The Blues Brothers (1980)

Elevator Pitch: The Blues Brothers, Elwood and Jake (recently released from prison) visit the Penguin, the mother superior of the orphanage when they had been brought up, and find that it is to be closed unless $5000 in tax is paid. They are inspired to go on a mission to make the money by getting their blues band together and performing. Even after they manage to re-unite the band things do not go well, and they are gradually pursued by more and more enemies, from the police, the “Good Ole Boys” whose act they replaced, a bunch of Nazis who they forced to leap into a river and a mystery woman who attacks them with a variety of weapons. 

Content: No sex or nudity but quite a lot of smoking and drinking. There are a number of stand out scenes in the film with songs by James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. The Ray Charles number really stunning, involving a wonderful street dance. The guys also sing a lot with the band and there are songs by other R&B singers accompanying the action. Look out for the famous mall chase and the finale where many police cars are trashed. 

A View: I was once a ship captain and had the job of getting half a dozen VHS videos to entertain us all during our voyages. The crew did not trust anyone else to do the job. It was recommended to me that I should get The Blues Brothers. This was in 1983. I have been a fan ever since, and have just watched the film again for the umpteenth time. It is so much fun and it never lets up. So if you have not seen it, put it on your bucket list, if you have watch it again.(The is the second time I have reviewed it on this site. I did not do it justice the first time).

I don’t think there are any other films like this, even the sequel was a bit of a dud, so I attach a link to the wonderful Lego chase through the mall: https://youtu.be/J-stcy2er7w .