The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Timing: 2:13 (133 min)

7.718/10
4533

7.705/10
13141

7.9/10
228000

All about film

Video 10

Photo 95

Actors and characters

Release date

1980-06-16

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures

Genre

Music, Comedy, Action, Crime

Budget

$27 000 000

Revenue

$115 229 890

Website

Director

John Landis

Actors

Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Steve Cropper, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Murphy Dunne, Willie Hall
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Dan Aykroyd, John Landis

Producer

Robert K. Weiss, Bernie Brillstein

Operator

Stephen M. Katz

Composer

Elmer Bernstein

Artist

Audition

Michael Chinich

Editing

George Folsey Jr., Fran Roy
All team (35)

• 103 cars were destroyed during filming – a world record at the time. This record was broken two years later when 150 cars (and an airplane) were wrecked for the film 'The Junkman' (1982). That record, in turn, lasted for two decades, until over 300 vehicles were destroyed during the filming of 'The Matrix Reloaded'.
• During the filming of the prison breakout scene, a helicopter from the film crew was shot at by a real prison guard who thought they were spies.
• Permission to film in downtown Chicago was granted only after John Belushi (1949-1982) and Dan Aykroyd promised to donate $50,000 to charity.
• John Belushi earned the nickname "Black Hole" because he required hundreds of pairs of sunglasses during filming. He usually wore sunglasses in one scene, and by the time the next scene began, he had already managed to lose them.
• After the concert, police cars chase the Blues Brothers all the way to Chicago. The crash scene involving multiple police cars was filmed on a closed section of highway in Illinois.
• Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, was rented for the scenes of the car chase through the shopping mall. The mall was closed for a year; rumors circulated around the city that it would reopen after repairs following the completion of filming. The company Universal was subsequently sued for over $87,000 for failing to return the mall to the condition it was in before filming began, although this had never even been discussed. About a year later, part of the mall was demolished, and the demolition was finally completed in 2012.
• According to Dan Aykroyd, some of the film's budget was spent on cocaine to help the actors and crew cope with overnight shoots. Aykroyd also said that John Belushi was particularly pleased about this.
• A significant portion of the car chase scenes had to be filmed twice. During the first take, all pedestrians were removed from the area for safety reasons, but this made the scenes look unconvincing. The scenes then had to be reshot with extras.
• The Blues Brothers' car (dubbed the “Bluesmobile”) is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. The police cars used in the filming were purchased from the California Highway Patrol. A total of 12 “Bluesmobiles” were used in the shooting.
• 103 cars were destroyed during filming – a world record at the time. This record was broken two years later when 150 cars (and an airplane) were wrecked for the film “The Junkman” (1982). That record, in turn, lasted for two decades, until over 300 cars were destroyed during the filming of “The Matrix Reloaded.”