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Author Topic: "The Blues Brothers"...Released 30 Years Ago Today Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-21-2010 11:07 AM                        I saw it in a Billings theatre (probably the Fox, now replaced by a performing arts house) and I ran it when we played it. We did pretty fair business on it, as I remember. It's one of my favorite movies. One of those where if I'm flipping through the TV channels and land on it, I am then planted on that channel until it ends (or until the next commercial break). I don't agree it should have been rated PG. The language really adds, in this case. "You're gonna look pretty funny tryin' to eat corn on the cob with no fuckin' teeth!" There's probably more "oft-quoted" lines in this movie than most. The songs are uniformly great. I do agree the mall car chase sequence goes on too long. They spent a lot of money doing that and it's all on the screen, but it is excessive. I do think it's way cool that they were able to actually drive through the actual doors of the Chicago federal building. It makes it all the more fun to watch, to know that's NOT a big elaborate set, or a bunch of CGI, but the real live building all those people are racing through.  |  IP: Logged Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 06-21-2010 11:15 AM                        Universal was always a little weird about audio (in my experience, anyway). They were big on developing/promoting alternative sound systems which other studios were slow to accept. (SenSurround and DTS come to mind.) And, in the early 1980s, when the other studios were using a more "universal" format like optical Dolby Stereo or 6-track 70mm, Universal was still showing things like Scarface, Streets of Fire and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 4-track magnetic 35mm. But those 4-track engagements were very, very limited in the general L.A. area, as a I recall. As far as the memorable, stereo material in The Blues Brothers, the piano in the church was definitely coming from one side and the organ was coming from the opposite side. But when the camera angle was reversed, the piano and organ sounds were not reversed to match the angle. An artistic choice, for sure, but even at age 14 I noticed and was distracted. But would others have been distracted to hear the piano/organ switch around throughout the scene? Nobody seems to like doing panned dialog either and I guess I agree that front-and-center dialog is the correct choice. I guess. quote: Mike Blakesley One of those where if I'm flipping through the TV channels and land on it, I am then planted on that channel until it ends (or until the next commercial break). ...and when you do that, all of the R-rated stuff is gone and it's hardly "missing." I mean, R-rated movies are supposed to be for adults, right? This movie is not an adult film. I was angry at age 14 that I couldn't see it unless I was sneaky (or went to a theatre where they just didn't care). And I still resent that because this is not a movie for grown-ups as much as it is for teenagers. I'm just sayin'.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-21-2010 01:28 PM                     The PG-13 rating would not arrive for another 4 years and had it been around in 1980 then Blues Brothers could have been toned down to that... But yet I like it the way it is, R rating and all.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-21-2010 03:38 PM                     My home town first ran 'The Blues Brothers' as a support feature to the Dyan Cannon megahit (!) 'Coast To Coast'. The town had never played the film prior to this and it opened Wednesday, November 18th, 1981. I thought it was fabulous. Especially the Spielberg cameo at the end. I have run it many times since but only once in four track mag as a Saturday afternoon matinee at the old Valhalla in Glebe for about 400 patrons. That was pretty special.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-22-2010 05:37 PM                        quote: Greg Anderson ...and when you do that, all of the R-rated stuff is gone and it's hardly "missing." Well....watching the Blues Brothers with the R-rated stuff gone is better than not watching it at all, but it definitely waters down the film to have the language chopped out. I mean, some things just can't be PG-ized and still be funny: Elwood: "We've gotta go over and visit the Penguin." Jake: "No. Fucking. Way."  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 06-23-2010 12:31 PM                  Elwood: It's 110 (?) miles to Chicago. We have a full tank of gas, a half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark - and we're wearing sunglasses! Saw this one at the Eric Feasterville in PA. Was not quite sure what to make of it at first but warmed up to it quickly when the video was released. The extended version has some weird stuff in it but it worth watching for the longer musical performance by John Lee Hooker.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-23-2011 02:50 PM                     Does the 133 minute original version exist on DVD? All I can find is the 141 minute version.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-23-2011 09:36 PM                        Ran it in 4trk mag to a FULL HOUSE (2500 seats-full, that is)! Audience (and me) LOVED it. I wanted to bring it back a number of times but of course the 4trk mag prints were the first to go when studios were pruning their inventories. The main reason they stopped mixing localized dialog, Greg, is not because it's the correct choice, but because they had NO choice once they lost the discrete tracks of mag sound and had only matrixed two-track which can't handle extreme left or right dialog placement -- it always wants to bleeding into the surrounds. Digital should have solved that problem but I guess the younger mixers are uncomfortable with localized dialog because it does present some tricky aesthetic decisions, particularly like the ones you mentioned with the piano. Personally, I prefer directional over static center dialog any day. Just listen to some really good 70mm mixes and you will see how natural it can be made to sound moving across 5 channels! Sell me your children!  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 03-23-2011 09:54 PM                     John... the R1 25th Anniversary Edition DVD features both cuts of the movie. I am now 43, and I saw it on its original release. Couldn't tell you where, but I think it was a drive-in. Oh, and if you can believe it... Hanson, of all people, have the best homage to The Blues Brothers for a recent song of theirs... http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7364532/19255464  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-23-2011 09:57 PM                        still Great!! btw: went to college with Robt. K. Weiss. He was my best disc jocket on the dorm radio station. louis  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 03-23-2011 11:57 PM                     I have a nice 16mm print with great color and of course non directional mono sound!  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 03-24-2011 05:08 AM                     That song isn't that bad actually. But I like the send up to Rays Music Exchange.  |  IP: Logged Robert Harrison Expert Film Handler Posts: 239 From: Harwood Heights, Illinois, USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 03-25-2011 01:44 PM                     Back in 1980, I was working at the Golf Mill Theaters 1-2-3 in Niles, Illinois. That building is now a 24 hour health club; there is now another multi-screen place in another part of the same shopping center. Since the owners had decided to put their only 70 installation in the middle house (1000 seats), where "Empire Strikes Back" played all summer, "Blues Brothers" opened in the biggest house (1500 seats) and filled 'em up, too! Movies filmed in Chicago were a big deal to Chicagoans back then. Not being sure of its grossing potential, the manager had booked an optical mono print, even though the big house had 4-track mag capablility. After the huge opening night, he was miraculously able to get Universal to send a 4-track print the next day (Saturday), only to then find out that either the left or right screen channel (I forget which) was dead. So, who comes visiting the theater that night, handing out "Blues Brothers" lapel pins to the staff but John Landis. I wound up standing next to him in the theater as the feature began. As I have found throughout my career, he, like all filmmakers, asked me to go up and tell the projectionist to turn up the sound. I explained to him about the dead channel, but I don't recall his response. As I had been reading up on directors and how they used the surround channel, I asked him if the film used an ambient or aggressive surround channel. His answer was ambient. But damn, did that movie have great separation in the front channels, so our audiences really got gypped on that until the techs came to figure out the problem. Sorry, I don't recall how long it took them to fix it or what it was exactly, but I wound up going to another theater to see and hear it in its full 4 channel glory.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 03-29-2011 08:38 PM                     One of my favorites, have run it many times and seen it many more. Neighborhood Theatres Inc. the local powerhouse chain at the time played it the Byrd Theatre because it was the last theatre they had that still had working 35 mag. and thought the picture would bomb, which would fit into their plan to get out of the theatre. They missed their guess and it played 12 weeks to great crowds, giving the theatre a new short lease.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 05-11-2011 03:58 PM                     Universal has set July 26th, 2011 as the release date for the Blu-ray edition of "The Blues Brothers". It will include both theatrical and extended versions of the film. Plus the extras from the 25th. Anniversary edition.  |  IP: Logged

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