DVD Features:

• Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French
  
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
  
• Documentary "The Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers" fetauring interviews with director 'John Landis' (qv), 'Dan Aykroyd' (qv), The Blues Brothers Band, and producer 'Robert K. Weiss' (qv) plus never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage
• Production photographs

After building up the duo's popularity through recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. The widescreen DVD collector's edition includes an exclusive "making of" featurette, production photos, the original theatrical trailer, and interactive menus. --Jeff Shannon

REVIEW

Why watch a 1980 movie?

• Great music
• Great car chases and crashes
• John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Steve Cropper, Carrie Fisher, John Candy, Twiggy, Frank Oz, Chaka Khan, John Lee Hooker, Steven Spielberg, and many more
• A funny plot as strong as the characters

You've heard about the car chases and pileups? Besides the massive crunching and flying of vehicles, they show you the real Chicago as well as the landmarks. As chases go, I have never seen a better one. It is like "Starsky and Hutch" times 250.

Seeing Cab Calloway is a high point. He was 73 when the movie came out, and told a younger generation that "Minnie the Moocher" was a red hot hoochie-coocher. His fame was mostly in the 1940s but his swagger still remained.

Many of the actors with bit parts are surprising. Steven Spielberg and Chaka Khan sneak in there, as does Frank Oz. Calloway, Belushi, Candy, Hooker are gone from this life, and James Brown's career is stymied by personal troubles. The movie has all of them together.

Everything is about Jake and Elwood's mission from God. That's how they see their goal of raising money for an orphanage. They only know one way of making legit cash, and that's through music. Jake has been incarcerated and so the Blues Brothers band broke up. Jake and Elwood gather up the old member one by one, and finally talk their way into a gig. There are enough police who would see it another way, and other bands, old girlfriends, Nazis and wives getting in the way, and into some of the most fun that ever hit Lower Wacker.

The extras on the DVD are interesting. The documentary is the only real value, considering John Belushi's untimely death. The sound lacks in depth and stereo quality. You can make up for this by buying the soundtrack.

I fully recommend "The Blues Brothers."

Anthony Trendl