The Blues Brothers
An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
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4.4 • 22 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The story of the epic friendship between John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the golden era of improv, and the making of a comedic film classic that helped shape our popular culture
“They’re not going to catch us,” Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.” So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theaters on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage. But Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles—made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since, it has been acknowledged a classic: it has been inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a “Catholic classic” by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the twentieth century.
The story behind any classic is rich; the saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Everybody knows The Blues Brothers was a comedy classic, but film journalist Daniel de Visé reveals a whole lot of history attached to it. His expertly rendered backstory casts a wide net, doing double duty as a John Belushi biography full of fascinating nuggets about the comic genius’s early life. De Visé covers Belushi’s Second City and SNL days before diving deep into Blues Brothers lore that’s both funny (meeting Belushi, John Lee Hooker said, “You one of them Muppets, ain’t ya?”) and frustrating (B.B. King would have been in the movie, if only his manager had bothered to ask him). Exhaustive research and interviews with key figures including Dan Aykroyd himself provide the story’s core, but de Visé’s obvious passion for his subject powers the story. The Blues Brothers shines new light on an American legend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This boisterous romp by de Visé (King of the Blues) recounts how Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi came up with the Blues Brothers and turned the Saturday Night Live characters into a beloved movie. Aykroyd introduced Belushi to the blues while the two were performing improv with Chicago's Second City troupe in the early 1970s. Belushi was a quick convert and, after he and Aykroyd joined the inaugural cast of SNL in 1975, he often made guest appearances singing with Manhattan blues acts. SNL creator Lorne Michaels caught one of Belushi's performances and suggested he repeat the shtick to warm up SNL's audience. With Aykroyd's help, the Blues Brothers were born, but Michaels remained skeptical the act was ready for television and relented only when he needed to pad out a 1978 episode that was running short. The skit became a passion for Aykroyd and Belushi and they soon got a movie greenlit. De Visé recreates the film's troubled production, which was beset by the logistical difficulties of shooting on location in Chicago and Belushi's worsening drug addiction, and offers perceptive portraits of Aykroyd and Belushi, describing the former as an "obsessive method actor" and the latter as an impassioned performer with "impeccable instincts but no real plan." The result is a loving ode to a comedy classic.
