The Blues Brothers

'We're on a mission from God.' — "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues (Laughs) ... What a magnificent work of motion picture art The Blues Brothers is! This fun-filled musical is truly a must-see. The screenplay was co-written by Saturday Night Live alum Dan Aykroyd, whom, by the way also stars in the effort as Elwood Blues, one half of the Chicago-based R&B/Blues band, The Blues Brothers. Native Chicagoan and Aykroyd's fellow SNL grad, John Belushi (The late, great), also stars in this zany opus as "Joliet" Jake, Elwood's biological other half. And with an all-star supporting cast that includes the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Cab (Minnie the Moocher) Calloway, John Lee Hooker, and Carrie Fisher, among quite a few others, The Blues Brothers is one tremendous cinematic force - in both the Musical film and Action film genres, respectively. John Landis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Aykroyd, also directs the high-leveled ensemble. In this feel-good tale, the plot revolves around the threatened foreclosure of a Catholic orphanage in which the two brothers were raised. The city has placed an unlawful detainer on the orphanage, and if members of its clergy fail to raise $5,000, the amount needed to stay the pending foreclosure, then it's eviction time for all of those needy children who still call the institution home. But before "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues see that happen, they'll tear a whole lotta Chicago up! With that, the crazy and over-the-top hilarious action begins ... And "laughing out loud" will truly be an understatement. Set in the Windy City, The Blues Brothers is jam-packed with action, adventure, great music, comedy, and deep, heartstrings-tugging emotion. It does its part in helping to define what a genuinely great and entertaining movie should be. And it is a CLASSIC in every sense of the adjective. My big brother (God love him) introduced me to this film, by way of a movie date, over three decades ago. And to this day, I continue to harbor for both him and it, a love beyond passion. Five stars!

OK, the title here is probably disingenuous. I live in Chicago, a city that doesn't allow you residence unless it can confirm that you love "The Blues Brothers" and "The Untouchables." So this review is coming with a fair amount of cultural bias out the door. So I'm just going to drop the honest part right now and tell you flatly that this is bias. It's likely the most bias review that you'll probably ever read. Franklin singing in a famous Maxwell street diner (now defunct) but still, that's pretty Chicago right there. And, of course, if you've ever lived by the L you get the joke about the trains running past you every couple of minutes at a deafening pitch. And there's the fact that I grew up in McHenry County when it was still a rural country podunk county and they still gave us the nod. It's all Chicago, and it's all Chicago with a line up of Blues cameo's that the world has never seen before and sadly will never see again, especially as the genre has faded to near obscurity with the generations after X. There's something splendid about it. It's a comedy that has never stopped reminding me of home. I can even sit down with my wife and watch this movie in our Chicago apartment and feel a nostalgia for the Chicago that used to be, for the Maxwell Street that used to be, and I can watch it when I'm out far from home and it acts as kind of a comfort piece. And, what I've found out in my life is that the love for it is international, or at least The Blues Brothers transcended borders and has a faithful following in Germany as well. It's a movie about The Blues and about Chicago, and don't listen to the nay sayers, even our home town boy Buddy Guy will tell you that the Blues aren't an exclusively Black thing, it's not an exclusively an American thing, they are an exclusively music thing. There is a reason, after all, why people say that they "appreciate" the Blues. And I don't think anyone is in a position to argue with Buddy Guy about this. So take this however you want. It's a funny musical with better music than musicals tend to have... or it's a beloved tradition that comes with your zip code. Either way it's something that only the most jaded and cynical among us won't enjoy and love.