Saturday, January 12, 2008

Blues Brothers Screening in Greensboro, NC

When I recieved an email notification of "The Blues Brothers" from the Carolina Theatre, it sounded almost like Jake and Elwood were going to perform there.

But, there is in fact going to be a screening of the 1980 John Landis comedy, which stars the late John Belushi as Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd as his literal partner in crime Elwood Blues.

The film was one of the first to be based on a "Saturday Night Live" skit, and it's considerably better than the 1993 filmation of "Coneheads," which also starred Aykroyd.

"The Blues Brothers" was followed by the 1998 sequel "Blues Brothers 2000," which I have yet to see.

The film is also airing nationally on Cinemax this month.

Among the interesting facts about this comedy cult classic, which was filmed in and around Chicago (where else?), is that it features cameos from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Frank Oz, late blues singer John Lee Hooker and a then unknown Paul Reubens, who would later become the ever-annoying Pee-wee Herman.

The "Jailhouse Rock" sequence at the end features none other than singer Joe Walsh.

The soul food cafe where Aretha Franklin sings was called Nate's Deli in real life, but it has alas become a Chicago parking lot_ so much for film tourism.

The line: "The mafia's out there" was also altered to "The mob's out there" when the film aired on television after recieveing protests from Italian-American organizations.

Leonard Maltin gave the film three stars, saying:

"Off the wall from start to finish, with some fine music woven in...."

The film has a few new scenes in the dvd version.

The screening starts at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Carolina Theatre is located at 310 South Greene Street in downtown Greensboro.

Call 336-333-2605 for more information.

 

Useful Link:

http://www.carolinatheatre.com

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