Product Description

One of the most popular comedy classics of all time. All- Star cast includes comic legends John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and features the music of Ray Charles, James Brown and many more. The all-new 25th Anniversary Edition includes the Director's Cut plus the theatrical version for the first time on DVD! Amazing bonus material, including an introduction by Dan Aykroyd, behind-the-scenes documentary, concert footage and more!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2960 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 133 minutes

Amazon.com
After building up the duo's popularity through popular recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
The bonus features on The Blues Brothers (25th Anniversary Edition) are good enough that you'll wish there were more of them. On side A of the two-sided disc, "Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers" is an excellent 56-minute retrospective (included on the previous DVD release) that fully captures the spirit of the film's exuberant production, highlighted by interviews with nearly all of the primary cast and crew, plus on-set footage (including the late John Belushi) from a vintage behind-the-scenes promo film. On side B, the "Introduction by Dan Aykroyd" is cursory at best, and at 22 seconds it's way too brief (perhaps because Aykroyd's anecdotes can be found in the retrospective). "Going Rounds: A Day on the Blues Brothers Tour" is a seven-minute featurette showing Aykroyd and Jim Belushi as the 2005 incarnation of The Blues Brothers, and... well, hey guys, maybe it's time to hang it up and admit that it'll never be the same without John. Your time is better spent on the 15-minute featurette "Transposing the Music," which chronicles the spin-offs inspired by the film, and includes interviews with Aykroyd, John Goodman (costar of The Blues Brothers 2000), composers Howard Shore and Paul Shaffer, and others. "Remembering John" is an essential tribute to Aykroyd's inimitable Saturday Night Live and Blues Brothers costar, with fond and funny remembrance by Aykroyd, director John Landis (one of Hollywood's funniest raconteurs), Belushi's widow Judy Belushi-Pisano, and others who were close to the late comedy legend. It's a fitting honor to one-half of the great, original Blues Brothers duo, immortalized by Landis's 1980 hit, which is looking more and more like a classic with each passing year. --Jeff Shannon