Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised.
Director: John Landis
Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin. Carrie Fisher.
Carlton Johnson ... choreographer
Ercelle Johnson ... assistant to choreographer
Watched online, ok print, runtime 2h 28min.
33 songs in the Soundtracks, some are just in the score. When you get this on dvd, note which are truly performed.
I really enjoyed the music. CC, JB, RC, AF and more perform, and only JB is "onstage" as a preacher. So this has some numbers of a true musical, where people break into song/dance without provocation. But we also get band gigs where they perform onstage within the film.
I didn't enjoy the wanton destruction. I didn't watch the lengthy credits, but there should have been people dedicated to debris removal. It's not like I'm against such things per se; I either wasn't in the mood, or didn't feel it was well motivated here.
I did like the plot of trying to save the orphanage, especially since we didn't see any cloying orphans, just magical sister Kathleen Freeman.
I did like the plot of trying to save the orphanage, especially since we didn't see any cloying orphans, just magical sister Kathleen Freeman.
IMDb trivia: "According to Dan Aykroyd, many theaters in the American South refused to show the film, because they felt that there were too many African-Americans in it. Aykroyd believes the film would have done even better at the box-office, if not for the racism in the American South."
Universal, dir. Landis; 7
