Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, written and produced by John Landis and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by Landis, the film stars Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameo appearances by various musicians. The film is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway, and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel's production, as well as Junior Wells, who died one month before it was released.
Plot
Elwood Blues is released from prison after serving eighteen years for the events of the previous film and is informed that his brother, "Joliet" Jake Blues has died. He is picked up by Matara a friend who works for his former drummer Willie Hall who wants to help him get back on his feet.Before meeting up with Willie, Elwood asks to be dropped off to see Sister Mary Stigmata who is now working at a hospital after the orphanage was closed. She informs him that Curtis has also died but fathered an illegitimate son Cabel Chamberlain who is an Illinois State Police commander, and introduces him to an orphan Buster to suggest mentoring him.
Against Stigmata’s advice, Elwood tracks down Cabel at his police department to inform him of his real father and asks him to join The Blues Brothers Band that he plans on reforming. Cabel, upset by the news and offended by the suggestion to join him after seeing Elwood's and Jake's criminal history, throws him out of the building where Buster steals his wallet containing enough money for Elwood to purchase a new Bluesmobile.
Elwood and Buster begin tracking down members of the former band to recruit them from their current jobs. Willie runs a strip club and joins after it is burned down by the Russian mafia because Elwood enlisted the help of Willie’s barman "Mighty" Mack McTeer to try and convince them to leave the club alone. Another member Matt "Guitar" Murphy joins again at the advice of his wife who now run a Mercedes-Benz dealership together. Three members work at a radio station and quickly agree to join, and finally Murphy Dunne joins after his boss at call center gives him permission.
The newly reformed band uses their old agent to book them a show. On the way to the show they are followed by Cabel and the Illinois state police who are now looking for Elwood for stealing Cabel’s wallet earlier, and believing that he has kidnapped Buster. While avoiding the police Elwood interrupts a Militia group meeting unintentionally destroying their boat full of explosives they planned to use.
The Band arrives at the show to find they have been mistakenly booked as a Bluegrass Band but perform the show anyway. Afterward they evade capture by the police, but they catch up with them at a Tent revival where Reverend Cleophus James is preaching. Before Cabel can arrest them he has an epiphany brought on by Reverend Cleophus that he should join the band instead of being a police officer. The Band evades capture once more now with Cabel joining them who the police believe they have brainwashed.
The band continues on to their next booking, a tryout for a Battle of the Bands put on by Queen Mousette who Mack informs is allegedly a 130 year old voodoo witch. Queen Mousette requests the band play something Caribbean, and when Elwood beings to explain they don’t play that kind of music, she casts a spell on them to play anyway. Mousette accepts the band into the battle, however Elwood, Mack, and Cabel are turned to hollow plastic statues.
At the show, Queen Mousette undoes the spell to allow the Blues Brothers band to play against the Louisiana Gator Boys; a supergroup of blues musicians who win the battle. After the battle the show is interrupted by the arrival of the Russian mafia and the militia group from earlier who are turned into rats by Queen Mousette. The Illinois state police arrive but stand down after Cabel informs them that he is all right. Elwood suggests that two bands jam together on stage, and uses the performance as cover when Sister Mary Stigmata arrives to say goodbye to Cabel and Mack and escape with Buster with the police giving chase.
Cast and characters
Bands and musical guests
The Blues Brothers Band
- Dan Aykroyd as Elwood J. Blues – harmonica and vocals
- John Goodman as "Mighty" Mack McTeer – lead vocals
- Joe Morton as Commander Cabel Chamberlain/Cab Blues – vocals
- J. Evan Bonifant as Buster Blues – vocals and harmonica
- Steve Cropper as Steve "the Colonel" Cropper – rhythm guitar and vocals
- Donald "Duck" Dunn as Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass guitar
- Murphy Dunne as Murphy "Murph" Dunne – keyboards
- Willie Hall as Willie "Too Big" Hall – drums and percussion
- Tom Malone as Tom "Bones" Malone – trombone, tenor saxophone and vocals
- Lou Marini as "Blue Lou" Marini – alto saxophone and tenor saxophone and vocals
- Matt Murphy as Matt "Guitar" Murphy – lead guitar
- Alan Rubin as Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin – trumpet, percussion and vocals
Musical guests
- Erykah Badu as Queen Moussette
- Blues Traveler as themselves
- Lonnie Brooks as himself
- Eddie Floyd as Ed
- Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy
- James Brown as Reverend Cleophus James
- Jonny Lang as janitor
- Sam Moore as Reverend Morris
- Wilson Pickett as Mr. Pickett
- Junior Wells as himself
The Louisiana Gator Boys
- Jeff "Skunk" Baxter – guitar
- Gary U.S. Bonds – vocals
- Eric Clapton – vocals and guitar
- Clarence Clemons – vocals, tenor saxophone and tambourine
- Jack DeJohnette – drums
- Bo Diddley – vocals and guitar
- Jon Faddis – trumpet
- Isaac Hayes – vocals
- Dr. John – vocals and piano
- B.B. King as Malvern Gasperone – vocals and guitar
- Tommy "Pipes" McDonnell – vocals
- Charlie Musselwhite – vocals and harmonica
- Billy Preston – vocals and synthesizer
- Lou Rawls – vocals
- Joshua Redman – tenor saxophone
- Paul Shaffer as Marco/Himself – keyboards
- Koko Taylor – vocals
- Travis Tritt – vocals and guitar
- Jimmie Vaughan – vocals and guitar
- Grover Washington Jr. – baritone saxophone
- Willie Weeks – bass guitar
- Steve Winwood – vocals and organ
Production
Blues Brothers 2000 made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest car pile-up, a record previously held by the original film. 63 cars were used in the scene after Elwood says to the band, "Don't look back." Inevitably, everyone looks back and sees the massive pile-up. Portions of this scene were filmed in Niagara Falls, Ontario.The movie held the record for Most Cars Destroyed in the course of production for nine years at 104, one more than was wrecked in The Blues Brothers, until surpassed it in 2009 with 112 cars destroyed.
Casting
The film was originally intended to include Brother Zee Blues. But due to an already existing television deal, Belushi was unable to appear and the script was altered to include Cab Blues. This character was named Cabel as an homage to Cab Calloway, who died four years prior to the film's release.The Blues Brothers' original keyboardist, Paul Shaffer, had been committed to Gilda Radner's one-woman show on Broadway and was therefore unable to appear in the first film. He was replaced by actor-musician Murphy Dunne. Shaffer does appear in Blues Brothers 2000, taking a week off from Late Show with David Letterman to film his role as Queen Moussette's majordomo and emcee of the Battle of the Bands. Shaffer shaved his head for the role, a change in appearance he chose to retain permanently.
During the "Funky Nassau" number, Shaffer in his character of "Marco," asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks the first time on-screen that the Blues Brothers Band played with their original keyboardist.
Several cast members from the first film reprised their characters, including Frank Oz, Jeff Morris, Steve Lawrence, Kathleen Freeman, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.
Release
Blues Brothers 2000 was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.Box office
The film grossed a little over $14 million in box office sales in North America.Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews, averaging a 46% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews, and a critical consensus that reads "Braving onward without the late John Belushi, Blues Brothers 2000 gets the band back together with a spirited soundtrack, but a mission that's far less divine". It earned a D score from Entertainment Weekly. Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars, saying, "The film is lame comedy surrounded by high-energy blues."Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.