bucks.

Elwood: Yeah, well, getting the band back together might not that be that easy, Jake.

Jake: What are you talking about?

Elwood: They split, they all took straight jobs.

Jake: Yeah, so you know where they are. You said you were gonna keep in touch with them.

Elwood: Well... I got a couple of leads, a few phone numbers, but I mean, how many of them visited or even wrote you, huh?

Jake: They're not the kinda guys who write letters. You were outside, I was inside. You were supposed to keep in touch with the band. I kept asking you if we were gonna play again.

Elwood: Well, what was I gonna do? Take away your only hope? Take away the very thing that kept you going in there? I took the liberty of bullshitting you, okay?

Jake: You lied to me.

Elwood: It wasn't a lie, it was just bullshit.

[Sister Mary Stigmata hits Elwood with her stick]

Elwood: Ow, you fat penguin!

Jake: How are you gonna get the band back together, Mr. Hot Rodder? Those cops have your name, your address...

Elwood: They don't have my address. I falsified my renewal. I put down 1060 West Addison.

Jake: 1060 West Addison? That's Wrigley Field.

Jake: First you traded the Cadillac in for a microphone. Then you lied to me about the band. And now you're gonna put me right back in the joint!

Elwood: They're not gonna catch us. We're on a mission from God.

Elwood: This is glue. Strong stuff.

Willie 'Too Big' Hall: So, Jake, you're out, you're free, you're rehabilitated. What's next? What's happenin'? What you gonna do? You got the money you owe us, motherfucker?

Elwood: Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now.

Matt Murphy: Ah. Don't get riled, sugar.

Mrs. Murphy: Don't you "Don't get riled, sugar" me! You ain't goin' back on the road no more, and you ain't playin' them ol' two-bit sleazy dives. You're livin' with me now, and you not gonna go slidin' around witcho ol' white hoodlum friends.

Matt Murphy: But babes, this is Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers.

Mrs. Murphy: The Blues Brothers? Shit! They still owe you money, fool.

Jake: Ma'am, would it make you feel any better if you knew that what we're asking Matt here to do is a holy thing?

Elwood: You see, we're on a mission from God.

Mrs. Murphy: Don't you blaspheme in here! Don't you blaspheme in here! This is my man, this is my restaurant, and you two are just gonna walk right out that door without your dry white toast, without your four fried chickens, and without Matt "Guitar" Murphy!

[Elwood Blues has just passed on a red light, and a police car rolls up behind them. The words are said in the same rhythm as a blues song ("Soothe Me") on the car stereo]

Elwood: Shit.

Jake: What?

Elwood: Rollers...

Jake: No.

Elwood: Yeah.

Jake: Shit.

Burton Mercer: Who wants an orange whip? Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.

Elwood: [Police have surrounded the Blues Brothers concert] ... And we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of Illinois's law enforcement community that have chosen to join us here in the Palace Hotel Ballroom at this time...

Jake: [about the electric piano] $2,000 for this chunk of shit? C'mon, Ray.

Murph: [tests the piano] I mean really, Ray, it's used. There's no action left in this keyboard.

Ray: [smiles, comes out to the piano] E-excuse me, uh, I don't think there's anything wrong with the action on this piano.

[launches into "Shake Your Tail Feather"]

Gruppenfuehrer: [to Head Nazi, as they plummet off the bridge] I've always loved you.

Jake: Uh, Bob, about the money for tonight.

Bob: Oh, yeah, $200, and you boys drank $300 worth of beer.

Jake: Book us for tomorrow night.

Maury Sline: Hold it, hold it. Tomorrow night? What are you talking about? A gig like that, you gotta prepare the proper exploitation.

Elwood: I know all about that stuff. I have been exploited all my life.

[Carrie flame throws a propane tank next to a phone booth they are in - it blows sky high and crashes down to earth - the phone breaking in half]

Elwood: Hey, Jake. Gotta be at least seven dollars worth of change here.

The Cheese Whiz: Did you get me my Cheez Wiz, boy?

Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.

Reverend Cleophus James: And now, people... And now, people... When I woke up this mornin', I heard a distubin' sound. I said When I woke up this mornin', I heard a disturbin' sound! What I heard was the jingle-jangle of a thousand lost souls! I'm talkin' 'bout the souls of mortal men and women, departed from this life. Wait a minute! Those lost angry souls roamin' unseen on the earth, seekin' to find life they'll not find, because it's too late! Tooooo late, yeah! Too late for they'll never see again the life they choose not to follow. Alright! Alright! Don't be lost when your time comes! For the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night!

[singing]

Reverend Cleophus James: YEEEEEEEEEEEEAH! Can I get an AMEN?

[congregation shouts "AMEN!"]

Reverend Cleophus James: Can I get an AMEN?

[congregation shouts "AMEN!" again]

Reverend Cleophus James: Well Well Well!

[breaks into "The Old Landmark"]

Mrs. Murphy: We got two honkies out there dressed like Hasidic diamond merchants.

Matt Murphy: Say what?

Mrs. Murphy: They look like they're from the CIA, or somethin'.

Matt Murphy: What they want to eat?

Mrs. Murphy: The tall one wants white bread, toasted, dry, with nothin' on it.

Matt Murphy: Elwood.

Mrs. Murphy: And the other one wants four whole fried chickens and a Coke.

Matt Murphy: And Jake. Shit, the Blues Brothers!

[Jake Blues is released on parole and gets back all the things he wore when he was arrested]

Corrections Officer: One Timex digital watch, broken. One unused prophylactic.

[looks disgusted, picks something up with his pen]

Corrections Officer: One soiled. One black suit jacket, one pair black suit pants. One hat

[punches it back out to full]

Corrections Officer: black. One pair of sunglasses. $23.07. Sign here.

[while they are driving around in the shopping mall with 2 police cars on their tail]

Elwood: Baby clothes...

Jake: This place has got everything.

[the Good Ole Boys arrive late]

Jake: My name is Jacob Stein. I'm from the American Federation of Music. I've been sent to see if you gentlemen are carrying your permits.

Tucker McElroy: Our what?

Jake: Your union cards. May I see your cards please?

Tucker McElroy: Well, suppose we ain't got no union cards and go in there and start playin' anyway? Whatcha gonna do about that? You gonna stop us, Stein? Ha. You're gonna look pretty funny tryin' to eat corn on the cob with no fuckin' teeth!

Mr. Fabulous: No, sir, Mayor Daley no longer dines here. He's dead, sir.

Mrs. Tarantino: Are you the police?

Elwood: No ma'am. We're musicians.

Elwood: The light was yellow, sir.

[repeated line]

Trooper La Fong: They broke my watch!

[the brothers race around the mall parking lot]

Elwood: We'll be all right if we can just get back on the expressway.

Jake: This don't look like no expressway to me!

Elwood: Don't yell at me.

Jake: Well whadda you want me to do, Motorhead?

Elwood: Try not to be so negative all the time. Why don't you offer a little... constructive criticism?

Jake: You got us into to this parking lot, pal. Now you get us out!

Elwood: You want outta this parking lot?... O.K.

Tucker McElroy: [to Bob after they accidently drive into a lake] Don't you say a fucking word!

Officer Mount: I don't believe it. It's that shitbox Dodge again!

Trooper Daniel: Those bastards are ours now!

[Camille has fired a machine gun at Jake and Elwood]

Elwood: Who *is* that girl?

[Arriving at the Orphanage]

Jake: What are we doing here?

Elwood: You promised you'd visit the penguin the day you got out.

Jake: Yeah? So I lied to her.

Elwood: You can't lie to a nun. We got to go in and visit the penguin.

Jake: No... fucking... way.

Toys 'R Us Saleswoman: Will there be anything else?

Toys 'R Us Customer: Yes, do you have the Miss Piggy?

Curtis: Do you guys know 'Minnie the Moocher'?

Murph: I once knew a hooker named Minnie Mazola!

Jake: [falls down after getting smacked by Sister Mary Stigmata] Fuck this noise, man!

Burton Mercer: This, gentlemen, is the elegant abode of one Elwood Blues.

Officer Mount: Thanks for your help, Mr. Mercer.

Burton Mercer: You know, I kind of like the Wrigley Field bit.

Officer Mount: Yeah, *real* cute.

Elwood: Hey you sleaze, my bed!

Sister Mary Stigmata: [after chasing Jake and Elwood out of her office with a ruler for using foul language] You are such a disappointing pair. I prayed so hard for you. It saddens and hurts me that the two young men whom I raised to believe in the Ten Commandments have returned to me as two thieves, with filthy mouths and bad attitudes.

[pauses and points at them]

Sister Mary Stigmata: Get out, and don't come back until you've redeemed yourselves.

Elwood: Hey, Jake. Jake. I gotta pull over.

[he drives the Bluesmobile off the road, right through a guardrail]

Elwood: You want I should wash the dead bugs off the windshield?

[Trying to get Mr. Fabulous back into the band]

Jake: If you say no, Elwood and I will come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.

[Elwood takes a huge, obnoxious bite out of his bread]

Mr. Fabulous: Okay, okay. I'll play. You got me.

[as the Blues Brothers are trying to haggle the price of a piano, a little boy is in the back trying to steal a guitar. Suddenly, Ray whips out a gun and -- despite being blind -- nearly misses hitting the boy]

Ray: Now, go on! Get!

[the little boy scurries away]

Ray: [sadly] Breaks my heart to see a boy that young goin' bad.

Maury Sline: What are you guys gonna do? The same act? You wear the same verkakte suits?

SWAT Team Commander: Excuse me! Did you see two guys come through here, black suits, black hats, one carrying a briefcase?

Lobby Guard #1: Yeah! I just sent 'em down there.

SWAT Team Commander: Thank you!

[hundreds of cops continues charge]

Elwood: I bet these cops got SCMODS.

Jake: SCMODS?

Elwood: State County Municipal Offender Data System.

Jake: Maury, you gotta come through for us. We need $5,000 fast.

Maury Sline: $5,000? Who do you think you are, The Beatles?

Elwood: Tonight only, the fabulous Blues Brothers. Rhythm and Blues review. The Palace Hotel Ballroom. Route 16. Lake Wazzapamani. The fabulous Blues Brothers show band and review.

[last lines]

Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk: Can I help you?

[the brothers back him up and lift him onto the counter]

Jake: This is where they pay the taxes, right?

Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk: Right.

Elwood: This money is for the year's assessment of Saint Helen of the Blessed Shroud Orphanage in Calumet City, Illinois.

Jake: 5,000 bucks, it's all there pal...

Father: [trying to get Mr. Fabulous attention] Sir? Sir... sir... SIR!... SIR!

Murph: [reacting to the lights at Bob's Country Bar being turned off] Hey, why'd they turn out the lights?

Willie 'Too Big' Hall: Maybe they blew a fuse.

'Blue Lou' Marini: I don't think so, man! Those lights are off on purpose.

Elwood: Oh no.

Jake: What the fuck was that?

Elwood: The motor. We've thrown a rod.

Jake: Is that serious?

Elwood: Yup.

Curtis: Well, the Sister was right. You boys could use a little churching up. Slide on down to the Triple Rock, and catch Rev. Cleophus. You boys listen to what he's got to say.

Jake: Curtis, I don't want to listen to no jive-ass preacher talking to me about Heaven and Hell.

Curtis: Jake, you get wise. You get to church.

Elwood: [after crashing the Bluesmobile in a car dealership] The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year!

Elwood: This is definitely Lower Wacker Drive! If my estimations are correct, we should be very close to the Honorable Richard J. Daley Plaza!

Jake: That's where they got that Picasso.

Elwood: Yep.

Elwood: You on the motorcycle... You two girls... tell your friends.

Ray: Pardon me, but we have a strict policy concerning the handling of the instruments. An employee of Ray's Music Exchange must be present. Now, may I help you?

Bob: That ain't no Hank Williams song!

Burton Mercer: [to Trooper Daniel] Hi! Wanna hand me the mike?

[Daniel gives him the police radio]

Burton Mercer: Thanks a lot.

[speaking in radio]

Burton Mercer: Hi, this is car um...

[to Officer Mount]

Burton Mercer: What number are we?

Officer Mount: Five-five.

Burton Mercer: [to radio] Car 55. Um... we're in a truck!

[chuckles nervously]

Mr. Fabulous: It's a fucking barn. We'll never fill it.

Elwood's Boss: [deleted scene] Hello Elwood, sit down. What's on your mind?

Elwood: I gotta quit.

Elwood's Boss: Why is that, Elwood?

Elwood: I'm... I'm going to become a priest.

Elwood's Boss: Well okay! Listen I'll call payroll and have them get your severance pay ready.

[they rise and shake hands]

Elwood: God bless you, sir.

[after arriving at Wrigley Field, thinking it's Elwood's house]

Head Nazi: [to the Nazis] Anybody with that kind of record is gonna make a mistake. I want all party members in the tri-state district to monitor the city, county and state police on their CBs. Mr. Blues is gonna fuck up, and when he does... he better pray the police get to him before we do.

Jake: Look at you, in those candy-ass monkey suits. And I thought I had it bad in Joliet.

Willie 'Too Big' Hall: At least we got a change of clothes, sucker. You're wearing the same shit you had on three years ago.

[after Jake tells the band to split from Bob's Country Bunker]

Willie 'Too Big' Hall: I say we give the Blues Brothers just one more chance

Donald 'Duck' Dunn: Why not? If the shit fits, wear it.

[gets into the car]

Donald 'Duck' Dunn: Scoot over, goddammit.

Elwood: [during "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"] People, when you do find that special somebody, you gotta hold that man, hold that woman! Love him, please him, squeeze her, please her! Signify your feelings with every gentle caress, because it's so important to have that special somebody to hold, to kiss, to miss, to squeeze, and please!

Mrs. Tarantino: Mister Man! Mister Man! Mister Man. They left this card.

Jake: Disco pants and haircuts...

Elwood: Yeah, lots of space in this mall.

Jake: Take $1400 and give it to Ray's Music Exchange in Calumet City. Give the rest to the band.

Elwood: I gotta hit the sack.

[He sees that Jake has fallen asleep on his bed]

Elwood: Hey, you sleaze. My bed!

[Elwood pauses for a second, then retrieves the liquor bottle and sets it beside the hot plate. He spreads a blanket over his brother]

Curtis: Boys, you got to learn not to talk to nuns that way.

Reverend Cleophus James: Praise God!

Elwood: And God bless the United States of America!

[at the closing, as each character is credited]

Reverend Cleophus James: The sad sack was sittin' on a block o' stone/Way over in the corner weepin' all alone/

Curtis: The warden said, "Hey, buddy, don't you be no square / if you can't find a partner use a wooden chair!"

Ray: Let's rock, everybody, let's rock/

Mrs. Murphy: Everybody on the whole cell block / Was dancin' to the Jailhouse rock.

Elwood: [the Mystery Woman sprays the tunnel with gunfire as Jake and Elwood dive for the ground] Who *is* that girl?

Mystery Woman: Well Jake, you look just fine down there, slithering in the mud like vermin.

Jake: [makes a reassuring gesture to Elwood] No problem.

Mr. Fabulous: Yes? How are your salads?

Father: The salads are fine. It's just that we'd like to move to a new table... away from those two gentlemen.

[Mr. Fabulous glances briefly at Jake and Elwood stuffing their faces at the table beside the family]

Mr. Fabulous: Why? Have they been disturbing you?

Father: No, it's just that... well frankly, they're offensive. Smelling. I mean they physically smell... bad.

Elwood: Our blessed Lady of Acceleration, don't fail me now.

Jake: That Night Train's a mean wine.

Head Nazi: White men! White women! The swastika is calling you. The sacred and ancient symbol of your race, since the beginning of time. The Jew is using The Black as muscle against you. And you are left there helpless. Well, what are you going to do about it, Whitey? Just sit there? Of course not! You are going to join with us. The members of the American Socialist White Peoples' Party. An organization of decent, law abiding white folk. Just like you!

[first lines]

Prison Guard #1: Yeah, the Assistant Warden wants this one out of the block early. Wants to get it over with fast.

Prison Guard #2: Okay, let's do it.

[rattling the bars with his baton]

Prison Guard #1: Hey come on, it's time to wake up.

Prison Guard #2: Wake up. Let's go, it's time.

[striking the sleeping Jake with his baton]

Elwood: Don't worry, they won't catch us -- we're on a mission from God.

Willie 'Too Big' Hall: You'll never get Matt and Mr. Fabulous out of them high-payin' gigs.

Jake: Oh yeah? Well me and the Lord, we have an understanding.

Jake: [to Mystery Woman] I ran outta gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locust's. It wasn't my fault! I swear to God!

Mystery Woman: Ohh, Jake!

[He kisses her, she sets down her gun and he lets her fall into the mud]

[last lines]

Entire Crew: Everybody in the whole cell block was dancing to the Jailhouse Rock!

Recorded on 6/17/202110

In this episode we review the movie The Blues Brothers (1980) starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin and Henry Gibson. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS.

The 3 Guys Podcast

Notes From The Show

The 3 Guys Rating

About The Movie From IMDB

Photos

Videos

Cast

Quotes From The Movie

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Podcast 19: The Blues Brothers

Recorded on 6/17/202110

In this episode we review the movie The Blues Brothers (1980) starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin and Henry Gibson. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS.

The 3 Guys Podcast

Notes From The Show

The 3 Guys Rating

About The Movie From IMDB

Photos

Videos

Cast

Quotes From The Movie

Quotes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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Popular Podcasts

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Recent Posts