Overview
See production notesJake Blues, a blues vocalist and petty criminal, is paroled from Joliet Prison after serving three years of a five-year sentence for armed robbery and is picked up by his brother Elwood in a battered former police car. Jake complains that Elwood is driving a police car, and Elwood demonstrates its capabilities by jumping an open drawbridge. They visit the Catholic orphanage where they were raised, and learn from Sister Mary Stigmata that it will be closed unless it pays $5,000 in property taxes. At the suggestion of their friend Curtis, they attend a sermon by the Reverend Cleophus James at the Triple Rock Baptist Church, where Jake has an epiphany: they can reform their band, the Blues Brothers, which disbanded while Jake was in prison, and raise the money to save the orphanage. That night, state troopers attempt to arrest Elwood for driving with a suspended license due to dozens of parking tickets and moving violations. The brothers escape after a car chase through the Dixie Square Mall. As they arrive at the flophouse where Elwood lives, a mysterious woman fires a rocket launcher at them but misses. The next morning, as the police arrive at the flophouse, the same woman detonates a bomb that demolishes the building but leaves Jake and Elwood unharmed, saving them from arrest. Jake and Elwood begin tracking down members of the band. Five of them are performing as Murph and the Magic Tones at a deserted Holiday Inn lounge and quickly rejoin. Their trumpeter Mr. Fabulous turns them down as he is the maître d' at an expensive restaurant but relents when the brothers dine with poor manners and threaten to become regular patrons. On their way to meet the final two members, the brothers find the road through Jackson Park blocked by a neo-Nazi demonstration on a bridge; Elwood runs them off the bridge into the East Lagoon. The neo-Nazis swear revenge. The brothers find Matt "Guitar" Murphy, who now runs a soul food restaurant on Maxwell Street with his wife and "Blue Lou" Marini. Murphy's wife advises him against rejoining the band, to no avail. The group obtains instruments and equipment from Ray's Music Exchange, and Ray, "as usual", takes an IOU. As Jake attempts to book a gig, the mystery woman blows up his phone booth; once again, he is miraculously unhurt. The band stumbles onto a gig at Bob's Country Bunker, a honky-tonk in Kokomo, Indiana, by impersonating the country and western band booked. They win over the rowdy crowd, but run up a bar tab higher than their pay, and infuriate the Good Ole Boys, the band they impersonated. Realizing they need a big show to raise the necessary money, the brothers manage to book the Palace Hotel Ballroom, north of Chicago. They drive around Chicago promoting the concert, alerting the police, the neo-Nazis and the Good Ole Boys of their whereabouts. The ballroom is packed with fans, police officers and the Good Ole Boys. Jake and Elwood perform two songs, then sneak offstage, as the tax deadline rapidly approaches. A record company executive offers them a $10,000 cash advance on a recording contract - more than enough to pay off the orphanage's taxes and the IOU - and tells them how to slip out of the building unnoticed. As they escape through a service tunnel, they are confronted by the mystery woman: Jake's vengeful ex-fiancée. After her volley of M16 rifle bullets leaves them once again miraculously unharmed, Jake offers a series of ridiculous excuses that she rejects. When she looks into his eyes, though, she takes interest in him again and becomes distracted long enough for the brothers to escape in their car. Jake and Elwood race back toward Chicago, with dozens of state and local police and the Good Ole Boys and the Nazis in pursuit. They elude them all with a series of improbable maneuvers, including a miraculous gravity-defying escape from the neo-Nazis. Finally arriving at the Chicago City Hall building, they rush inside, followed by hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters and the National Guard. The brothers find the Cook County Assessor's office and successfully pay the tax bill but are arrested by the mob of law officers immediately after. In prison, the band plays "Jailhouse Rock" for the inmates.
Plot from The Blues Brothers (film)CC BY-SA 4.0
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- United States
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- English
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Followed by: Blues Brothers 2000
Followed by: Blues Brothers 2000
Quotes
See all quotesCurtis: Boys, you gotta learn not to talk to nuns that way. Claire: [When asked what music is played at Bob's Country Bunker] Oh we got both kinds. We got Country and Western. Police Dispatcher: Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers has been approved. Sister Mary Stigmata: You two are such a disappointing pair! I prayed so hard for you both. It saddens and hurts me that the two young men whom I raised to believe in the Ten Commandments have returned to me as two thieves with filthy mouths, disgusting lies and bad attitudes. Get out! And don't come back...until you've redeemed yourselves. Illinois Nazi Party Leader: White men! White women! The swastika is calling you! The sacred and ancient symbol of your race since the beginning of time! The Jew is using the black as muscle against you! And you are left there, helpless. Well? What are you gonna do about it, whitey? Just sit there? Of course not! You are going to join with us! The members of the American
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jake: What's this? Elwood: What? Jake: This car. This stupid car. Where's the Cadillac? [tries the cigarette lighter, finds it doesn't work, and throws it out the window] The Caddy, where's the Caddy? Elwood: The what? Jake: The Cadillac we used to have. The Bluesmobile. Elwood: I traded it. Jake: You traded the Bluesmobile for this? Elwood: No, for a microphone. Jake: A microphone? Okay, I can see that. But what the hell is this? Elwood: This was a bargain. I picked it up at the Mount Prospect City police auction last spring. It's an old Mount Prospect police car. They were practically giving them away. Jake: [sarcastically] Well, thank you, pal. The day I get out of prison, my own brother picks me up in a police car. Elwood: You don't like it? Jake: No, I don't like it. Jake: [impressed] Car's got a lot of pickup. Elwood: It's got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters, so
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jake: Forget it! Five grand? No problem, we'll have it for you in the morning. Let's go, Elwood. Penguin: No, no! I will not take your filthy stolen money! Jake: Well, then, I guess you're really up shit's creek. [the Penguin smacks him with her ruler] Ow! Penguin: I beg your pardon; what did you just say? Jake: First, I offered to help you. Penguin: Mmmmm... Jake: Then you refused to take our money. Penguin: Mmmhmmm... Jake: And then I said, "I guess you're really up shit's creek". [the Penguin promptly smacks him again] Ow! Elwood: Christ, Jake. Take it easy, man. Penguin: Elwood! [hits Elwood] Jake: Oh shit! Elwood: Jesus Christ! Jake: Shit! Elwood: Cut it out, you fat penguin! [she breaks the ruler over his head, then chases them from the office while beating them with a pointer rod] Fuck this noise, man! [runs down the stairs] Penguin: You two are such a disappointing pair. I prayed so hard for you both. It saddens and hurts me that the two young men whom I raised to believe in th
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jake: The band? The band. Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?! Jake: THE BAND! Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?! Elwood: [confused] What light? Reverend Cleophus James: HAVE YOU SEEEEN THE LIGHT?! Jake: YES! YES! JESUS H. TAP-DANCING CHRIST! I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jake: We'll put the band back together, do a few gigs, we get some bread. Bang! Five thousand bucks. Elwood: Yeah, well, getting the band back together might not that be that easy, Jake. Jake: What are you talking about? Elwood: They split, they all took straight jobs. Jake: Yeah, so you know where they are. You said you were gonna keep in touch with them. Elwood: Well...I got a couple of leads, a few phone numbers, but I mean, how many of them visited or even wrote you, huh? Jake: They're not the kinda guys who write letters. You were outside, I was inside. You were supposed to keep in touch with the band. I kept asking you if we were gonna play again. Elwood: Well, what was I gonna do? Take away your only hope? Take away the very thing that kept you going in there? I took the liberty of bullshitting you, okay? Jake: You lied to me. Elwood: It wasn't a lie, it was just bullshit.
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Jake: First you trade the Cadillac for a microphone, then you lie to me about the band, and now you're gonna put me right back in the joint! Elwood: They're not gonna catch us! We're on a mission from God!
The Blues Brothers, CC BY-SA 4.0
Music
See all songsThe Blues Brothers
1980
- 1Everybody Needs Somebody to LovePerformed by Blues Brothers
- 2Gimme Some Lovin’Performed by Blues Brothers
- 3Jailhouse RockPerformed by Blues Brothers
- 4Minnie the MoocherPerformed by Cab Calloway
- 5Peter Gunn ThemePerformed by Blues Brothers
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