New Blues Brothers Book: ‘Making of an American Film Classic’
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The cover of the U.S. edition of The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and the comedic film classic based on their musical collaboration that helped shape popular culture, are the subject of a new book. The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic, from author Daniel de Visé, was published on March 19, 2024, via Atlantic Monthly Press. Order it here. [It’s also available in the U.K. here via White Rabbit.]
From the publisher’s announcement: “They’re not going to catch us,” Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.” So opens the musical action comedy, which hit theaters 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: it has been 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 twentieth century.
“Daniel de Visé has done a remarkable job of pulling together a credible telling of a complicated story. The Blues Brothers is a riveting examination of this remarkable band, its compelling characters and the music they cherish. Equally importantly, de Visé 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.
The cover of the U.K. edition
The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as de Visé 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 classic while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
Related: When the Blues Brothers’ Bluesmobile got pulled over
Daniel de Visé is an author and journalist. He worked at The Washington Post, the Miami Herald and three other newspapers in a 23-year career. He shared a 2001 team Pulitzer Prize and garnered more than two dozen other national and regional journalism awards. His investigative reporting twice led to the release of wrongly convicted men from life terms in prison. His first book, I Forgot To Remember (with Su Meck, Simon & Schuster, 2014), began as a front-page article de Visé wrote for the Washington Post in 2011. His second book, Andy & Don (Simon & Schuster, 2015), began as a journalistic exploration into the storied career of his late brother-in-law, famed actor Don Knotts. His third book, The Comeback (Grove Atlantic, 2018), rekindles a childhood obsession with professional cycling.
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Jump into a conversationJust an aside…I have a hand written lyric/poem left at a cabana at the “Bohemian Grove” signed Belushi & Aykroyd