Crazy. I learned to play the harp because of Elwood also. I wonder how many people got in to blues because of that flick? I was much younger then, hell it WAS 25 years ago, and I had no idea who that guy singing "Boom Boom" was, I had never heard of Johnny Lee Hooker. Cab Calloway? Who the hell is that? So I went searching and the rest is history. Thank God for Jake and Elwood. Mike
Absolutely my FAVORITE movie of all time...just ahead of Mad Max and Road Warrior. "You boys drank an awful lot of beer tonight" I know I'm a geek but... Graffiti on the bridge the Blues Brothers hide their car under during the show reads "John *heart* Debbie." This is a reference to director John Landis and his wife Deborah. The scene in which the band appears in a sauna, clad only in towels, is an allusion to the cover photo on the 1973 Blood Sweat & Tears music album "No Sweat", in which the BST band appears in a sauna in identical pose. Lou Marini and Tom Malone, two of the Blues Brothers Band members, were also in BST and appear in both sauna scenes. Before the falling-Pinto scene could be filmed, the filmmakers had to get an "Air UN-worthyness certificate" from the Federal Aviation Administration for the Pinto. This was done by conducting preliminary drop tests to ensure that it would not behave as an airfoil and drift from its target line, but would drop "like a brick" when dropped from a great height. 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, 'Landis, John' 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). Every time we see the window in Elwood's apartment a train goes past. When Jake is released from prison, his watch is returned to him, broken. When the police car flips over in the mall, the police officer says "Hey, they broke my watch!" This line is repeated after every major car crash. "Murph and the Magictones" have a pink Cadillac with the name of the band painted on the side. After they rejoin the Blues Brothers, the car has "The Blues Brothers Band" crudely spray-painted on it. 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 never removed. Jake 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. This film held the world record for the number of cars crashed. Director Trademark: [John Landis] [ipanema] the music in the elevator. Director Trademark: [John Landis] [SYNW] the message on the billboard that the cops were hiding behind. Director Trademark: [John Landis] [filmmakers] Appearances by directors Frank Oz and Steven Spielberg. The infamous "Bluesmobile" is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. The vehicles used in the film were actual used police cars, and featured the "cop tires, cop suspension and cop motor - a 440 cubic-inch plant" mentioned by Elwood in the film. A total of 12 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 Dan Ackroyd's brother-in-law. Singer/guitarist Joe Walsh can be seen during the "Jailhouse Rock" sequence at the end. He still had long hair and a long mustache at the time and is the first prisoner to jump up on a table and start dancing. Elwood's fake address at Wrigley Field (1060 West Addison) is used on the receipt they get for paying the $5000 Joliet and Elwood are two cities south west from Chicago In this film, after the Universal Studios logo is shown at the end, and the ad for Universal Studios in Hollywood is out, under "When in Hollywood, visit Universal Studios", appears the words "Ask For Babs". The same appeared in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (Babs is the Animal House character Babs Jensen), and it reappeared in Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) underneath a new Universal Studios Hollywood logo at the end of that movie. Paul Shaffer, who had played with the Blues Brothers during their live shows in the 1970s, was supposed to be the band's keyboardist but had a previous contract commitment. Carrie Fisher guest-hosted the SNL episode the Blues Brothers debuted in. The t-shirt Mat Murphy wears is from Uncle Tom's Tavern in Stone Mountain Georgia. The place was famous for it's rowdy fights. It has been closed for many years now. The mall used for the mall chase was the Dixie Square Mall in south subruban Harvey, IL. It had been closed for over a year. The filmmakers got sponsorship from different retailers to re-build the entire mall. There were certain stores that were allowed to be crashed into and others that weren't. The building remain mostly empty to this day, despite attempts to find new uses for it. Elwood's Drivers license number is #B263-1655-2187 Elwood had 116 outstanding warrants for parking and 56 for moving violations. This can be seen when Trooper Mount and Trooper Daniel ran his D/L history when he was first pulled over. In the new DVD version of the film, there are several added scenes. Elwood appears in one (sans sunglasses!) to tell his boss that he needs to quit because he wishes to become a priest. During the making of the movie, one of the actors (un-named) drove the "Blues Mobile" 100 miles West on Interstate 80, to the city of Spring Valley, Illinois. He was promptly arrested for no registration (the plate was a prop), and no valid drivers license. With a telephone call, the set director was more concerned with the return of the vehicle than with the return of his actor. 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, locate at 7059 South Shore Dr. Chicago, Ill. Which was later purchased by the city and reopened as the South Shore Cultural Center. In a scene restored to the DVD release, Elwood parks the Bluesmobile in a tiny Chicago Transit Authority storage shed underneath a bank of transformers for the CTA trains. Dan Ackroyd had written this as part of an elaborate scene showing the Bluesmobile being "charged up" by the transformers to explain how the car could perform its impossible stunts. Director John Landis discarded the complicated explanations, saying "It's just a magic car!" Some of the performers were not used to lip-syncing to their pre-recorded songs - the 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. The scene where the bluesmobile is driving at 115 MPH on Wells and Wacker Drive is real. The film crew received permission to clear the street for two 100 MPH+ passes. Stunt pedestrians were added after the first pass to add realism. The bridge that the Bluesmobile "falls" off of at the end of the movie was in downtown Milwaukee. The bridge had not been finished for years before the movie and for years afterwards - it was a real life "bridge to nowhere" (it was more of an overpass than a bridge). It has been completed since. Lobbying from the Italian-American community ensured that the line "The Mafia's out there" was re-dubbed to "The Mob's out there" when the Blues Brothers was shown on television. The Soul Food Cafe, where Aretha Franklin sings, was Nate's Deli on Chicago's famed Maxwell Street. It is now a parking lot. During filming, John Belushi apparently got drunk, went to a stranger's house, asked if he could have a glass of milk and a sandwich and then crashed on their couch for a couple of hours before the cast and crew found him. Colleen Camp's playboy poster, also featured in Apocalypse Now (1979), is hanging on the wall of Elwood's apartment. Murphy Dunne is the son of the then-president of the Cook County Board, George Dunne, who helped convince then-mayor Jane Byrne to allow filming at the Daley Center.
"The Blues Brothers? Shiiit. They still owe you money, fool. You're livin' with me now. You ain't goin' back out on the road and playin' them old two-bit sleazy dives, and y'ain't gonna go slidin' around witcho ol' white hoodlum friends."
Looks like KIRK! has been cutting and pasting off of IMDB.com (I love that site). I just got a snow globe of the Blues Brothers. It's got Jake and Elwood dancing in the globe, with the globe sitting on top of the Bluesmobile. It's awesome, i couldn't pass it up. It's from the House of Blues. Speaking of Animal House, "You're all worthless and weak!" That quote was heard many times during my pledge semester.
You obviously haven't read Christian's Belgian plumbing exploits... Oh yeah... "Orange-Whip?" "Orange-Whip?" "Yeah, three Orange-Whips."
Holy shit that's a dated referrence (and holy shit that was fuckin' hilarious) "Hey, you on the motorcycle... you two girls... tell all your friends... free parking..."
I can't believe it's taken us this long for someone to come up with the 'Four fried chickens and a coke' quote. It should've come up sooner....
Amen to that! The Blues Brothers was probably the first place I heard that kind of music and I have recordings of John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles (my all time favorite), and many others. Blues music remains my favorite music. "That Night Train is a MEAN WINE!"
You've been wondering why it's so hard to find a 71-79 Dodge Coronet sedan? The entire Maxwell Street outdoor flea market has been bulldozed and is to be developed by the nearby whatchacallem school. They have been generous enough to approve a plaque to commemorate the site. (heartless bastards.) Aretha Franklin cannot lipsynch. Casting Ray Charles as the sureshot pawn broker was a lovely twisted touch. The one artist who truly saw his career reborn was the great Cab Calloway. A plum role that assured that he isn't cast onto the junkheap just yet (RIP Reefer Man) You do understand that "Minnie the Moocher" basicly advocates drug usage? I don't want any emails from angry parents. Can't be too careful these days I will only have Ray Ban Wayfarers shielding my eyes from sun, wind and particulate matter. I owned and drove a 1970 Mercury Monterey ex CHP cruiser (428CJ) in it's original black and white for several years. It's an awsome feeling to to roll up at night on someone who is doing 80 mph and watch how fast they get out of your way as you go by doing about 120. "To Serve and Protect"
Which bit of Minnie the Moocher was drug related? I always thought it was about a hooker...I could be wrong, but...(I can't be arsed to search the lyrics either).
The line that crack's me up is.....just before the 'cop motor, cop shocks etc' one... Jake looks across & say's...Car's got a lot of pick up.. I love this thread....... Dave
[Oh man that just made my day. Those guys should get a medal for going back to the mall and driving through it like that!!!!!!
Jake: How you gonna get the band back together, mister hotrodder? The cops got your name, your address... Elwood: No, they don't got my address. I falsified my renewal. I put down 1060 West Addison. Jake: 1060 West Addison? That's Wrigley Field. (edited because my quote was all wrong!)
Paul( the shiv) Shaffer , David Lettermans band leader was in the original band!! he was the keyboard player( on the album, not in the movie) alot of the band was the "MG's"
If you do get the DVD version it has an extended clip of John Lee playing in the street, such a cool guy....RIP JLH He is said to have recorded over 900 tracks during 50yrs of his career, think about that!
I've been pissed off for 20 years, the best song in the movie was not only clipped short, it wasn't included on the soundtrack. Now that i have the DVD, all is right with the world. The plywood accompaniment is great!
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