This post refuses to post correctly. I’m trying it again. And again.
I’m participating in the A-Z Blog Challenge. You can find the big list of participants by Googling. Each blog has a different theme. I’m doing a favorite movie of mine that starts with the days letter each day, but taking off on Sundays with a regular Kerry nonsense post.
The Blues Brothers, 1980
Obviously. This movie will change your life. Is it a comedy? Yes. Is it musical? Yes. Is it star-studded? The star-sturddiest!
The plot: Elwood Blue picks up “Joliet” Jake Blues from prison and they visit the orphanage where they grew up. “The Penguin”(head nun) tells the guys that the Archdiocese will shut down the place if $5000 in back property taxes aren’t paid within 11 days. The guys say they will get her the money and she tells them it can’t be money from committing a crime. Our boys are now on a Mission from God.
Jake and Elwood stop by James Brown’s church and Jake “sees the light” and tells Elwood they have to get their old blues band together to play shows to earn the money. This puts us on our journey where we meet the best ensemble of any film ever. Here’s the list:
James Brown as the Reverend Cleophus James.
Cab Calloway, as Curtis, who helps with advertising and performs “Minnie the Moocher.”
Ray Charles as the blind instrument dealer. During this cameo, he performs “Shake a Tail Feather.”
Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy, the wife of Matt Murphy, who performs “Think” in the best part of the movie.
My space mom, Carrie Fisher, as the mystery woman who tries to kill Jake several times. She turns out to be Jake’s fiancé.
John Candy as Burton Mercer, Jake’s parole officer.
John Lee Hooker as Street Slim, who sings “Boom Boom” on Maxwell Street. Man, he was good.
Steve Lawrence as Maury Sline, the agent who booked the Blues Brothers before Jake’s stint in jail.
Twiggy as the woman who flirts with Elwood in the gas station.
Frank Oz as the corrections officer.
Steven Spielberg as the Cook County Assessor.
Joe Walsh as a prison inmate.
Paul Reubens (Peewee Herman) as a waiter.
Chaka Khan as the choir soloist.
Whew, that’s a lot of great people.
I’m not going to go over the absolutely insane details, but I will give you the best quotes, most of which I’ve committed to memory. It’s an incredibly quotable movie and I love it. Some quotes will have a little context, some not. In no order, because it’s my blog. I’m not posting clips, but just watch the “Bob’s Country Bunker” scene on YouTube where the band pretends to be a country band called The Good Old Boys. You won’t be sorry. Time for the quotes!
Elwood: Don’t worry, they won’t catch us — we’re on a mission from God.
Elwood: It’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it.
Mrs. Murphy: Help you boys?
Elwood: You got any white bread?
Mrs. Murphy: Yes.
Elwood: I’ll have some toasted white bread please.
Mrs. Murphy: You want butter or jam on that toast, honey?
Elwood: No ma’am, dry.
Jake: Got any fried chicken?
Mrs. Murphy: Best damn chicken in the state.
Jake: Bring me four fried chickens and a Coke.
Mrs. Murphy: You want chicken wings or chicken legs?
Jake: Four fried chickens and a Coke.
Elwood: And some dry white toast please.
Mrs. Murphy: Y’all want anything to drink with that?
Elwood: No, ma’am.
Jake: A Coke.
Mrs. Murphy: Be up in a minute.
Mrs. Murphy: We got two honkies out there dressed like Hasidic diamond merchants.
Matt “Guitar” Murphy: Say what?
Mrs. Murphy: They look like they’re from the CIA or somethin’.
Matt “Guitar” Murphy: What they want to eat?
Mrs. Murphy: The tall one wants white toast, dry, with nothin’ on it.
Matt “Guitar” Murphy: Elwood.
Mrs. Murphy: And the other one wants four whole fried chickens and a Coke.
Matt “Guitar” Murphy: And Jake. Sh*t, the Blues Brothers!
Mrs. Tarantino: Are you the police?
Elwood: No, ma’am. We’re musicians.
Elwood Blues: What kind of music do you usually have here?
Claire: Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western.
Murph: Tell me a little about this electric piano, Ray.
Ray: Ah, you have a good eye, my man. That’s the best in the city Chicago.
Jake: How much?
Ray: 2000 bucks and it’s yours. You can take it home with you. As a matter of fact, I’ll throw in the black keys for free.
Elwood: This is glue. Strong stuff. (I say this a lot)
[as the Blues Brothers are trying to haggle the price of a piano, a little boy is in the back trying to steal a guitar. Suddenly, Ray whips out a gun and — despite being blind — nearly misses hitting the boy]
Ray: Now, go on! Get!
[the little boy scurries away]
Ray: [sadly] Breaks my heart to see a boy that young goin’ bad.
And my favorite — from the Queen, Aretha, herself:
Matt Murphy: Ah. Don’t get riled, sugar.
Mrs. Murphy: Don’t you “Don’t get riled, sugar” me! You ain’t goin’ back on the road no more, and you ain’t playin’ them ol’ two-bit sleazy dives. You’re livin’ with me now, and you not gonna go slidin’ around witcho ol’ white hoodlum friends.
Matt Murphy: But babes, this is Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers!
Mrs. Murphy: The Blues Brothers? Shit! They still owe you money, fool.
Jake: Ma’am, would it make you feel any better if you knew that what we’re asking Matt here to do is a holy thing?
Elwood: You see, we’re on a mission from God.
Mrs. Murphy: Don’t you blaspheme in here. Don’t you blaspheme in here! This is my man, this is my restaurant, and you two are just gonna walk right out that door without your dry white toast, without your four fried chickens, and without Matt “Guitar” Murphy!
And that’s right before she sings “Think.”
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