The Blues Brothers [DVD] [1980]

Excellent movie! Has been waiting for this to come out in for 4K

This is a classic and will always be a classic. This was John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd at their best. This is one that if you haven’t seen it you need to.

This is one of the funniest movies ever. Belushi and Aykroyd are incredible. I’ve watched this movie 20 times, but this is the first copy I have ever owned.

Wonderful music by some of the best performers of their generation tied together by good story. Jake and Elwood Blues are small time, Chicago crooks. The orphanage that raised them is in financial trouble. The Blues brothers recreate their band and take it on the road to raise the money. Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, and John Candy are among the obstacles. The script is much better than that synopsis. John Landis’ direction is faultless. (There is even a cameo by a young Stephen Spielberg.). But, you watch this movie for the music. James Brown, Muddy Waters, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway and more contribute production numbers. Aretha almost steals the entire movie with her intense performance of “Respect.” And the band behind Jim Belushi and John Aykroyd is a collection of all star sidemen in its own right. The spectacular car chase through downtown Chicago is nice, too. A lovely, lovely movie.

Back in the 1970s, SNL was a huge deal, launching a juggernaut of comedic talent and movie stars. Dan Aykroyd and his SNL co-star and friend, John Belushi, created The Blues Brothers, Elwood and Jake Blues, from their love of blues music (Rather Aykroyd's love for it, but got Belushi to come around) and created a classic act that spread over across multiple episodes of SNL, a best selling blues album and eventually, a movie. Armed with a screenplay literally the size of a phone book, a huge budget, two rising stars and a director fresh from Animal House, how does it turn out? On the outset of the film, "Joliet Jake" Blues (Belushi) is released from Joliet prison, and is picked up by his brother Elwood (Aykroyd) in the iconic Bluesmobile, which is an old 70s police car (Love the irony) and driven to their orphanage to talk to The Penguin (Kathleen Freeman, not portraying the Batman villain). They learn their childhood home is being sold to the Board of Education and must pay $5,000 in back taxes to keep the orphanage operational. They see a sign from above from God ("We're on a mission from God.") and decide to get the band back together. It is harder than it sounds, due to their band mates landing some solid gigs and earning some nice green. Oh, and the Illinois State Police, Illinois hate groups and a country-western band are on their tail, hoping to lynch the Blues, on top of raising $5,000. Will they raise the roof or have it crumble on top of them? Will the police capture the brothers? Well, you will just have to watch the film to find out. Let me just say, this film is truly one of the funniest films of all time, bar none. It isn't just a straight up comedy, as it is more akin to something more epic like The Great Race or It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. How do I suppose this is like the film? Jaw droppingly awesome and real stuntwork that varies from a car chase that destroys an entire mall to turning Chicago into a veritable warzone chasing the Blues brothers downtown, and destroying dozens of cop cars. I just love how epic the film is, but its much more than just action, it also has some great musical numbers throughout, from the likes of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway and more! The acting from the two leads is fantastic, and feel like they are real brothers and complement each other well. Supporting players from the likes of Kathleen Freeman, Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, Charles Napier and more add to a memorable film. Of course not all of the actors are great. As I stated, there are some real musicians in the film, some doing pretty decent (Franklin manages to be exquisitely sassy here, Ray Charles doing well) but for the Blues Brothers Band, well is another story. You can tell they are not actors (Alan Rubin, the maitre'd and sax player fares the best here) and their line readings can be downright awful, but those are few and far between, as the main focus is on the brothers, as it should be. John Landis directs his first big budget film, and he doesn't disappoint at all. I'm surprised he wasn't overwhelmed, mainly coming from low-budget films (Animal House, The Kentucky Fried Movie), and letting the film lose his grip, but he holds on tight and never lets go. He captures Chicago beautifully, respecting the culture within the Windy City, gives the film an epic touch and makes it hilariously rather effortlessly. The screenplay (Dan Aykroyd and John Landis, who came in to whittle the script to a shootable movie) is well-written from a comedy aspect, but the plot is really simple (Get the money, get it back, pay taxes) but that gives much more room to have more comedy and it delivers in spades. Witty dialogue here, a pileup of tax-payer funded cop cars there, all for the sake of comedy. As for the rest of the film, the cinematography is decent for a 1980 film, the sound design is well-mixed, the costumes are iconic, the editing is sharp and cut well and the music is also well-done. All in all, you can tell this was a blockbuster from 1980 and doesn't disappoint in the least! Moving on to the BluRay disc, I got a bit scared. See, Universal is infamously known for their catalog releases on BluRay. Edge enhancement, egregious use of DNR (digital noise removal) and changing the look of the entire movie. Luckily, Landis was brought in to supervise the transfer, and I can say its a wonderful looking BluRay. Shot on grainy film from 1980, I was expecting a noisy mess, but was glad to see an extremely detailed image, with neon lights popping off the screen well, sharp images, and no signs of EE anywhere. The AQ is a bit of a downer though. Remixed to 5.1 on the original DVD release from 1998, the 5.1 DTS track sounds amazing, but it is not lossless DTS-HD unfortunately. Luckily, this is a well done track, with it being one of the best lossy tracks on any BluRay I have ever heard. Moving onto the extras, there is plenty to dig into, but nothing substantial has been added since the 2005 25th anniversary DVD release. Starting off, we are treated to the original theatrical and extended cuts and both are equally good, but for a tighter film, stick with the theatrical cut. The main extra on the disc is recycled from the 1998 special edition, but boy is it worth to recycle. Stories Behind the Making of the Blues Brothers is an hour-long look at the making of the film, featuring vintage BTS footage and interviews along with modern (circa 1998) interviews with the cast and crew. Extremely well done and packed with interesting stories, its a must if you are a BB fan. Moving along the recycled path are two featurettes culled from the 2005 DVD. Transposing the Music (15 min.) features more interviews and does have a similar feel to the making-of documentary and more condensed but still worth a peek. Remembering John is a 10-minute look at the unfortunately short life and career of John Belushi. The films trailer finishes off the extras, and also includes the 25th anniversary DVD (Also includes all the extras as well, along with both cuts) and a digital copy. So all in all, a fantastic film with a BluRay with great picture and great sound (Though a lossless track would've opened up the music more) and decent extras make this a must own for anyone fans of the stars, The Blues Brothers or comedies in general. Remember, you're on a mission from God when you purchase the movie.

My favorite movie of all time. The mall scene is one of the best things ever filmed.

The Blues Brothers is perhaps the Granddaddy of all the Saturday Night Live skits to transform to a feature film and in turn have a long-lasting appeal and life. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are Jake and Elwood Blues who are determined to reunite their blues band in order to raise five grand for their orphanage. Along the way, these two cause a huge mess across Illinois to what bottoms out as pure entertainment gold! The Blues Brothers also feature a who's who of blues and Gospel artists to push this musical comedy to greatness. The boys make their UHD debut and the results are superb! The print retains its theatrical look without to much heavy grain but the smooth details are noticeable in many scenes. The DTS-X 7.1 audio track is off the chain. Sad it's not a Dolby Atmos Track. The dialog is clear and clean but the soundtrack is an absolute treat! Very robust and thunderous with each some played throughout. The UHD also sports some bonus content carried from the previous Blu-ray release as well as the Extended Version also on the UHD disc. The Blu-ray disc is the same issued one that houses additional extras and both versions of the movie. The bottom line this is a must owned titled for fans and newcomers!

Fan of the movie since it was released. The best presentation yet.