Blues Brothers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Blues Brothers
Original title The Blues Brothers
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1980
length Theatrical version: 133 minutes, Directors Cut: 142 minutes, BluRay version: 132 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Landis
script Dan Aykroyd ,
John Landis
production Robert K. Weiss
Bernie Brillstein
George Folsey Junior
music Ira Newborn ,
Elmer Bernstein
camera Stephen M. Katz
cut George folsey jr.
occupation
synchronization
chronology

Successor  →
Blues Brothers 2000

The Blues Brothers

Blues Brothers (Original title: The Blues Brothers ) is an American comedy film directed by John Landis from 1980 . In addition to John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and the other members of the band The Blues Brothers , many famous personalities can be seen in guest appearances , including Aretha Franklin , James Brown , Cab Calloway , Ray Charles , John Lee Hooker , Chaka Khan , Carrie Fisher , Frank Oz , Twiggy , Steven Spielberg , Joe Walsh , John Candy and Charles Napier .

The film was made in and around Chicago . The Blues Brothers went on tour that same year to promote the film. Shortly thereafter, they released their second album with the soundtrack for the film. It features the top 40 hit and Steve Winwood classic Gimme Some Lovin and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love . The film premieres took place on June 16 in Chicago and on June 18, 1980 in New York.

In 1998 the less successful sequel Blues Brothers 2000 followed .

action

Jake Blues, just released from Joliet State Prison , is picked up by his brother Elwood in a decommissioned 1974 Dodge Monaco belonging to the Mount Prospect Police . As promised by Jake, they visit the orphanage where they grew up. The Mother Superior complains that she has to pay US $ 5,000 in tax debt, the church wants to close the orphanage and has no intention of raising the amount. The Blues Brothers offer to “get” the money - the sister gets angry and throws her out because she will not accept stolen money. They learn from their foster father Curtis that he too will be put on the street if the tax debt is not paid soon. There is only one way left: to earn the money honestly.

In a church , during the rousing sermon of Right Reverend Cleophus James, Jake receives divine enlightenment on how to do this: the "band" must be brought back together. So Jake and Elwood set out "on behalf of the Lord" to call their former band members together. These now work as hotel musicians, head waiters and snack bar owners. With their idiosyncratic manner, the brothers manage to bring everyone back together. On the way there they destroy a shopping mall with their car while fleeing from the police . They mess with the owner of Bob's Country Bunker , whom they cheat for the drink bill, with a country band they pretended to be, and with the American White People Party , whose demonstration they unceremoniously disperse. In addition, Jake's ex-fiancée is after them, who carried out numerous technically sophisticated but ultimately unsuccessful assassinations on him. Her ex-manager Maury Sline can be persuaded through requests and skillful coercion to organize a concert by the resurrected Blues Brothers, which should bring in the required US $ 5,000.

Stopped by a breakdown during the advertising drive, they almost miss their big entrance. Curtis steps in for them with the number Minnie the Moocher , then they enter the stage with a considerable delay, but quickly bring the crowd to frolic. Because the police as well as their probation officer Mercer and the country bar owner with his friends have appeared ominously, the Blues Brothers make off after two songs with the money that an enthusiastic record producer gives them backstage as an advance. The ex-woman shows up with an assault rifle and tries to shoot her, but Jake takes her by surprise with his irresistible charisma (the only scene in the theatrical version in which John Belushi can be seen without sunglasses), and the brothers escape.

On the drive to Chicago, they involved the majority of the police vehicles following them in mass accidents and thus activated the fire brigade and police as well as the army and the National Guard. After gaining some time through several barricades in the tax administration building, they barely manage to pay the tax debt in cash to the responsible tax officer before they are arrested. The final sequence shows the entire band performing in front of their fellow prisoners in prison; they tune into Jailhouse Rock there.

background

Long before the work on the screenplay, John Belushi's wife Judy Jacklin wrote a paperback called Blues Brothers Private . It explains the history of the two brothers and how the band came about in detail. The book ends with the arrest of Jake Blues. A short version of the history of the film can be found in the booklet of the album Briefcase Full of Blues , which was released in 1978. The record deal that the Blues Brothers had signed, however, also provided for a film. So Aykroyd set about writing a script that ended up being 324 pages instead of the usual 100 to 150. To emphasize this, he tied it into a phone book cover of the San Fernando Valley Yellow Pages .

The name of Richard J. Daley , the former mayor of Chicago, is often mentioned in the film . This is due to the fact that he put a ban on filming in the city. The necessary permits were then all issued during Jane Byrne's tenure .

Universal Studios had 13 identical former California Highway Patrol police vehicles ( 1974 Dodge Monaco ) and an approximately two meter long model made for trick shots as a blues mobile. Seven of them were destroyed during filming. The Dixie Square Mall in Harvey , Illinois , which had been abandoned in 1978, was completely renovated and stocked with goods for the chase in the shopping center . However, the cars had to remain intact in the shopping center parking lot as they were on loan from local car dealers. Director John Landis made a cameo in the mall chase . He plays one of the two policemen in the second patrol car that lands on the roof of the car at the end of the scene. The buildings on Maxwell Street , in whose lively scenery John Lee Hooker can be seen, have since been largely demolished to make more space for the expansion of the University of Chicago .

A special permit from the Federal Aviation Authority had to be obtained to film the scene in which the Nazis' car ( Ford Pinto ) falls from the sky . In addition, the film crew had to prove with several attempts that they could calculate exactly where the car hit after it had been lifted to the appropriate height by a helicopter. Since the film recordings were made using the soft matting process , the helicopters can be seen on the film copy and thus also on the cinema screen if the image detail is unfavorable; likewise the ropes on which the vehicles hang. The figures of the National Socialists and their satirical allusion to an event at that time: In 1977 the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) sued to be allowed to demonstrate in Skokie, Illinois , which the Supreme Court also allowed it to do. This demonstration is satirized in the film.

A replica of the “Bluesmobil” from the film

Before the scene in which John Belushi took off his sunglasses was filmed, he was not allowed to smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs for six days on the instructions of the producer so that no signs of addiction could be seen. Belushi is said to have kept this despite his addiction.

While almost all music recordings in the film were played back, this did not succeed with James Brown and John Lee Hooker. It quickly became apparent that Brown couldn't sing a song the same way twice, and Hooker insisted on it being recorded live. Brown's singing had to be recorded live for the picture; the music and the choir voices came from the tape. The only number that was recorded completely live was the one with John Lee Hooker (Boom Boom) .

The DVD version contains 12 minutes of English language bonus material; this part was cut out of the theatrical version. In fact, there should have been a good three-quarters of an hour of additional material; this was routinely largely destroyed by the studio in the mid-1980s, including the complete recording of the piece Sinking the Bismarck in "Bob's Country Bunker".

DVD and Blu-ray versions

A few additional scenes can be seen in the long DVD version of the film. For example, you can find out here why the Bluesmobile has magical powers (it is parked in a transformer room at night - this explanation is missing in the theatrical version). You can also see Elwood at work in a factory that makes industrial glue in spray cans. In addition, in some scenes you see Dan Aykroyd without sunglasses. In the theatrical version, both Blues Brothers always have their sunglasses on. The only exception is the scene in which John Belushi becircts Carrie Fisher. The additional scenes are not synchronized; the German language version automatically switches to English with German subtitles.

On September 8, 2016, a full German dubbed long version was released on Blu-ray for the first time. This Limited Extended Collector's Edition consists of three Blu-rays, a bonus DVD, an extensive fan package and is limited to 5555 copies. Blu-ray 1 contains a 15-minute longer version of the original cinema film with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, Blu-ray 2 contains the original cinema film with a 2.0 mono soundtrack and Blu-ray 3 contains the sequel Blues Brothers 2000 from 1998 The edition was as good as sold out after a month.

On December 1, 2016, the Blues Brothers - Extended Version Mediabook was released, which is identical to the Limited Extended Collector's Edition except for the third Blu-ray and the extensive fan package . This version was limited to 5000 copies.

synchronization

The film was set to music at Berliner Synchron based on a dialogue book and directed by Arne Elsholtz .

role actor German dubbing voice
"Joliet" Jake Blues John Belushi Rainer Basedow
Elwood Blues Dan Aykroyd Thomas Danneberg
Curtis Cab Calloway Toni Herbert
"The Penguin" Kathleen Freeman Christel Merian
Reverend Cleophus James James Brown Christian Brückner
Assassin (Mystery Woman) Carrie Fisher Marianne Gross
Burton Mercer John Candy Ingolf Gorges
Ray Ray Charles Heinz Petruo
Nazi Henry Gibson Mogens von Gadow
Takeout Owner Murphy Aretha Franklin Evelyn Gressmann
Jailer Frank Oz Joachim Röcker
Tucker McElroy Charles Napier Joachim Cadenbach

Reviews

The film received mostly positive reviews, scoring 87% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 52 reviews and a score of 60 on 12 reviews on Metacritic .

“Unusual mixture of music and action film, which is characterized by over-the-top exuberance, an irrepressible destructiveness, brilliant musical numbers and rustic leading actors. Having advanced to a 'cult film' in Europe, the film remained rather a moderate success in the USA. "

- Lexicon of international film

In 2010 the official newspaper of the Holy See , L'Osservatore Romano , called the film a "Catholic Classic".

Awards

  • In 1981 the film received the “Golden Reel Award” from the Motion Picture Sound Editors for the editing of the sound effects.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clearance Certificate for Blues Brothers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2009 (PDF; test number: 51 797 V).
  2. ↑ imdb : The Blues Brothers - Release Info
  3. ↑ The Blues Brothers - Action ( Memento from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on bluesbrothers.ma12.de, accessed on March 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Judith Victoria Jacklin: Blues Brothers: Private. (= A Perigree book) . Putnam, New York 1980, ISBN 0-399-50476-1 .
  5. ↑ a b c d bonus material from the DVD "Blues Brothers"
  6. ↑ Classic car in film history: Let's go buam in the Bluesmobil in Der Spiegel from April 18, 2006.
  7. ↑ Ed Sanow, John Bellah: Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler Police Cars 1956-1978. Motorbooks International, Osceola 1994, ISBN 0-87938-958-3 , p. 134.
  8. ^ Dixie Square Mall History Dixie Square History ( November 26, 2005 memento in the Internet Archive ), accessed March 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ The Blues Brothers and the American Constitutional Protection of Hate Speech: Teaching the Meaning of the First Amendment to Foreign Audiences by Julien Mailland (Eng.)
  10. ^ "Blues Brothers" as "Limited Extended Collector's Edition" almost completely sold out after only one month. Retrieved February 15, 2017 .
  11. ^ "Blues Brothers" as extended version from December 1st. also available in the limited Blu-ray mediabook. Retrieved February 15, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Blues Brothers. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on March 1, 2014 .
  13. ↑ Blues Brothers at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
  14. ↑ Blues Brothers at Metacritic (English)
  15. ↑ Blues Brothers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  16. ^ Blues Brothers and the Church: The Divine Comedy. in Süddeutsche Zeitung from June 22, 2010.
  17. ↑ The Blues Brothers on bluesbrotherscentral.com, accessed March 1, 2014.