Jake Blues is released from prison and his brother Elwood arrives to pick him up in the new Bluesmobile, a beat up old police car. The two drive to the Catholic orphanage where they were raised and learn the joint is $5,000 in the hole on property taxes. Wanting to help, but not sure how to (legally), the pair move on to the Triple Rock Baptist Church where Jake has an epiphany—they can put “The Blues Brothers”, their old blues/rhythm/soul band, back together again and raise the money through gigs. “On a mission from God”, the pair drives around, collecting their old band-mates and convincing them to rejoin. But finding a booking that pays is a grind. To make matters worse, the brothers are making enemies along their quest: There’s the Good ‘Ole Boys (a country band), the American Nazi Party, an unnamed woman trying to murder the bros, and of course the entire Illinois police force. Jake and Elwood managed to skirt around each threat and play a 5,000 seat venue, raising the tax money. All that was left to do was to lead all their enemies on an insane car chase, 4 hours back to Chicago, where the tax bill could be settled.
I warmed up to, and fell in love with, The Blues Brothers. I went into the film unfamiliar with the SNL framing skit, so to me, some of the earlier ‘zany’ bits felt a bit unearned against the gruff start to the film. But I was soon smirking and laughing. The film’s jokes were zany (some pretty insane physics/surviving murderous explosions and being unfazed), subtle (“they broke my watch!”), and literally slap-stick (Sister Mary Stigmata’s disciplining). But the humor was balanced with some legitimately great action and soul. The finale car chase was probably one of my favorite car chase sequences ever. There was so much silly carnage, and story-wise so much is set up and paid off, that it’s truly one of the greats. The music was terrific and the contributions of music legends James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin makes this an interesting time capsule for American music. I’m trying to not read too much into the obstructions of southerners with guns, Nazis, and militarized police officers against our main characters’ divine mission to help a primarily black orphanage. What remains clear, after 41 years, is the uniting and healing power of music—a kind of magic this film has so much fun with.