The Blues Brothers, 1980
Welcome to a very special episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week J. Blake and Dion Baia are covering a classic Chicago-centric film and to ground them and give it some historical city context and for this gigantic sleepover, they brought in the Windy City’s very own, Mighty-Mighty Mike Vanderbilt to lend a hand. We’re all ‘on a mission from God’ this go-around when we take on the musical phenomenon The Blues Brothers, from 1980!
Having Mike Vanderbilt over is very exciting for Dion and Blake, and after a quick catch up, they all jump right in. Mike and Blake bring an added layer to the conversation as they are gigging rock and blues musicians themselves with their own bands, and they talk shop about fronting various groups and their gear preferences when performing live at various venues (Dion tries to add his input as he played the alto saxophone in 4th grade, and the drums for 4 years in elementary and middle school). The fellas then focus in on the significance of this film and the history of The Blues Brothers and Jake & Elwood, discussing their roots on Saturday Night Live, and the direction of John Landis on the 1980 film. Mike brings his unique Chicago input, giving some great context to the various locations that highlight the Windy City, making it almost a third star of the film. So, make sure you’ve got your converted 1974 Mount Prospect Dodge Monaco gassed up, your cheese whiz, and your Night Train Wine, ’cause the boys have a long ride back, as they examine another classic, on an all new fantastic Chicago-edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!
EXTRAS!
Please check out J. Blake’s musical endeavors here, as he keeps the blues arrive in New York City!
Please check out Chicago‘s very own, Mike Vanderbilt on TWITTER, on FACEBOOK, at The A.V. Club where he is a writer and contributor, at The Daily Grindhouse where he is an editor, and tending bar at the Rock Island Public House!
Take a look at this fabulous documentary on the making of The Blues Brothers.
Here’s a playlist of the deleted scenes from the iconic film!
Have a look at The Blues Brothers‘ Full Concert at the Winterland, on December the 31st, 1978!
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Dion and Blake,
Thanks for doing this movie! It does mean a lot to current and former Chicago residents.
My dad’s tile company did the flooring on the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey where the car chase was filmed. He said that they laid down rubber tile, so that the stunt drivers could drive so close to the pedestrians in the scene. The crew gave us T-shirts and buttons that had the faces of Jake and Ellwood in hats and sunglasses in one color ink on a plain background. They didn’t even say “The Blues Brothers”, just that iconic image.
Even though the movie was Rated R, my parents made an exception and took 10 year old me and by older brother to the premiere at the River Oaks West Mall in Calumet City, Illinois. They had one of the beat up Bluesmobiles out front and for $50, you could hit it with a sledgehammer!
Thanks for bringing back long dormant memories. God bless Dion and Blake…and Joe Besser too!
Sincerely,
Thomas Walker
Atlanta, GA
Thank you Thomas! Wow, what a story. Who would of thought, laying down rubber tiles. Insane. Great idea though- ha! And wow, $50 was alot of money back then, but to whack the Bluesmobile, I wonder if anyone actually did it. But thank you for listening, and thank you for taking the time to sit down and write us. We love hearing about memories like that. Ha. So great. And God bless you sir, and of course Joe Besser!! That’s a deep reference for us, so you must be a regular listener- so thank you so much for that. Please take care, and stay awesome. 🙂
I needed this episode more than you can imagine. Today was a shitty day at work and I listened to this to cool off/relax. Sure enough, it helped! So thank you!
Let me say, having Mike on was a nice surprise. He fits in well.
As for the movie, I’m ashamed to say I didn’t catch this one until a few years ago. Before then I knew it mainly as the movie with SNL characters. That being said, my dad would talk about this all the time. When he was in the navy, he got out of bootcamp and was in Chicago. Even though he was a couple blocks away, he got to see them film the scene of all the cop cars crashing into that massive pile.
Damn good episode, guys!
Hey Jose! Hope all is okay with you. Yes, it was fun having Mike visit and sleepover. I was a semi late bloomer to this film as well, not really having it be “a must” film until senior year or so of college. And then watching and rewatching over and over at the video store made it a classic for me. Blake’s grown up proper with it, as his brother showed it to him. That’s interesting about your dad. How cool was that, him seeing some of the filming? My friend Martin who I bring up a bit went to boot camp for the navy right outside of Chicago too- small world. Ha. Well take care, hope everything is okay, and talk to you soon my friend. -Dion
awesome show
Thank you!
Thanks for the podcast! Blues Brothers is one of my favourite movies of all time and i really enjoyed listening to you guys talk about it. You mentioned fan fic/expanded universe during yer talk. well, i wrote a Fan Fic story a couple of years ago. Feel free to read…
https://www.wattpad.com/story/123780080-son-of-a-blues
Eric
Canada
Hey Eric! Thank you so much for listening, AND taking the time to message us. And we certainly will check that out, thank you!!
This is winner of an episode. It’s nice to hear a new voice in the mix. You guys are certainly welcoming! Have either of you read the novelization? It includes one line from the shooting script that didn’t make it into the film: When Jake gets his realization in the church, he yells, “Jake, you robot! The BAND!” I read the novelization a year before I saw the film on cable, and I was bummed to see that the robot line got lost. I’ve been calling people “robot” for years because of that. (I guess it’s pretty deep when you quote the novelization, right?)
This is one that I didn’t even know had a novelization until we did this podcast…but I will definitely be on the look out for it. As you know, I have growing collection.
– Blake