The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers
Directed by John Landis
Written by Dan Ackroyd and John Landis
1980/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Jake: First you traded the Cadillac in for a microphone. Then you lied to me about the band. And now you’re gonna put me right back in the joint!
Elwood: They’re not gonna catch us. We’re on a mission from God.

This old favorite delivered great comedy, great music and spectacular car chases once again.

Jake Blues (John Belushi) is released from the penitentiary and picked up by his brother Elwood (Dan Ackroyd). The pair’s first stop is the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. The place will have to close unless the nuns can come up with $5,000 to pay property tax. The nuns refuse to accept any ill-gotten gain so the boys decide to reassemble their R&B band. Henceforward they are “on a mission from God”.

The search for band members allows the boys to meet and perform with the greats including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles. The musicians in the band are on fire.

In the meantime, the brothers infuriate at different times law enforcement, neo-Nazis, a country-and-western band and a mysterious female sniper (Carrie Fisher). This results in multiple amazing car chases and pileups. No computers were involved.

I love R&B music and this movie.  Highly recommended.