THE BLUES BROTHERS: 4K UHD Blu-ray (Universal, 1980) Universal Home Video
There is something to be said of a movie holding the Guinness
record for most cars destroyed in a single shot – 103 – though precisely what,
I am certain I do not know. A mindless claptrap of cameos, loosely strung
together to 'celebrate' the city of Chicago and several of the biggest R&B
acts of their generation, John Landis' The Blues Brothers (1980)
attempts to straddle a chasm between the traditional light-hearted Hollywood
musical/and kick-in-the-crotch comedy for which the 1970’s and Landis’ own
portfolio were deplorably famous. Alas, The Blues Brothers winds up
strapping a pipe bomb to just about everything it touches, making cinema gumbo more
often than movie magic. The movie was the brainchild of Saturday Night Live
alumni, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, the two having played the brothers Blue
on television in several popular skits. Envisioning a more durable and lengthy
piece of entertainment for himself and Belushi to co-star, Aykroyd wrote a 324-page
screenplay (his first, and nearly 3-times as long as any normal screenplay)
before having the manuscript bound to resemble a copy of the telephone book and
submitting it to Landis for consideration. Evidently, Landis saw something he
liked, because he quickly set about pruning Aykroyd's concept to a manageable
length.
It was a banner year for John Belushi who had been
catapulted to super stardom in 1978, laying claim to the nation’s top-grossing movie
– Animal House, top-rated television show, SNL and number-one
album of the year. Universal narrowly beat out Paramount to produce The Blues
Brothers – a decision they would come to regret, as the green light had
been given without first having a viable budget or script. Uni exec, Lew
Wasserman believed Landis could make the picture for $12 million. Landis held
out for $20 million. Without a viable script, Wasserman created a stalemate. Meanwhile,
Aykroyd insisted on the participation of James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles
and Aretha Franklin. Uni balked, as none of the aforementioned had had a hit in
years; Landis, pressed by Wasserman to consider ‘newer’ acts to pull in the younger
crowd. Instead, Aykroyd went about filling his roster with even more old-time
talent: Big Walter Horton, Pinetop Perkins, and John Lee Hooker as well as
Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn - half of Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Horn
players Lou Marini, Tom Malone, and Alan Rubin of Blood, Sweat & Tears
and the Saturday Night Live band also came onto the project, while drummer,
Willie Hall who had backed Isaac Hayes, and veteran blues guitarist, Matt
Murphy, pianist Paul Shaffer also signed on to perform. The Blues Brothers
would also mark the debut of Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman) and see Chaka
Khan appear as the soloist in the Triple Rock choir with cameos from muppet
puppeteer, Frank Oz and singer/songwriter, Stephen Bishop.
Landis was arguably going for broke and going big –
staging his finale with 500 extras, including 200 National Guardsmen, 100 state
and city police officers, and 15 mounted police. Given the sheer amassing of
these extras, remarkably, Wasserman did not bat and eye as Landis began to
shoot The Blues Brothers – still, without a finished screenplay. Alas, the
budget okayed by Wasserman - $17.5 million – would barely cover a third of the
movie Landis had in mind. Worse – one month into shooting, the production was
already severely behind schedule, owing to John Belushi’s out of control
partying. Even before the start of the movie, Belushi’s cocaine habit was
legendary. When he was not sniffing his own stash, sycophants and wannabe
friends were supplying the star with more extracurricular blow. The insidiousness
of Belushi’s addiction caused him to repeatedly miss calls and go missing for
hours – sometimes days – forcing Landis to shoot around him. Even Dan Aykroyd,
who favored the drug himself, believed a portion of the movie’s budget had been
allocated to keep John in the manner to which his addiction had already become
accustomed. As Landis went over his initial budget, Wasserman began to grow
impatient in Hollywood. While the production continued to hemorrhage money,
Landis encouraged co-star, Carrie Fisher to help him keep Belushi sober – at least,
enough to work. Regrettably, at one point, Landis discovered Belushi hoarding
cocaine in his trailer, leading to a tearful confrontation.
Meanwhile, Landis’ own profligate spending had already
cost the picture a whopping $3.5 million just to shoot its climactic chase
sequence. This would eventually go down in Chicago’s books as the largest
action sequence ever shot in the windy city. By the time cast and crew arrived
back in L.A. to put the finishing touches on the picture, Belushi had severely
injured his knee in a skateboarding accident. It was doubtful he could
continue, until Wasserman came to the ailing star’s aid with the city’s top
orthopedic surgeon. The knee was ‘sufficiently anesthetized’, enough for
Belushi to complete the shoot, feeling relatively little pain. If Landis could
breathe a momentary sigh of relief after it was all in the can, he had little
to celebrate as his first ‘rough cut’ assembly unfurled at a lengthy 2 ½ hrs., with
intermission, incurring Wasserman’s wrath. The old mogul had no desire to
release a road show and immediately ordered Landis to cut 20-mins. out. In Uni’s
accounting department, the numbers were finally starting to come in: $27.5
million (or $85.3 million in today’s dollars) – a staggering $10 million over the
original budget. Wasserman began to do his own math.
Aykroyd and Belushi had left SNL the previous
season and with their departure, the reputation of the Blues Brothers had
cooled with audiences. Would enough of them be back to see the movie. Worse,
Belushi’s fame had taken a severe hit when Steven Spielberg’s WWII-pastiche, 1941
tanked at the box office. Several days after Landis delivered his
theatrical cut, he was informed by the head of Mann Theaters The Blues
Brothers would not be booked into high profile venues in white
neighborhoods, to discourage the attendance of black patrons. The net result
was the picture opened in only 594 theaters across the country – less than half
the number for a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Given its ‘limited’ release, The
Blues Brothers’ whopping gross of $4,858,152 in its first week – put it
squarely behind the front-running picture of the year, The Empire Strikes
Back, and, suddenly gave Landis cause to reconsider where its ultimate
popularity might reside. In the end, The Blues Brothers wound up being
the 10th movie of the year, its $57,229,890 domestic gross, slightly
outclassed by an intake of $58,000,000 in foreign markets. As a matter of
record, The Blues Brothers was not only a smash hit, but the 9th-highest
grossing musical until that time and the 10th-highest comedy. Better
still, many critics were kind to The Blues Brothers, particularly
Chicago’s Sun-Times Roger Ebert, who gave it 3 out of 4 stars, calling it “a
demolition symphony that works with the cold efficiency of a Moog synthesizer
gone sadistic.”
All that said, I have never held out much excitement
for this movie, its weak-kneed premise for all the musical numbers and rampant
destruction shortly to follow, utterly threadbare at best. At best, The
Blues Brothers remains an honorary tribute to John Belushi who died on
March 5, 1982, injected with a lethal dose of heroin and cocaine – a.k.a., a
speedball. He was only 33. And in hindsight, it is this sad epitaph to his life
and career, mercilessly cut short, that makes me empathetic toward the movie all
these years later. Even if one is not aware of Belushi’s addiction, it is
impossible to view The Blues Brothers today and not be conscious of the
fact the actor giving so much up there on the screen is in a great deal of emotional
turmoil, roiling just beneath the surface of his performance. And so, it
begins, as Jake Blues (John Belushi) is paroled after serving 3-years in prison
for armed robbery. His brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) immediately takes him for a
little tete-a-tete with 'the penguin' - Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman)
who is disappointed by the way 'her boys' have turned out. But now, the
orphanage where Elwood and Jake grew up is in very real danger of being taken
over by the city for failing to pay its taxes. (Aside: religious properties are
exempt from taxation. However, at the time this script was being developed,
Illinois was considering a bill that would have revoked the exemption).
Jake offers to knock over a liquor store to get Sister
Mary the $5,000 she needs to save the orphanage. But Elwood reasons a more
prudent way to raise money. He and Jake will reunite with their band and give a
benefit concert. To bolster their confidence, the orphanage's custodian, Curtis
(Cab Calloway) tells the boys to visit an Evangelical church run by Rev.
Cleophus James (James Brown). The boys attend and Jake is divinely inspired by
the word of God. All, however, does not go according to plan. Elwood is pulled
over by two state troopers (Steven Williams and Armand Cerami) for running a
red light. Discovering Elwood's license has expired, the police make chase.
Elwood drives his car through the Dixie Square Mall in a 'Smokey and the
Bandit'-styled chase that ends with the total annihilation of virtually
every store front in the place. Aside: the Dixie Square was an abandoned
property set for demolition at the time Landis and his crew did their own
wrecking job on its interiors. However, after the filmed carnage was complete,
the state of Illinois attempted to sue Universal for the cost of damages,
claiming they had plans to reopen the mall but could no longer consider it
viable or safe. Meanwhile, Elwood takes Jake back to his 'men's club' - a
flophouse. But the next day, the entire establishment is nuked by 'a mysterious
woman' (Carrie Fisher). Elwood and Jake survive the building's collapse and
make their way to Ray's Music Express, an emporium presided over by none other
than Ray Charles. They acquire new instruments on credit and hurry off to
collect the remaining members of their band (Murphy Hall, Willie Dunne, Matt
Murphy and Tom Malone).
Matt's ole lady, Mrs. Murphy (Aretha Franklin) endeavors
to discourage her hubby's participation in the band's reunion by belting out a
rendition of 'Think', but to no avail. Elwood and Jake interrupt a Neo
Nazi rally, driving their car into the crowd and forcing the Nazis to jump into
the river, thus incurring the wrath of the Head Nazi (Henry Gibson) who vows
revenge. Next, Elwood, Jake and the boys make their way to Bob's Country Bunker,
a remote western bar where they crash a Good Ole Boy's gig. Unfortunately, they
drink more than they earn and the bar owner (Jeff Morris) demands payment. The
band flees into the night, making their way to the Palace Hotel ballroom.
Elwood and Jake rally their friends to promote their appearance and sell out
the 5000-seat venue. Their ambitious promotion works, but it also alerts the
police, Bob and the Head Nazi to Jake and Elwood's whereabouts. On route to the
Palace, Jake and Elwood run out of gas, forcing the band to go on without them
for the first act. Curtis performs a retro rendition of Minnie the Moocher
and wows the crowd. After a brief flirtation with 'a chic lady' (Twiggy), Jake
and Elwood arrive at the Palace.
They perform their signature song, ‘Everybody Needs
Somebody’, that brings the audience to a standing ovation. Unfortunately,
their arch nemeses are about to close in. Elwood and Jake escape through a trap
door in the stage floor but are confronted by 'the mysterious lady' who
turns out to be Jake's estranged wife. She has come there to murder the
brothers. But at the last possible moment she allows herself to be very briefly
seduced by her ex instead. Elwood and Jake elude their captors and race back to
Chicago. The extended chase sequence that takes them to the County Clerk also
brings out the police and the National Guard. Elwood and Jake burst into the
Cook County Assessor's office where their money is taken on behalf of the
orphanage by a lowly clerk (Steven Spielberg). The orphanage has been saved.
Unfortunately, someone will have to atone for all the damages incurred
throughout the state. Jake, Elwood and the band are carted off to prison -
presumably for an indefinite stay. The film concludes with the band performing 'Jailhouse
Rock' to the rest of the inmates.
I must be getting old, but this sort of thoughtless
twaddle does not appeal to me. I am not entirely certain that it ever did. The
Blues Brothers could be considered high camp with cameos a la the likes of
Michael Todd, if only the resulting narrative were not so heavily fraught with
structural inconsistencies that render it an episodic mishmash at best. The
premise - raising money to save an orphanage - is so ragged and silly it is practically
nonexistent after the initial scenes are played out. What follows is a grotesquely
over-inflated and overproduced series of skits – some wrought in very poor
taste indeed. It is rumored 103 cars were totaled during the lengthy chase sequences
that open and close the movie; to say nothing of the many properties either
damaged or completely destroyed along the way. The musical acts are engaging,
in a jejune ‘oh, look who’s here’ sort of way. But the choreography, if
one can call it that, is more frenetic than fantastic. George Folsey Jr.'s
slapdash editing simply fades to black or cuts away to another angle of action
already covered. He seems incapable of providing a dramatic visual link or
transition between scenes. In the end, The Blues Brothers is not so much
a tongue-in-cheek cavalcade of stars - musical and otherwise - as it proves an
exhaustive roller coaster ride, to decidedly run out of thrills and outstay its
welcome long before the final fade out. You can only trash so much stuff before
even the shock and revile of thought-numbing destruction becomes just so-so and
a lot of ho-hum. The right ta-ta, perhaps, but the wrong ho-ho.
Universal Home Video re-issues The Blues Brothers
in 4K UHD. The Blu-ray, part of their 100-year celebration, had been given a
ground-up digital restoration. Even so, that disc had its issues. So, there was
definite room for improvement. Do we get it in true ultra-hi-def? Absolutely.
For those who are die-hard fans of this musical claptrap – and there are many
out there – the 4K refresher is sincerely the way to go. Colors that were
merely bold on the Blu-ray, now take on a refined texture and more nuanced
spectrum of color detailing that is rich and alive. Better still, film grain,
that sporadically appeared as rather clumpy and occasionally gave hints someone
had been tinkering at the controls to homogenize it with some insufferable DNR,
now emerges as very organic and film-like. Wow – what an improvement. Contrast
is exceptional with no black crush. As before,
Uni has given us two versions of the film in native 4K UHD – the original
theatrical cut and the 'extended director's cut'. The latter doesn't really add
anything to your viewing experience so much as it simply lengthens a few of the
musical sequences with different angles of the action already covered in the
theatrical cut. The excised portions reinserted into the movie have a slightly
different color palette than the rest of the film. However, where they
initially appeared slightly more waxen and void of film grain on the Blu-ray,
they now look as good as the rest of the movie.
Be prepared for a new audio experience too, because
Uni has gone back to original masters for a new DTS: X experience that is a
minor revelation. Bass tonality greatly advances, and the songs have never
sounded more genuinely ‘concert’ like – especially the climactic Palace Hotel
ballroom scenes. Dialogue is still frontal based, but there are minor tweaks to
the surrounds that deliver a more immersive sound field over the old Blu-ray
presentation. We get the original Blu-ray again, and it includes a retrospective
hour-long 'making of' documentary, as well as two brief featurettes, one devoted
to transposing the music, the other, remembering, John Belushi. Bottom line: while
I still regard The Blues Brothers as an inferior bit of picture-making,
this new 4K UHD release almost made the experience of it palpable; that, and,
of course, the mind-boggling assortment of vintage artists – long gone – giving
this one their all, allowing for at least a few fits and sparks of fun along
the way. Highly recommended for fans.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
2
VIDEO/AUDIO
5+
EXTRAS
3.5
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