John Landis makes room for singers and comedians to do their work, and we value that generosity. The Blues Brothers earns our recommendation, though his fondness for extending a joke can become a test of patience.
Fi1m perspective
When Aretha Franklin sings “Think” in The Blues Brothers (1980), the comedy hardly needs any help from the director. We grinned at the impatience in her delivery, which makes Mrs Murphy funny before the surrounding comedy has much to do. Landis gives James Brown, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles similar room, rather than settling for the pleasure of seeing familiar faces. He understands that a musical number needs time to become the reason for watching, even if the plot has to wait.
The breakthrough with National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) led into the early run of The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Trading Places (1983). Comedy mixed with horror suits his appetite for physical set pieces, and An American Werewolf in London makes that combination work. Large ensembles and musical numbers recur elsewhere; there is often another performer to make room for. Later studio films included Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), during a stretch whose reviews were often mixed or poor.
In The Blues Brothers, Landis and co-writer Dan Aykroyd give Jake and Elwood a mission from God and the solemnity to match it. John Belushi and Aykroyd keep their composure while the chases grow extravagant, so the scale of the destruction suits the brothers’ unreasonable certainty. That is sound comic thinking, and the chases are funny. The difficulty is that Landis carries on after the joke has registered. At 133 minutes, the film makes its generosity harder work than it needs to be.
George Folsey Jr.’s editing cannot conceal how often Landis and Aykroyd’s script returns to the same comic method. A thin story need not trouble a musical comedy, but the repeated interruptions ask a good deal of our patience. We would not want to lose a minute of Franklin to accommodate another chase. Start with The Blues Brothers for the music, and be prepared to tolerate some extra wrecked cars.
Biography
John Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Born on 3 August 1950 in Chicago, Illinois, he began working in the film industry in the mailroom at 20th Century-Fox before taking jobs as a production assistant and stuntman in Europe.
Landis made his feature debut as writer-director with Schlock (1973). He achieved wider recognition with the comedy National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and went on to direct and co-write The Blues Brothers (1980). Other films include An American Werewolf in London (1981), Trading Places (1983), ¡Three Amigos! (1986) and Coming to America (1988).
He also directed segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and music videos for Michael Jackson. Landis is married to costume designer Deborah Nadoolman.
