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Author Topic: "The Blues Brothers"...Released 30 Years Ago Today Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-20-2010 06:36 PM                     John Landis' "The Blues Brothers" was released on this date thirty years ago. 1) How many of you saw "The Blues Brothers" in its original theatrical release? 2) Do you believe "The Blues Brothers" is a classic worthy of discussion/celebration?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-20-2010 07:55 PM                        1) - Not me, I am under 60 years old. 2) - Not really. I always thought it was supposed to be a comedy, but it definitely isn't. Instead, it's a vehicle for poorly-acted cameos. Also, I have always hated John Belushi and I do not miss his existence.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 06-20-2010 08:20 PM                     1. Yes me! Again saw it at the Odeon 1 and i am only 25 with 20 years experience! 2.At first i thought it was less than funny and a bit long yet i still liked it so saw it many more times and found it got better and better due to the music! So i am now a big fan and have my own 16mm print!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-20-2010 08:31 PM                     Yep! It's one of my favorite films. Definately a worthy classic and many in it are now gone! It gave Aretha Franklin and Cab Calloway an entire new chapter in their lives and exposed them to at least two generations of people that had never even seen them. I saw it at the Chicago Theater in it's initial release. I want to say there were no optical stereo prints but there may have been some 4 track mag prints. The production went way over budget and way over time. I had a 70mm preview of it at one point in time... don't know what happened to it though. It had a very strange 4 track mix on it... Also watched quite a bit of the filming of it around Chicago land including the gas station sequence. A friend on his way to work one morning actually pulled into that gas station just after construction was finished thinking it was a real gas station! He immediately found out it was not. It was located on Il. Rt 59 just south of Rt. 38, west side of the street. I have pictures at home of some of that I should dig out and post here. Just post a line from the movie on your Facebook page some time and see how many lines you get back in just a short time. Oh and during the filming there was a small scandal about the then Mayor Jane Byrne selling the studio all those cop cars on the cheap... She also briefly appears on the movie... "He broke my watch!" "It's got cop shocks, Cop suspension, runs good on regular gas... Fix the cigarette lighter" "How often do the trains go by?.... So often you'll never notice them" "New Chryslers are in early this year" "Lots of space in this mall" "We're on a mission from God" "It's 9:00... we got to go to work" "Our Lady Of The Blessed Accelerator" And so on... this is one movie that never runs out of bulletts, car pile ups, chase sequences, and gas!  |  IP: Logged Jake Spell Master Film Handler Posts: 294 From: Johns Island SC Registered: May 2009 posted 06-20-2010 08:45 PM                     1. No I'm way to young to had seen it in theaters, but I do own the 25th (i think) remastered dvd, which has some great re mastering of the audio. I never thought that movie would sound so good! 2.I remember watching The Blues Brothers as a child and falling in love with it, it was even better watching it and getting most of the comedy. This is one of my favorite comedies  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 06-20-2010 10:08 PM                     Wow thanks for that info Mark! Hope you can post those picture's! You want i should wipe the dead bugs off your windshield?  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 06-20-2010 11:08 PM                        Yes, I saw it during its initial run at a theatre in Schaumburg, Illinois... about the best theatre around which was also close to Mount Prospect. So, the moment Elwood mentioned Mount Prospect, the crowd was hooked. TOO classic! (I thought the sign in front of the theatre said "Dolby Stereo" but, no matter what format it was, I definitely heard stereo separation in the church scene with James Brown as the reverend.) Granted, I was only 14 years old and we felt both sneaky and fortunate that the theatre didn't seem to care about the whole R-rating thing on this particular film. But I still concede that the movie should have been rated PG to begin with. It would have been far more successful and it really wouldn't have changed the movie significantly to throw away the F-bombs. Making this as an R-rated movie is the all-time, number one blunder in the history of cinema! I recently watched the behind-the-scenes segment on the 25th anniversary DVD. There's no question that this is a classic worthy of discussion/celebration. Unfortunately, Dan Aykroyd only matched this brilliance once, with the original Ghostbusters.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-21-2010 02:06 AM                     quote: Greg Anderson Making this as an R-rated movie is the all-time, number one blunder in the history of cinema! I agree, and this reminds me of Universal Pictures executive Ned Tanen famously (or is it infamously) predicting shortly before its release that "The Blues Brothers" would be 1980's most successful movie. Tanen even went so far as to title-drop "The Empire Strikes Back" as one of the movies "The Blues Brothers" would outperform at the box-office. Was Tanen serious, or was he just saying something outrageous to drum up publicity? I mean, the "R" rating (and two-hour-plus running time) should have been a clue that the film would not be a huge success. (For the record, "The Empire Strikes Back" finished 1980 in the #1 position with a domestic gross around $200 million; "The Blues Brothers" finished at #10 barely topping $50 million.) I realize some filmmakers/studios/audiences prefer R-rated films, often for reasons of authenticity, but there's no question an R rating is a box-office handicap. In the 40+ years the MPAA has been assigning ratings, I think it can be counted on one hand the number of times an R-rated film was a year's top-grosser.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 06-21-2010 02:19 AM                     In Canada the rating was revised from R to Adult Entertainment or PG after the first week and F words were cut to make this possible i believe?!? I seem to remember this but now i am not sure but i was 16 years old and allowed admission.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-21-2010 02:53 AM                     I've only handled 2 prints of The Blues Brothers and both were optical mono. I recall my manager saying the theaters running it in stereo was in 4 channel magnetic, just like Woodstock 10 years prior. The only Dolby movie we ran that summer was Can't Stop The Music. Mann Slide Road, across the street from us, was running Xanadu, in mono. The Mann's Fox ran Empire Strikes Back, in mono. And Caddyshack. Didn't Urban Cowboy come out that summer?  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-21-2010 06:42 AM                     You won't find the Dolby logo on this film, at least not on its initial release...all stereo prints I known about were 4-track. Though I have yet to attain 60-years of age, I did see it on its initial release and have shown it. Steve  |  IP: Logged Hillary Charles Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 748 From: York, PA, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-21-2010 08:04 AM                     quote: I agree, and this reminds me of Universal Pictures executive Ned Tanen famously (or is it infamously) predicting shortly before its release that "The Blues Brothers" would be 1980's most successful movie. Tanen even went so far as to title-drop "The Empire Strikes Back" as one of the movies "The Blues Brothers" would outperform at the box-office. Was Tanen serious, or was he just saying something outrageous to drum up publicity? Maybe it was an impotent swipe at George Lucas. The two of them had bad blood since the infamous preview of "American Graffiti." Just a guess. BTW, I saw this on the big screen on a double bill with "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" (1981 or 1982?) It was funny seeing Paul Reubens in both movies. IMO, he was the best thing in the C&C movie, but I loved "The Blues Brothers" from the very beginning!  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-21-2010 08:07 AM                     In the Los Angeles market it opened on Hollywood Blvd. at the Mann's Hollywood Theatre and on the Westside of the city at the former Plitt Century Plaza Theatre both in 4-Track Mag. Stereo. I saw it at both theatres that weekend. Had a ball. Later Universal did a double feature release of "The Blues Brothers" and "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie". We got the double at the Picwood Theatre and "Blues Brothers" was one of the 4-Track prints. The Picwood Theatre featured that early double system preview cut of the film. In 1980 Universal did not use NSS for posters during this time. The first Universal film I remember to carry a Dolby Stereo logo was "Island" (1980) with Michael Caine from a Peter Benchley novel. (It opened at the Mann's Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. in 70MM Dolby Stereo).  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-21-2010 08:32 AM                        Saw it an ran it at many theatres in the DC area when it was first released. Loathe it. Like most Landis films it is over long and horribly edited. The car chase through the mall should be in every film class as how to make a car crash boring. Much like Animal House, the humor there works in spite of the filmmaking. A few of the musical scenes are ok as stand alones (Aretha!). About the only thing worse is the sequel;>  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-21-2010 08:42 AM                     quote: Bill Gabel The first Universal film I remember to carry a Dolby Stereo logo was "Island" (1980) While it's true that Universal (1) released "The Blues Brothers" in 4-track mag stereo and (2) was the last of the major studios to fully embrace the use of Dolby Stereo, they did use Dolby on a handful of titles prior to using it on "The Island," including: 1978 American Graffiti (re-release) The Deer Hunter (70mm & 35mm) FM Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (70mm & 35mm) The Wiz (70mm & 35mm) 1979 Dracula More American Graffiti FWIW, some British sources claim "The Blues Brothers" was released in the United Kingdom in a 70mm blow-up version with Dolby-encoded six-track mag.  |  IP: Logged

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