BLUES BROTHERS (1980) Reaction | First Time Watching 

I think you folks are the first reactors to this movie that actually spotted Steven Spielberg. Well done! 😁

Thank you for recognizing Frank Oz by the sound of his voice. When you were shook by Cab Calloway I thought, just you wait. The stardom in this movie is incredible and you pretty much got every single one. Well done. 👏

At this point, Cab Calloway had been singing "Minnie the Moocher" for just short of half a century.

There’s a lot of crazy behind the scenes stories that go with this movie. They were filming around the mall at about 3AM, and realized John Belushi had disappeared during a break. They looked all over the set for him, and then started knocking on doors in a nearby neighborhood. Finally, they get to a house where they tell the guy who answers that they lost an actor, and he says, “Yeah, I know! Belushi. He came in here about an hour ago, raided my fridge, and fell asleep on the couch.” So, there he was. It turns out that he didn’t care much for what the catering service had on set, so off he went, on a quest for food. 🤣 His reputation was not exaggerated.

9:50 Frank Oz played almost exactly the same role again in TRADING PLACES a few years later.

Fun Fact: I like to throw in a "...orange whip? ... orange whip?" every once in a while at work 😂😂😂

One of the most Chicago movies ever made, and it features my favorite Canadian who does a spot-on Chicago accent. Dan Aykroyd, the Canadian man with Chicago in his blood...........the best of all possible worlds.

Don't worry, Nick, you're not the first reactor I've seen refer to John Belushi as Jim. You recognized most of the performers, but one you didn't show was bluesman Johnny Lee Hooker. The musicians in the Blues Brothers band (Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Matt 'Guitar' Murphy, Steve Cropper, etc) were all well respected studio musicians who had worked with everyone in the music industry at the time.. The man in the sauna was played by Steve Lawrence. Steve and Eydie (Gourmet) were a popular singing duo in the 60s and 70s. The woman in the gas station (not shown) was played by 60s British model Twiggy. The shopping mall scene, at the time, was the most expensive scene ever filmed. They found an abandoned shopping mall and restored and restocked it to look like an operating mall. There were 104 cars wrecked in this movie, a record at the time, including 60 used police cars which the studio bought for $400 each. The Blues Brothers 2000 wanted to do one better and wrecked 105 cars. You should watch Animal House with Jim, I mean John Belushi.

Carrie Fisher and Dan Ackroyd were actually in a relationship during the filming of this movie back in 1979 but broke up soon afterwards. That was not Antonio Vargas that was Willie Clarence Hall a drummer musician out of Memphis he worked with Issac Hayes back in the day, but Willie does share a small resemblance with Vargas

The nun, Kathleen Freeman, character actor, always had work long before this in movies. For example, she was the female dialogue coach in the classic musical Singing in the Rain in 1952. Most of her parts were hysterical. Cab Calloway is the third guy in sunglasses...he was a big musical star in the 1930's and 40's with his own band etc. This movie actually help revive his career in his early 70's. The Nazi leader is Henry Gibson, who from my generation as known for the comedy show Rowan and Martin's Laugh In in the late 1960's/early 1970's. The guy in the sauna room is singer Steve Lawrence who often snag with is wife Edie Gormet. So many more - Twiggy, the girl at the gas station, was a famous model in the 1960's. every band member was a real musician, and many were famous in the business.

I love that they included the crew singing along with everyone else.

When my children were young we went to a baseball game and between innings they had different things to entertain the crowd. A couple of times they did stuff that was from the Blues Brothers. The kids were curious about the movie so we went and rented it so they could watch it. They loved the movie with my oldest son going to school and telling the teacher he had a mission from God and it wasn’t school. My seven year old daughter for some reason got on the SWAT team stuff and every time she had to do something it was “Hut,Hut, Hut.” Sometimes when she’s feeling good and concentrating she will still do it and she’s forty three years old now. For a suspend belief and laugh movie you can’t beat it.

Sadly, except for Dan Ackroyd the main cast is no longer with us. I am happy that this movie captured music performances by Cab Calloway, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles for posterity. RIP to Carrie Fischer, John Candy, Charles Napier, Henry Gibson and Kathleen Freeman. The Stuntman who did the backflips down the Aisle for John Belushi in the Baptist Church is Magician Jonathan Pengragon.

I am 49 and from Chicago. The mall was closed. They really drove through it.

Neighbors (1981) Belushi and Aykroyd

The Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, IL had been abandoned in 1978 before it was used as a location for this film. It was finally completely demolished in 2012.

104 cars were wrecked for the filming of BB, a then record. Legend. My personal favorite car in the film is the schnazi's Ford Pinto station wagon.

I'll never not like a blind man shooting a gun at a kid then go into a song number

Travia: The boy that Ray Charles shot at was the Limo driver from Die Hard.

They got Aretha, James, and John Lee Hooker because they weren't getting much work. Fun fact, the kid who tried to steal the guitar went on to play the limo driver in Die hard.

The Schmazi subplot was a reference to the very famous case of Skokir, Illinois...where Schmazis wanted to march and the town wanted to prevent them. But the Supreme Court decided that the 1st Amendment meant that the town could not reject their permit for the march, even though a significant number of Jewish Holocaust survivors lived in Skokie.

Both Belushi and Akroyd were students of the blues music genre. It was incredible that they were able to assemble such an amazing array of ultra talented musicians to make up the band. Not to mention the legendary list of superstars as actors and guest performers. This film is pure comedy 🎭 and musical 🎶 gold. ✌🏼😎🇺🇸

1.This was Dan Aykroyd's baby that started out as a SNL skit. He eventually got with Landis (thus Chicago) and it was built on that. There were already songs made for the Blues Brothers from SNL 2. All-star cast.🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑 3. Booking officer is Frank Oz. 4. ".....We have a half pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses"🤣🤣 5. A MUCH better Musical (even better than Grease IMVHO). It's "Hair" 1979. John Savage, Treat Williams and Beverly D'Angelo. Milos Foreman Directed. "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' and "Hair"😎😎 6. They smash so many cars that "Smokey and the Bandit" was practice. WE'RE ON A MISSION FROM GOD😇😇 PS: Spielberg played the reporter in "Jaws".

Great reactions, love it. Also "Stand By Your Man" was by Tammy Wynette.

I was 14 and living in my hometown of Joliet, Illinois in 1980. Everyone in town saw this film. My Catholic high school had as their Homecoming theme “We’re on a mission from God,” and we had a Dress Like a Blues Brother Day that week. When I went to college in Milwaukee four years later, I had a roommate whose father, a Mt. Prospect cop, had one of his old cruisers used as one of the Bluesmobiles, and my drama prof was the shorter of the two guards escorting Joliet Jake across the Collins Street prison (Joliet had so many prisons that we had to distinguish which one we were talking about). If you ever see season one of the tv show Prison Break, you’ll recognize the prison they used.

The original SNL cast was the shit…. The blues brothers were fantastic. John and Dan where both very Famous back in the day…. Lovelovelove ❤️🌈✌🏻🌸

The Penguin was played by Kathleen Freeman. Her career spanned fifty+ years.

"Animal House" is really good too. John Belushi is really something in that movie, and it is great fun. (Donald Sutherland is in it too.)....."Can we dance with your dates?"(when you watch Animal House, it's a great line) "MASH" is a really good movie too...if you haven't seen that one. (The TV series was based on it.) So, with all that....ready to laugh and dance watching Blue Brothers...so many guest stars in it too!!!!

I would like to thank the two of you. I had completly forgotton how wonderfully hirlarious that this movie was and the music was beyond compare. My sides are actually hurting now from watching that chase scene.

Blues Brothers 2000 gets a lot of slack but it’s in my opinion filled with tremendous music and fun action. Doesn’t live up to the original but I’m sure you’d like it

The actor who played the little boy who tried to steal the guitar went on to play Argyle, John McLean’s driver in Die Hard.

"How did they get Aretha Franklin in this movie?" --- Well, at the time this was made, most of these artists were no longer headliners. The younger generation had forgotten how great they were. So, they were totally willing to be in a movie like this. Blues Brothers single-handedly revived all their careers, making them household names once again (where they belong!!)

This was a tribute from Dan aykroyd to blues music that he loved which made him start those blues clubs across the country house of blues he really loves the music and he wants to keep it alive so he needed to have all these acts in there before they passed away

YES ...CONTINENTAL DIVIDE(!) is one of my fave rom-coms. Blair and John are so good together in that. It would be cool if you did that one on yer channel ;) This was a fuuun watchalong with you both, thanks! Frank Oz also directed a cool caper flick (The Score) with Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando (yes, together!), Edward Norton, and Angela Bassett, and set in Montreal (AS Montreal) no less. Another one to consider watching ;)

During the Filing of the Blues Brothers, The POPE at the time was in Chicago and he came onto the set and Blessed the Movie...Also I Think Dan Aykroyd was Engaged to Carrie Fisher at the Time....

The music, the comradery, the over-confidence, the idealism, the legends, the legacies: this movie is such a warm bath, such an anchor of capturing that feeling 'what it is to get into music'. Both as a listener and performer: trying to play and perform, but also discovering something great and new around each corner. It's just bliss, and I've rewatched it an ungodly amount of times, together with Scorcese's 'The Last Waltz', and the recent Beatles-documentary of the 'Get Back Sessions'. I remember some of the featured musicians - from both this and the second movie - commenting they were really having a tough time during the late 70's. For even though they were then also considered to be household-names, corporate brands of music were overtaking them left and right. So, what started as a fun SNL-sketch in '76 with 'I'm a King Bee' (yes, go and watch it, it's great: peak Belushi), eventually became a pillar to music at large. Especially that Ray Charles-scene is just heavenly. But really: all of the movie, as well as it's many actors and cameo's. Now, the second movie doesn't reach these heights, but I would certainly still recommend watching it for some powerful scenes. Featuring many returning names, but also people like John Goodman etc., as well as some of the musicians that weren't able to join the first movie. The closing scene is ridiculous when it comes to the amount of talent on stage...

One of the best funniest musical action comedy movies ever made!

The kid that Ray Charles shot at was played by the actor who later played Bruce Willis's driver in Die Hard. As well as the artists you recognised, the band was played by some of the music industry's top session musicians. The lead guitarist was Steve Cropper and the bassist was Donald 'Duck' Dunn, both of Booker T and the MGs.

Jen shone brightly on this reaction...recognizing the singing stars and actors...this film cost 70 million dollars...way over budget and schedule. The director I believe was quoted ...this film was fueled by cocaine. Great job Jen...thank you!

Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.

We only saw Belushi without the sun glasses, and only for a few seconds -- when he's on his knees charming Carrie Fisher.

Don't know if the record still stands, but The Blues Brothers held the record for the most car crashes in a movie in Guinness Book at one point.

Good spotting of Frank Oz -- John Landis always tried to put filmmakers IN his movies, the list is longer than you'd think. And no one EVER spots Spielberg as the clerk. Nooooo one.

My favorite movie of senior year in high school. "Class of '80 has many a fine Lady"

Dan and John were both obsessed with Motown and Blues. The movie was written as a love letter to Motorcity and the culture around it. Dan owns a club in Detroit and still plays in the Blues Brothers band to this day with John's brother James. Dan cast the musicians he did because he absolutely idolises them. Filming was an absolute hoot by all accounts with the only issued being finding John after he had spent nights out on drug and drink binges. Carrie joined the movie because she was engaged to Dan at the time of shooting.

Good one tonight all the old famous people..lovelovelove ❤️🌸✌🏻🌈

3 things. 1. Love you too together watching movie. Wonderful!! 2. Jake really did those backflips 3. they were really driving that car under the elevated train. they added stuff to the dash to prove it because no one believed it.

Dan Aykroyd was a blues fanatic and a huge collector of albums. These were all his idols growing up and the band was made up of the session men who appeared on a lot of their hits. Aykroyd and Belushi became huge friends and Aykroyd turned Belushi on to the music. The Blues Brothers skit sprang out of that. then they toured as the Blues Brothers with many of the same guys. The movie followed about 2 years after they became a touring band

A timeless classic

Jim Belushi is John's younger brother. Jim is also an actor; he was in Twin Peaks and a number of movies.

Greatest soundtrack ever.

I already thought Mom was cool, the fact that she clocked Cab Calloway without him singing first proves it!

This movie is how I learned about comedy and music

Tammy Wynette sang STAND BY YOUR MAN

Fun, energetic, spectacular, musically fantastic, satirical, stellar cast. In one word: masterpiece. "The Blues Brothers" has always been in my film library. In any format, videocassette, DVD or digital, any moment and any device is good for watching it again.

The guy in the Sauna is Steve Lawrence (he who sang with Eydie Gorme).

Rip To All Those Who We're In This Movie,Are No Longer With Us, Still Miss You All

You recognized about twice as many of the cameos as any other reactor...Congrats!

This movie means a lot to the people of Chicago that grew up around that time too. My dad has lots of side bar stories during the movie about Maxwell Street (Ray Charles scene) and he worked downtown when the last scene was filmed. He said seeing helicopters flying between buildings was one of the coolest things he ever saw.

The whole cast is a who's, who of the music and film industry. Such an awesome movie and soundtrack! Thanks for reacting.

You might want to react to Blues Brother 2000. It is largely a re-working (so not very origianl) and probably not as good BUT... the soundtrack and musicians they brought in just as amazing and, if anything, even BETTER. (Some the same, some new.) John Belushi had obviously died but there is a new character played by John Goodman.

Reporters apparently asked James Brown why he did this movie, and he simply said that he was available. A lot of the big names were not in high demand, and only Ray Charles had a hit in near proximity to the film's release. Almost everyone featured in this movie in some way is highly reputable. You are the first ones to catch Frank Oz on first shot that I've seen, but so many more were there. Twiggy was the actress who pulled into the gas station with Jake and Elwood, a young De'voreaux White tried to steal the guitar (he was on The Jeffersons and would later have a supporting role in Die Hard), Joe Walsh in the final prison scene.

Holy moly. I grew up on this movie, my Dad used to play it for us back in the late 80s early 90s. Probably seen it dozens of times. And yet, y'all caught TWO things I never, ever caught in all those years -- the Illinois Nazis acronym, and the fact that the police dispatcher toward the end is the same actor from Angels With Filthy Souls. Fantastic reaction!!

You missed that Belushi removed the sunglasses in the sewer scene. The SNL skit, the movie and the band (they had several excellent albums and did concerts) were born out of Ackroyd's knowledge and love of blues. He did a weekly radio show called House of Blues as his character Elwood for decades

Dan Aykroyd wrote the original skit and came up with the idea of The Blues Brothers which they did perform first on Saturday Night Live the members of The Blues Brothers Band in this movie were actually the ones that performed it on SNL Dan Aykroyd has a genuine a blues artists and music and he wanted to feature these people while a lot of them were still alive and he later established the chain of venues call House of Blues

Random fun thing: I had a pair of Roborovski dwarf hamsters a few years ago and their names were Jake & Elwood 🐹 🐹

The real singer of "Stand By Your Man" is Tammy Wynette. The number of special guests in this movie was AMAZING. The sad truth is that the reason James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and John Lee Hooker were available was because their careers were at a low point and they were easily available. But this movie helped resurrect them and made the folks some money. I actually saw James Brown in concert twice years later, and he was GREAT, of course. Five different capes, LOL. You also missed, but it was easy because he is not well known, Mr. Joe Walsh of The Eagles. He was the first prisoner to get up and start dancing during "Jailhouse Rock". Fun reaction and review, I enjoyed it. Especially when you recognized the "guests".

My personal favorite solo vocal was the cop 440 singing loud as it chased the nasties off the bridge. Thanks for reacting to this.

Yes, Finally Did One Of My Late Grandma's Favorite Movie's,This Was Her All Time Favorite Movie,Thanks Guy's,Nice Reaction 😊😊

Someone probably already mentioned this but Stand by Your Man was sung by Tammy Wynette! I’m a big fan of hers as well as of Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline among many others! I love all generes of music! I love this movie so much that I purchased it both on DVD and digitally! I also own the digital copy of the second one, Blues Brothers 2000!

My boys wore out 2 vcr tapes of this and “Smokey and The Bandit “ when they were growing up. I didn’t complain! Both are great movies!

Best 1970s Classic SNL bits to watch on YT: Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadana and another character Emily Litella, Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtain facing off on the news, John Belushi as the Samurai, Chevy Chase as the first Weekend Update anchor (I just this week heard a pundit make a reference to his first viral tagline, “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead”), and John Belushi’s wonderful tribute to the Chicago restaurant The Billy Goat Tavern (“Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, fries, no Coke-Pepsi”).

Such a classic! At the time, this movie had to have set a record for "vehicular carnage", perhaps only rivaled later by Beverly Hills Cop.

This movie held the record for the most cars destroyed until it's sequel

It’s good to see reactionaries who know most of the cameos in this film.

The same director of this movie also did : Animal House ( with John Belushi ) - Twilight Zone The Movie - An American Wearwolf In London and the Michael Jackson's " Thriller " music video. Those are some of many of his.

One of my favourite movie facts about this one - in the Jailhouse Rock scene at the end, the first prisoner to get up on a table is Eagles' guitarist Joe Walsh (a friend of John Landis)

We need a supercut of you gasping as each new cast member is reavealed!

John Belushi was Capt. "Wild Bill" Kelso in "1941".

Oh, no! The drummer was not Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch! All of the musicians were just that: musicians. The core group were members of Booker T and the MGs (their big hit was the instrumental "Green Onions"), and a few of them played with Sam & Dave (when Dave says "Play it Steve" right before the solo on the hit "Soul Man," he was calling out to Steve Cropper, the bearded guitarist. The bassist, Donald "Duck" Dunn, also played and toured with Eric Clapton (among many others) on his late '70s/early '80s albums and tours. Some of the horn players were part of the Saturday Night Live band, as well, but none of them were actors (as you can likely tell by most of the rather stilted acting throughout the film). Great movie and real great band.

12:20 I think she's referring to Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear). This is a different guy. But they do look similar.

Fun fact: The kid trying to steal the guitar at Ray's place, played Argile the limo driver in "Die Hard".

Joe Walsh played the blond-headed prison inmate near the end that jumped up on the table. The guys in the band were the Saturday Night Live band members.

Give "Blues Brothers 2000" a view, too. It plays in the time after the release from prison and guess what ... same story, different artists! And as John passed away, they got John Goodman as a Blues Brother ... very well done! And again: Aretha Franklin, James Brown, etc. is on tape ... and several other artist I won't name now! You'll be very surprised, but don't look it up in advance! :)

Well done. I saw all the B&B reviews and you were the only ones who recognized all the artists in the film. From this film we will take quotes for many films that will come later.

Dan Akroyd before joining Saturday Night Live , he was cast member on the Canadian comedy sketch show : SCTV = Second City. Then he moved to Saturday Night Live. On SCTV is where Martin Short , john Candy , Eugene Levy and many more got their start.

The ONLY movie that I saw on a weekly basis for over a year when it first came out.

Joe Walsh (of Eagles) played a prisoner.

That was the theme to the classic western Rawhide, which starred a young Clint Eastwood.

Easily the greatest musical comedy of all time.

You definitely need to watch Animal House, it's a true gem .

Jim (James) Belushi is John Belushi's younger brother. He starred in a few films of his own after John died.

wow...I don't think I ever spotted Frank Oz in this before! You did! I spotted him in American Werewolf in London but not this somehow. The supporting cast is phenomenal. Possibly the most phenomenal ever. Belushi and Ackroyd really were THAT into blues. RIP Jim. And Dan was always one of my favorite people from SNL just like Michael Palin was always my favorite from Monty Python. Less showy and seemingly nicer and more grounded than the rest.

Enjoyed your reaction.....your mom is a hoot😊

The assessor was played by Steven Spielberg

Dan introduced John to Blues music. They started working up some numbers, put a band together, and played in Chicago area clubs when they could. Dan and John wanted to perform on SNL but Lorne Michaels said no, that they were actors and could only do comedy bits. They came up with the idea of wesring the Killer Bee costumes and perform the song King Bee. That was enough of a sketch for Lorne. At this time they released the album Briefcase Full of Blues which was a hit. Now they were legitimate musicians, so theybwre allowed to perform as the musical act on SNL. They created a detailed backstory for their characters. Aykroyd thought thst would make a good movie and wrote The Blues Brothers.

You guys are great. You recognized extra people I don't always think about. Really good reaction! I love this movie. Yay!

I've probably said it before but I love you both. I think this movie always hits in a special way with (present day or LAPSED) Catholics. I went to Catholic school in the 80's and even though we had lay teachers, you'd still get a ruler across the hand OR mostly a chalkboard eraser hurled at you from across the room. Cannot tell you how many times my talkative ass was interrupted by a well-timed chalky missle to the torso or head. And being left-handed? They still (even in the "enlightened" 1980's) tried to talk me out of it. I've never learned when to kneel, stand, or sit (but it only comes up when someone dies and I have to go to a mass). The only people who know that are the priests saying the mass and the single senior citizen who goes to every single one and probably still tithes even though they're on a fixed income, rationing their medications (in the USA), and the church is ridiculously wealthy.

So glad Mom was there to correct you on the John/Jim thing . . .

John Belushi was originally supposed to be in Ghostbusters, but he died and they gave his part to Bill Murray.