Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The opening (Jake gets out of jail, they hug, the bridge jump, 'I get out of prison, my own brother picks me up in a police car'). Also: the mall car chase ('fucking kills me – heroine imports, new Oldsmobiles are in early'), and Chez Paul (the French restaurant – Belushi unleashed, 'your women, sell them to me, how much for the little girl?').
• Sean: Ray's Music Exchange – Ray Charles is the best actor who's not an actor in the movie, genuine comic timing, best musical sequence with outdoor choreography in front of the L train.
• CR: Chez Paul is the funniest scene; Ray's Music Exchange is his favorite scene.
• Also: Reverend James Brown's epiphany scene, Bob's Country Bunker (Rawhide/Stand By Your Man), Soul Food Cafe with John Lee Hooker, Minnie the Moocher at the Palace, Carrie Fisher in the tunnel, the iconic '106 miles to Chicago' speech, the final car chase with the Nazis falling to their death, the Blues Mobile collapsing, and 300 people pointing guns at the end.

• Bill: 1970s police cars getting destroyed left and right; expensive suits being $10.
• CR: An executive from Paramount who wanted this movie was Don Simpson. Also: being so famous you just decide you're a musician.
• Sean: An R&B musical car chase movie about two white felons – 'I don't think that would get made today.'

• Belushi and Aykroyd, Elwood's crappy apartment (8 by 10 feet), shitting on white supremacists as villains.
• Calling the head nun 'the Penguin.' Carrie Fisher's hair salon 'Curl Up and Die' (with DYE). Carrie Fisher being in this – released same day as Empire Strikes Back.
• City of Chicago as a character. Ray-Bans (Blues Brothers and 'Risky Business' supercharged Chicago movies and Ray-Bans).
• A wide-shot showing a movie theater playing Escape from Alcatraz, 'The Warriors', and Up in Smoke – 'sounds like a fucking unbelievable triple header.'
• The 60s R&B soul music – CR: 'arguably the best music America has ever produced.' The music has aged perfectly.
• SNL converting characters to movies – paved the way for 90s SNL movies. The making of the movie being better than the movie itself (CR).
• Colleen Camp's Playboy poster from Apocalypse Now on Elwood's apartment wall (Sean's 'criteria orgasm' – led to discovering the Lynda Carter/Colleen Camp recasting story).

• CR: Manual steering in old cars – fishtailing everywhere.
• Bill: No Paul Shaffer in the movie (he chose Lorne Michaels' Gilda Radner project; Belushi told him 'you're dead to me'). Wanted more SNL cameos – Bill Murray, Steve Martin could have had a minute.
• Blues Brothers 2000 – 'agreed not to talk about it anymore.'
• Man Theaters refusing to book the film in white neighborhoods; Dan Aykroyd confirmed many Southern theaters refused to show it because of the Black musical stars.

• Bill: Jake's footsteps leaving prison (shot from underneath going up). Also: the very end when it scales back to reveal 300 people pointing guns at them.
• Sean: The state trooper going into the truck.

John Lee Hooker's 'Boom Boom' at the Soul Food Cafe (CR) – the only singer recorded live for the film. 'So sick the way they shoot it.'

• Bill: Wanted fugitives trying to sell out a benefit concert they're headlining – the cops are immediately going to find out about it.
• CR: One too many antagonists – could have consolidated the rednecks, Carrie Fisher, and the cops.
• Sean: 'The Blues Brothers' call themselves Blues brothers but mostly sing R&B/soul – they're not singing Muddy Waters, they're singing Sam and Dave.

• Bill: Cocaine continues to be underrated as a creative/cultural force. 'This movie just doesn't get made if everyone wasn't on cocaine.' The 1978-1986 window produced inconceivable choices that only make sense if everybody around you was on cocaine.
• Sean: The sequel (Blues Brothers 2000) invalidates this movie's standing as the greatest SNL movie because 'Wayne's World' 2 is solid and 'Wayne's World' is great. 'Also honestly, MacGruber's in the conversation.'
• CR: The Carrie Fisher subplot could have been cut and the movie would have come in under budget – it's basically one joke stretched across the whole film.

CR: Aretha Franklin's speaking parts – 'blasphemy, don't you blast me in here.' Sean: The entire backing band is 'a little over their skis.' Bill: That's more under-acting than over-acting.

• They wanted Olivia Newton-John for the Twiggy part, but she was unavailable because of Xanadu.
• The studio wanted younger musical acts instead of Aretha, Ray Charles, and James Brown – tried to get Rose Royce (from Car Wash).

• Bill: The kid who tries to steal from Ray's guitar shop – grew up to be Argyle the chauffeur in 'Die Hard' eight years later.
• Sean: Kathleen Freeman as the Penguin.
• Charles Napier is ineligible (three-time winner) but does have the same scream as when Lecter comes at him – when the Winnebago's about to go in the water.
• Henry Gibson: Sean says movie fans know him, but he's probably a that-guy for general audiences. 'He's going for it in a big way.'

Candidates: James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Carrie Fisher, Steve Lawrence, John Candy, Spielberg. CR: Aretha and Ray Charles tie. Paul Reubens (the waiter) 'communicates the entire Paul Reubens experience we will soon be getting in America.' Bill: Aretha Franklin.

• Bill: Just CGI Paul Shaffer into the band.
• Sean: If John Landis directs 1941 and Steven Spielberg directs 'The Blues Brothers', they're both better movies.
• Jennifer Roulette: CR had Jennifer Coolidge as the Penguin. Bill had Jennifer Lawrence for the Carrie Fisher part.

• 13 Blues Mobiles used, 60+ police cars at $400 each, 40 stunt drivers, 500+ extras for the finale. The downtown scene cost $3.5 million.
• Dropped a Ford Pinto from a helicopter at 1,200 feet – needed FAA special certification.
• Destroyed 103 cars (record until Matrix Reloaded's 300 in 2003).
• Lou Wasserman's daily 'chain of screaming' – he'd call Ned Tannen, who'd call Sean Daniels, who'd call Landis, who'd call Aykroyd about getting Belushi to set. (From a Vanity Fair article and Bob Woodward's 'Wired.').
• Belushi lost ~500 pairs of Ray-Bans during filming. The musical numbers were filmed at the Hollywood Palladium but made to look like Chicago.
• Elwood's data readout: 116 parking violations, 56 moving violations, 'arrest driver and pound vehicle.'

• Belushi: Probably 1978 (Animal House + SNL + the album combo) rather than this movie specifically. Also discussed: Apex Mountain of a famous person in a city – Belushi in Chicago from 1975-1981. CR: 'Everyone who lived there probably has one Belushi story.'
• Aykroyd: No – it's Ghostbusters.
• Carrie Fisher: Released same day as Empire Strikes Back – 'not a bad day for her.' But probably Jedi (she chokes out Jabba).
• Chicago as movie locale: Probably Ferris Bueller (or 'The Fugitive'). Sean's emotional pick: Thief.
• Getting personal belongings back after leaving prison: 'Rounders' (Worm's toothpick) is the only competitor. Red's suit in Shawshank Redemption also.
• The Blues as a band: Yes. John Landis: Probably Animal House (or 'Coming to America' post-Twilight Zone). New Oldsmobiles: Definitely. JC Penney/Pier One: Yes. Bushy sideburns: Elvis in Vegas. Cocaine: Probably Scarface. Blues Brothers as a band: Yes (4 million album sales).

Clearly Spielberg. But Scorsese's version of the making of this movie could have been great (Bill).

CR: The John Candy role (Burton Mercer). Bill agreed. Sean: Burton Mercer the parole officer.

• CR: Subtract the car chases and music and this is a 42-minute movie – not much plot.
• Sean: Ray lets them take $1,400 in instruments on an IOU (roughly $50-100K in today's money). $5,000 in back taxes closing a church-owned orphanage that should be tax-exempt.
• Bill: How did nobody get run over in the mall? How did Carrie Fisher get a rocket launcher? His wife's note: the Soul Food Cafe had ~40 health violations. The good old boys showed up 4 hours late. The band drank $200 worth of beer at Bob's Country Bunker (~400 beers at $0.50 each). 11 hours unaccounted for between the nighttime concert escape and the morning car chase.

• Untouchable (though the sequel already happened – 'apply 'Fletch'/'Rocky' 5 rules and live your life like it never happened').
• Bill: Daniel Plainview as the third Blues Brother introducing them at the Palace Hotel. Also: Tony Romo doing color commentary during any car chase. 'The Nazis are falling, Jim! They're not going to make it!'

Sean: Belushi for Best Actor. Bill: The soundtrack/music. Also suggested: 'Best movie that only makes sense if you know cocaine was involved.' The 1981 Oscars field: De Niro (Raging Bull), Duvall, John Hurt, Peter O'Toole – Belushi might bump Jack Lemmon in Tribute.

• What happened to the owner of Bob's Country Bunker? He's now in a jihad trying to find Jake and Elwood over $200.
• Why was Bob's Country Bunker so close to Chicago when it seems like it's in Arkansas? (Probably Indiana.)
• If Spielberg directs 1941 and goes right into Blues Brothers, and it goes out of control, does he ever direct Raiders?
• How many movies would Belushi have made if he'd lived? Would he have kept doing blockbuster comedies or pushed into drama?
• Did Lorne Michaels become more hands-on with SNL movie adaptations because he wasn't part of this one?
• How bad did Jake and Elwood smell? No shower in sight the entire movie.
• Is Twiggy really just waiting at a motel for the weird guy who smells?

• Bill: The Colleen Camp Playboy poster from Elwood's apartment (with its Apocalypse Now/Lynda Carter backstory). Also: Elwood's briefcase, the broken-down Blues Mobile, the harmonica from the Palace scene.
• Sean: Jake and Elwood's hat and Ray-Bans (at the Blues Brothers 2000 premiere, everyone got a hat and Ray-Bans and looked ridiculous). Belushi lost ~500 pairs of Ray-Bans during filming.

Sometimes you need a mission from God (CR). Pay your parking tickets (Sean). Don't leave your girlfriend at the altar – especially if she has an inroad to Gaddafi for weapons. 'It's never too late to mend' (the sign above the prison at the end).

Bill: Animal House. Sean: 'Wayne's World' (weird pick). CR: The Commitments (group of Irish kids who start a 60s soul band). Sean also suggested Crossroads (Walter Hill, Ralph Macchio, about Robert Johnson and the real Blues).

Belushi and Aykroyd together. Bill: 'We never do two people for this, but I don't think it has to be.' It's 'Luka and LeBron' – can't separate them.