Local Description
Review: Daniel de Vise has done a remarkable job of pulling together a credible telling of a complicated story. The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship...is a riveting examination of this remarkable band, its compelling characters and the music they cherish. Equally importantly, Dan seems to have managed to embrace the humor, humanity, love and tragedy that makes the story of the Blues Brothers a worthwhile tale * Judy Belushi Pisano *
Here is the true story of a human sunflare. In case we forget that we're as organic as the sun, that blazes of naked spirit once rose wherever the mysteries of nature and chance threw humans together whose madness, passion, conflict and love could combust in real life - till everyone was lit and became a part of the dazzle. This is how it works. This is how we burn. This book is on a mission from God. -- DBC Pierre
An award-winning journalist chronicles the story of the iconic 1980 film and the bond between its two stars . . . Exhaustively researched, highly informative . . . A complete portrait of a classic film and the zeitgeist of its era * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *
Daniel de Vise has brought the iconic comedy friendship between Belushi and Aykroyd brilliantly to life in this thoroughly researched, beautifully written book about one of the funniest movies ever made. I loved every page * Josh Karp, author of A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever *
This thorough account of the Blues Brothers' origin story is as fun and riveting as the comedy classic itself. From the act's beginnings in the raucous early days of Saturday Night Live to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's serious love for the blues and each other, Daniel de Vise chronicles this unique chapter in film history like a virtuoso * Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia and So Fetch *
Aykroyd and Belushi's singing, dancing, car-crashing mission from God came about because of their ferocious devotion to the blues. That same passion flows through Daniel de Vise's riveting, meticulously detailed book, in which the creation of one of Hollywood's most wonderful oddities is chronicled like never before. A worthy tribute to a raucous masterpiece - and as flavoursome as four fried chickens and a Coke * Nick de Semlyen, author of Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever *
A must-read for fans of a cinema classic * The Independent *
An impeccably researched, clear-headed, highly entertaining book * Empire *
An exhaustive, illuminating, funny, tragic and propulsive account of the Blues Brothers' ascent into pop culture immortality ... tremendous, riveting detail * Big Issue *
Droll and rigorous . . . bracingly thorough -- Ed Potton * The Times *
Description
"They're not going to catch us," Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. "We're on a mission from God."
So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theatres on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage; but Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists-Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles-made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since it has been acknowledged a classic: inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a "Catholic classic" by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences.
It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the 20th century.
The story behind any classic is rich; the saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Vise reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard's Lampoon and Chicago's Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
