Here is a quick little fact about me. I have found myself watching a lot of interviews online lately. With some of my favorite actors, directors, writers, etc. Hoping that hearing their own stories of getting started will motivate me to keep pushing myself towards some sort of career. We've all got to start somewhere, right? Well recently I was watching a great interview with one of my favorite directors of all time…John Landis. If you grew up in the 70’s and or 80’s then you should have no problem recognizing the man who brought us classics such as The Kentucky Fried Movie, American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, The Three Amigos, Coming to America, and possibly the greatest comedy of all time…Animal House. He is also the director of Michael Jackson’s legendary THRILLER video.



Might not sound like much to you now, but trust me, back in 1983 that was a VERY big deal. Well through all those accolades, the one film that Mr. Landis directed that came up in his interview and struck the loudest and deepest chord with me was a movie from 1980 called The Blues Brothers.  It tells a tale of redemption for brothers Jake and Elwood Blues. Upon his release from prison, “Joliet” Jake (John Belushi) and his brother Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) take on “a mission from God” to put their blues band back together in an attempt to raise money to stop a foreclosure on the Catholic orphanage where they grew up. Sounds pretty simple right? Well first impressions can be deceiving, because the concept is about all that is simple about The Blues Brothers.



It takes audiences on a wild, fast-paced ride that includes cops, cowboys, neo-Nazis, SWAT teams, plenty of cameos (including one from Carrie Fisher – in this, Princess Leia she ain’t!), and to this day maybe the coolest car chase sequence I have ever seen. Take THAT Fast and the Furious franchise! Lol. All of it is set to a great blues/rock/soul soundtrack featuring everyone from James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin to the Blues Brothers Band themselves  I bought the album on vinyl when I was a kid (yes, I am THAT old). Then I bought the cassette, the CD, and now it’s on my iPod  Technology changes, the songs don’t, and I still love `em. Same goes for the movie. I was only 9 years old when it came out in theaters. My “little brother” was barely 7.



But in the summer of 1980 we hopped the bus at the corner of 43rd Street in Astoria more than a half dozen times and took it down Broadway to the Strand Movie Theater just to watch Jake and Elwood. Obviously getting into an R rated movie back then was pretty simple. Even for a 7 and 9 year old. My brother and I had heard about Animal House, and we had seen clips of Saturday Night Live, but not very much. So I don’t know what it was that drew us to the movie. But something (especially Belushi) grabbed us. More than thirty years later my brother and I still quote it to each other. And if it’s on cable I can’t help but watch. If you haven’t seen it and you ever find yourself in the mood for something different, definitely spend some time with Jake and Elwood. Consider it a mission from God.