BLUES BROTHERS, THE - DVD review

The Movie According To John:
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are on a "mission from God" as the original men in black, Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues. Honed on TV and stage, the Belushi/Aykroyd act met with immediate success on the big screen. Longer and more boisterous in its DVD release, director John Landis's 1980 musical comedy makes an excellent transfer in this 25th Anniversary Edition from Universal Home Video.

Aykroyd is good as the reasonably sane straight man of the pair, but it's really Belushi's picture. That's something Universal found out when they tried to duplicate the earlier phenomenon with "Blues Brothers 2000"; it just wasn't the same without Belushi's trademark wild-man character. Although he tried in his later films to shake his "Animal House," "1941," "Blues Brothers" image, Belushi is destined to be forever identified with these and his "Saturday Night Live" roles.

Yes, the Brothers' antic behavior can get rather tiring, but the music, most of it in big production numbers, keeps the film afloat. It is, after all, essentially a musical. Appearances by some of the finest jazz, gospel, blues, and rhythm and blues artists in the country--James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, the Blues Brothers Band--and supporting parts by John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Henry Gibson, Pee-wee Herman, Frank Oz, Twiggy, even Steven Spielberg, make the film memorable and fun to watch on repeat viewing.

The movie opens as Elwood is picking up his brother Jake from Joliet Prison. Jake is out on good behavior, and Elwood reminds him he promised as soon as he was released to visit their old teacher, a nun, at the orphanage they grew up in. The nun, affectionately referred to as "the penguin" and played by veteran character actress Kathleen Freeman, tells them the orphanage needs $5,000 to pay its taxes or it closes. So, the brothers vow to raise the money. But how? By reassembling their old band and playing a few gigs, naturally.

The first half of the film follows their adventures getting the band's players back together; and the second half is a chase, culminating in half of the Illinois State Police following them right up to the tax collector's office. The early going is the most resourceful; but the final hour or so gets a little exhausting as Landis goes for overkill at almost every turn. Why wreck one police car when you can wreck a hundred? Why destroy one store when you can demolish an entire shopping mall?

Still, the silliness has a wacky charm to it, and, as I said, the continuous interjection of great music is a major redeeming factor.

The Movie According To Justin:
While growing up, my father always told me there were two classes of good movies. There were movies that had great acting, stories, music and visual style that made them memorable. And then there were others that had some of those qualities but possessed such an inescapable charm that they go exceed their limitations and become more than the sum of their mediocre parts. "The Blues Brothers" is such a film.

If I were to go through the story and break it down, it would become quickly obvious that there is little narrative cohesion in "The Blues Brothers." Rather it is a string of set-pieces and celebrity cameos that play host to a plethora of gags, stunts, and musical interludes. It's like an excuse to have Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Lee Hooker, and Cab Calloway bust loose with a performance on screen.

But somehow, it works. Lamented as a commercial film of the highest order during its initial box office run in 1980, "The Blues Brothers" opened to lukewarm reviews and managed just a slight 5 million dollars its first weekend, well short of its budget of nearly 30 million. Fortunately audiences quickly found the charm of the film and were joined by millions of others as the film grossed over fifty million domestically during its initial run.

For the first time, we're treated to an archival edition of that movie that drew audiences in 1980 to the cinema. Running two hours and thirteen minutes, there are some trimmed scenes and shortened musical numbers (most notably the amazing Hooker performance of "Boom Boom" on the streets of Chicago). Fans will want to pick up this edition for the original cut, but I personally prefer the extended version of the film.

Video:
Both the original cut and the extended version are presented in Anamorphic widescreen in a 1.85:1 ratio. The video quality is as muted and washed out as I've ever seen it, because of both the film stock and techniques used at the time. There is a substantial amount of grain in the picture but that too is representative of the original film stock. There is a little mosquito noise and some compression artifacts, but the prints are both relatively clear.

Audio:
The extended version of the film contains an expanded Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which sounds stellar. The spread of the audio is excellent, particularly in the musical scenes. The rears are generally unused and the sub only sparingly. The theatrical cut houses an original 2.0 stereo track which is muted compared to the 5.1 track, but taken on its own merits is clean and bright.

Extras:
This two-sided DVD houses a large amount of extras. "Creating The Blues Brothers" is an hour-long documentary that looks back at the creation of the concept of the Blues Brothers, how it was transformed into a film, and just about anything you'd want to know about the movie and its players. An excellent addition.

Side A of the DVD also gives you hot links to the musical performances in the film.

Along with housing the theatrical cut of the film, Side B contains an introduction by star and writer Dan Ackroyd.

There is a seven minute recording of a "Blues Brothers" performance in San Diego at a House of Blues featuring Dan Ackroyd and television star Jim Belushi, brother of the late John. He's appeared with Ackroyd before, at a House of Blues opening in Chicago, I believe, a decade ago. It's shot on video and not of the best quality, but an interesting extra.

"Transposing The Music" mixes modern retrospective interviews with period footage to create a fifteen minute documentary on the Blues Brothers. A lot of information is repeated from the documentary on Side A.

"Remembering John" takes ten minutes to remember the amazing comedic talent that was John Belushi. The retrospective remembers more of the man and his life than his time in the spotlight, which is a very different portrait than has been seen before.

Production Notes is a selection of text articles that go behind the scenes of the making of "The Blues Brothers. "Musical Highlights" is a repetition of the scenes on Side A for the theatrical cut.

There's also an original theatrical trailer, presented in a full-frame format.

Film Value:
I can't say enough how much I love "The Blues Brothers." I think it's a wonderful film filled with some of the best music since "Yankee Doodle Dandy." This DVD set captures the original theatrical cut which captured the hearts of America, which is a great bonus for fans.