Blues Brothers 2000

Blues Brothers 2000
Promotional one-sheet poster.
Directed by	John Landis
Produced by	Dan Aykroyd Leslie Belzberg John Landis
Written by	Dan Aykroyd John Landis
Starring	Dan Aykroyd John Goodman Joe Morton James Brown Aretha Franklin B. B. King
Music by	Paul Shaffer
Cinematography	David Herrington
Editing by	Dale Beldin
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	February 6, 1998
Running time	123 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$14,051,384

Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to 1980's The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.

Plot

Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) is being released from prison, this time a modern private prison rather than the old Illinois state penitentiary of his brother Joliet Jake's previous incarceration. He is told for the first time that his brother Jake has died, as has their surrogate father figure Curtis, then finds out that the orphanage the Blues Brothers had saved has been demolished.

Elwood does discover a second brother (of sorts). The illegitimate son of Curtis, his name is Cabel "Cab" Chamberlain (Joe Morton). Up until the moment Elwood barges into his life, he has no knowledge of Curtis or the Blues brothers or their band. Cab is a commander in the Illinois State Police. He reacts to Elwood's attempt to borrow $500 for a car by throwing him out. But 10-year-old orphan Buster (J. Evan Bonifant) steals the commander's wallet on Elwood's behalf.

Elwood purchases a used police squad car at a lot owned by Malvern Gasperon (B.B. King), who says he is leaving the business to move to New Orleans and try something else. Elwood drives to a strip club owned by the drummer of the Blues Brothers band, Willie Hall, and becomes master of ceremonies on stage. He discovers two things -- that the Russian mafia has been demanding payoffs from Willie, and that the helpful bartender, Mack McTeer (John Goodman), can also sing.

After the Russians burn down the club, Elwood reunites the band. "Mighty" Mack is the new lead vocalist, with young Buster joining in on backup vocals and harmonica. The band's former musicians have moved on -- guitarist Matt Murphy and his respect-demanding wife (Aretha Franklin) now run a Mercedes dealership, for instance -- but once again the guys are willing to drop everything to go back on the road.

The band travels to several familiar locations from the past and discover how they have changed (for example, Bob's Country Bunker was converted into Bob's Country Kitchen, a family restaurant). Booking agent Maury Sline sends them to an outdoor gig in Cynthiana, Kentucky, lying that they are actually the "Bluegrass" Brothers. Law enforcement officers are there waiting, including Cab and his top lieutenant (Nia Peeples), but again the band is able to escape.

As well as being on the Russian mobsters' hit list, Elwood also falls foul of a white supremacist group (led by Darrell Hammond), disrupting their private rally. They and the police continue to pursuit the band, which thanks to Sline is now on its way to Louisiana to compete in a battle of the bands.

At a revival meeting presided over by Rev. Cleophus James (James Brown), old friend of Elwood, the band is cornered by the zealous and law-abiding Cab and appear to be on their way to jail. But under an evangelical spell, Cab suddenly "sees the light" and becomes a Blues Brother, trading in his police uniform for a black suit and sunglasses.

Everyone heads south to the mansion of a voodoo practitioner named Queen Moussette (Erykah Badu) for the battle of the bands. There she transforms the Blues Brothers into zombies for a while, but returns them to life in time to compete against the Louisiana Gator Boys, a gigantic super-group fronted by Malvern Gasperon.

During the band battle, the Russians and the racists turn up, but Queen Moussette deals with them in her own unique way. The nun from the orphanage (Kathleen Freeman) and the Illinois police have arrived as well, making Buster fear that he will be taken away from the band and into child protective custody. Elwood sneaks him out a back door and together they hit the road.

Dedication

The movie is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel being made.

Many of the musicians who perform in Blues Brothers 2000 have passed away since, including James Brown, Clarence Clemons, Bo Diddley, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Billy Preston, Lou Rawls, Koko Taylor, Grover Washington, Jr. and Junior Wells, as well as, from the Blues Brothers band, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Alan Rubin, plus actors Kathleen Freeman and Jeff Morris, who were featured in both films.

Cast and characters

Bands and musical guests

The Blues Brothers Band

Main article: The Blues Brothers

• Dan Aykroyd as Elwood J. Blues – harmonica and vocals
• John Goodman as "Mighty" Mack McTeer – lead vocals
• Joe Morton as Cabel "Cab" Chamberlain - vocals
• J. Evan Bonifant as Buster Blues – vocals and harmonica (harmonica recorded by John Popper)
• 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

• Junior Wells as Himself
• Lonnie Brooks as Himself
• Blues Traveler as Themselves
• Jonny Lang as Janitor
• Eddie Floyd as Ed
• Wilson Pickett as Mr. Pickett
• Aretha Franklin as Mrs. Murphy
• Esther Ridgeway as Mrs. Murphy's Friend
• Gloria Ridgeway as Mrs. Murphy's Friend
• Gracie Ridgeway as Mrs. Murphy's Friend
• Sam Moore as Reverend Morris
• James Brown as Reverend Cleophus James
• Erykah Badu as Queen Mousette

The Louisiana Gator Boys

The Louisiana Gator Boys is a blues supergroup created for Blues Brothers 2000. They face The Blues Brothers in a battle of the bands. The band comprises:

• B. B. King as Malvern Gasperone – Vocals and guitar
• 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
• Tommy "Pipes" McDonnell – vocals
• Charlie Musselwhite – vocals and harmonica
• Billy Preston – vocals and synthesizer
• Lou Rawls – vocals
• Joshua Redman – tenor saxophone
• 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
• Paul Shaffer as Marco/Himself - keyboards

Other characters

• Nia Peeples as Lieutenant Elizondo
• Kathleen Freeman as Mother Mary Stigmata
• Frank Oz as Warden
• Steve Lawrence as Maury Sline
• Darrell Hammond as Robertson
• Shann Johnson as Matara
• Michael Bodnar as Russian Thug 1
• Slavko Hochevar as Russian Thug 2
• Igor Syyouk as Tstetsevkaya
• Victor Pedtrchenko as Ivan
• Wally High as Russian Thug 3
• Richard Kruk as Russian Thug 4
• John Lyons as Russian Thug 5
• Jeff Morris as Bob
• Walter Levine as a prison guard. Levine reprised his cameo from the first film.

Production

Following its predecessor, 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. Approximately 60 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.

Casting

The film was originally intended to include Brother Zee Blues (James Belushi, brother of John Belushi). But due to an already existing television deal (Belushi had been cast in the ABC drama Total Security), Belushi was unable to appear and the script was altered to include Cab Blues (Joe Morton). This character was named Cabel as an homage to Cab Calloway, who died four years prior to the film's release. (His character Curtis was revealed to have died in the film along with Jake.)

The band's original keyboardist, Paul Shaffer, had been committed to Gilda Radner's one-woman show on Broadway and 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 aide, emcee of the battle of the bands. (Warren Zevon took his place that week on Letterman's show). During the Funky Nassau number, Shaffer in his character as "Marco" asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks the first on-screen time that the Blues Brothers Band plays with the 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

The film is considered a box office flop, generating only a little over $14 million in box office sales on an approximate $28 million budget.

It was screened out of competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Reception

Blues Brothers 2000 received poor reviews, averaging a 45% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews , and a D score on EW.com. Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars, saying that "The film is lame comedy surrounded by high-energy blues (and some pop, rock and country music)."

Video game

Main article: Blues Brothers 2000 (video game)

A Blues Brothers 2000 video game was released for the Nintendo 64 on November 17, 2000, almost two years after the film's release. The plot of the game involves Elwood as the main character going through different chapters and levels while trying to save the kidnapped members of the band one by one. Like the film on which it based, it was poorly received.

Soundtrack

Main article: Blues Brothers 2000 (soundtrack)

External links

• Blues Brothers 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
• Blues Brothers 2000 at AllRovi
• Blues Brothers 2000 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Blues Brothers 2000 at Box Office Mojo
• EG Blues Brothers
• Blues Brothers Central
• Blues Brothers