The Horse's Head

The Plot: Jake and Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) were the lead singers for The Blues Brothers, a blues group that disbanded once Jake went to prison for armed robbery. When Jake is released three years later, he and Elwood learn that the orphanage they lived in growing up will close unless it can raise the $5000 it owes in property taxes. Jake has an epiphany to reunite the Blues Brothers and put on a one-night performance to raise the money. What follows is an epic trip through the greater Chicago area as Jake and Elwood go on their “mission from God”, while simultaneously being pursued by Jake’s parole officer (John Candy), a mysterious assassin (Carrie Fisher), a group of Illinois Nazis, a revengeful country/western group, and seemingly every police officer in Illinois. What follows is music, mayhem, and a whole lotta car crashes.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “loving and madcap”, and “[a]n homage of sorts to various classic movie genres”. The film’s “lovely paean to great soul and R&B music” is also highlighted. Plus, we get interviews with both Dan Aykroyd and John Landis.

But Does It Really?: It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve seen “The Blues Brothers”, and I hate to admit it, but it’s not as good as I remember it being. There’s nothing inherently wrong with “The Blues Brothers”; the movie never takes itself too seriously, and is stocked with massive musical talents and genuinely impressive stunt work. But lord almighty does this movie drag. There is no reason an action-packed musical comedy needs to be 133 minutes. Each scene is entertaining but almost always outstays its welcome, leading to an increasingly frustrating viewing experience. I will note, however, that my favorite movie of all time is also an overlong comedy with plenty of car chases and cameos, so maybe I shouldn’t be too critical of this movie or its pacing. The Blues Brothers (in both their TV and film iterations) are iconic enough in our pop culture that this film’s NFR induction isn’t too farfetched, but the film and its humor is still the acquired taste it was back in 1980. Maybe you just had to be there.

Shout Outs: Both Jake and Elwood have their names tattooed on their fingers a la “The Night of the Hunter“, and of course the film’s finale is a tribute to “Jailhouse Rock“.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar love for “The Blues Brothers”, though it did win the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ Golden Reel Award for its sound editing. Say what you will about this movie, it has excellent sound effects.

• Despite having never written a screenplay before, Dan Aykroyd was hired to write “The Blues Brothers”, and turned in a 324-page first draft, three times the length of your average screenplay. Director John Landis, hired thanks to his work with Belushi on “Animal House“, spent two weeks streamlining the script to something filmable. Production began in fall 1979 without a budget! When a budget of 17 million dollars was finalized, Landis reportedly joked “We’ve spent that much already.” With the extensive stunt work, as well as production delays caused by Belushi’s increasing drug habits, the final film cost anywhere from 24 to 30 million dollars, easily the most expensive comedy at the time.
• Admittedly, my issues with this movie’s pacing are most likely my own bias towards the quicker-paced comedies of the last 40 years. I’m sure audiences in 1980 found this movie’s pace more palatable (especially in a theater, where the lulls were covered with audience laughter). I’m sure it also helped that everyone was probably stoned at the time.
• That’s actor/director Frank Oz as the corrections officer when Jake is released, in what I believe is his only on-camera NFR appearance.
• Part of the reason this film works better than the later “SNL” movies is that the Blues Brothers weren’t in sketches, they were just a music act. We don’t have a general idea of what a “Blues Brothers” sketch is like, so we have no preconception of what the arc in a Blues Brothers movie should be.
• I’m enjoying Kathleen Freeman’s cameo as Sister Mary Stigmata, but then again, I enjoy any movie where the Catholic church is played for laughs. Side note: The $5000 needed to save the orphanage would be about $19,000 today.

• This film made me wonder what John Belushi’s film career would have been like had he lived longer. Best case scenario: He would have gone the Bill Murray route; a series of hits throughout the ’80s, several misses in the ’90s, then a reinvention as a more dramatic supporting character actor. Worst case: the alt-universe 2000s sitcom “According to John”.
• Our first big musical number is the energetic “The Old Landmark” featuring James Brown and his congregation of professional dancers, including backup vocals by the Queen of Funk herself, Chaka Khan. As best I can tell, the “God music” when Jake has his epiphany is the only original underscore in the entire film. This must have been Elmer Bernstein’s easiest paycheck.

• Another case of a movie quote becoming iconic because it’s repeated: “We’re on a mission from God” is said four different times in the movie and was featured prominently in promotional materials.
• The highlight of the movie for me is the chase between the Blues brothers and the police through a busy shopping mall. It’s a wonderfully ridiculous scene, packed with the kind of total destruction of property that we’ll most likely never see in a movie again. The sequence was filmed at Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, which had closed in 1978 and sat empty until “The Blues Brothers” came along. Dixie Square Mall was abandoned again after this scene was filmed, with its last remnants finally being demolished in 2012.

• Speaking of stunts: this film wrecked an estimated 103 cars during production, a record at the time that has been repeatedly broken, including by this film’s sequel.
• Carrie Fisher must have taken pointers from some Stormtroopers because the Mystery Woman is a terrible shot.

• The Blues Brothers band members seen in the film are the real-life band members, with one major exception. Paul Shaffer was unable to appear in the film due to scheduling conflicts with “SNL” (both Aykroyd and Belushi had left the show earlier that year) and was replaced by Murphy Dunne.
• As with every other scene in this movie, the Chez Paul sequence goes on too long. But in its defense, it gives us a brief appearance by a young Paul Reubens as a waiter, as well as the line that made me laugh the hardest: “No, sir, Mayor Daley no longer dines here. He’s dead, sir.”

• Oh right, this movie has Nazis. With the cartoonish buffoonery of Henry Gibson as their leader, and Jake’s declaration “I hate Illinois Nazis”, I’m beginning to understand how this movie made the NFR in 2020.

• Here’s how frustrating this pacing is, we have a scene where John Lee Hooker sings “Boom Boom”, followed immediately by Aretha Franklin belting out “Think”, and all I can say is, “Okay, move on!”

• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the “Twist and Shout” scene in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is low-key ripping off this movie’s “Shake a Tail Feather” number with Ray Charles. Watch them both again and tell me I’m wrong.

• The Bob’s Country Bunker scene is a very funny premise but, say it with me, it goes on too long. My main question with that scene: Why are they singing that song from “Fievel Goes West”?

• It’s not a John Landis movie until the phrase “See You Next Wednesday” shows up, in this case it’s the name of a movie on a roadside billboard.
• ’30s jazz singer/Cotton Club mainstay Cab Calloway didn’t make a lot of movies, but they somehow all end up on the NFR. When asked to perform his signature song “Minnie the Moocher” for “The Blues Brothers”, Calloway wanted to perform his updated disco version, but Landis insisted on the original orchestration, and Calloway acquiesced. It’s fun watching a legend like Calloway still be able to swing almost 50 years later.

• The climactic chase through downtown Chicago should be the highlight of the movie, but at this point I was so exhausted from this viewing that no amount of amazing car stunts could win me back. That being said, my wife and I visited Chicago for the first time a few years ago, and this movie’s depiction of Chicago drivers isn’t too far off.

• Yes, that is Steven Spielberg in a rare acting role as the Cook County office clerk. Spielberg had just directed both Aykroyd and Belushi in “1941”, and by the time “The Blues Brothers” was released Spielberg had moved on from that misfire to his next project: some adventure movie called “Raiders of the Lost Ark“…
• My god even the credits are long! Though I’m sure there’s a fun story as to why Shirley Levine (John Landis’ mom) is credited as “Woman on Cutting Room Floor”. And as always: When in Hollywood Visit Universal Studios (Ask for Babs).

• Although “The Blues Brothers” is considered the first of the “SNL” sub-genre of movie comedies, we wouldn’t get another one based on an “SNL” character until 1992’s “Wayne’s World”. That film’s unexpected hit opened the floodgates to every ’90s “SNL” character getting their own movie, with increasingly diminishing returns.

Listen to This: Among the blues legends in this film with music on the National Recording Registry are James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Willie Hall, and Steve Cropper.

As we say farewell to another summer, we as a nation start preparing for a very important year-end decision in Washington D.C.: Which 25 movies will make the National Film Registry this December. Below are my 50 nominees for 2024; films marked with * are being nominated by me for the first time this year.

The Five-Timers Club: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), The Miracle Worker (1962), The Great Escape (1963), It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Original Cast Album: Company (1970), 9 to 5 (1980), Big (1988), The Sixth Sense (1999)

I guess they want Christmas movies now: White Christmas (1954), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)*, Elf (2003)*

Animation!: One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), The Jungle Book (1967), Finding Nemo (2003)

Shorts!: Time Piece (1965)*, Meet Marlon Brando (1966)*

Animated Short!: The Skeleton Dance (1929)*

Classic Hollywood: Of Human Bondage (1934)*, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Hellzapoppin! (1941)*, The Pride of the Yankees (1942)*, Stage Door Canteen (1943)*, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)*, Father of the Bride (1950)*, Royal Wedding (1951), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

Female Directors: The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Yentl (1983)*, Clueless (1995) [plus “Big” from the 5-Timers section]

Directors Not Yet on the NFR: The Warriors (1979)*, Beetlejuice (1988), The Truman Show (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999)*, Office Space (1999)*, Best in Show (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Mean Girls (2004)*, The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)*, Juno (2007)*

The Nicolas Cage in ’87 Film Festival: Moonstruck (1987)*, Raising Arizona (1987)*

Grab Bag: The Dirty Dozen (1967)*, F for Fake (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), The Elephant Man (1980)*, Sophie’s Choice (1982), The Birdcage (1996)

The new kids from 2014: Boyhood (2014)*, Selma (2014)*

P.S. I’m not the only one with a public NFR nomination list; Representative Joaquin Castro recently unveiled his 25 nominations. It’s mostly a rehash of previous years’ lists (not unlike mine), but he does have “Pan’s Labyrinth” on there, which I feel has a good shot.

The Plot: Tom Powers and Matt Doyle (James Cagney and Edward Woods) are two street hoodlums in 1920 Chicago who have been committing petty crimes for local lowlifes since they were children. Once Prohibition goes into effect, the two are hired by bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert O’Connor) to be enforcers for his business, as well as that of mobster “Nails” Nathan (Leslie Fenton). As business thrives, Tom and Matt both become wealthy, though Tom’s older brother Mike (Donald Cook) disapproves of Tom’s line of work and urges him to go straight. As the mob turf wars of the 1920s escalate, so too does Tom’s lust for money, women, and power. Oh, and Jean Harlow’s in this too for a couple of scenes. Also, there’s a grapefruit that figures prominently at one point.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “[r]aw and brutal”, singling out Cagney’s “incendiary star-making portrayal”, as well as the “fierce machismo” William Wellman adds with his direction. The write-up also correctly acknowledges that Jean Harlow’s performance “gives viewers little indication of the superstar she’d become”.

But Does It Really?: I guess so. “The Public Enemy” is one of those movies that’s not so undisputed a classic that its NFR induction seems inevitable, but it is popular enough that its absence from this list would seem conspicuous. As a standalone film The Public Enemy” neither over or underachieves but has enough exciting elements to hold your interest. This is all aided by the film’s historical significance as the introduction to James Cagney’s screen persona, as well as the concept of a grapefruit as a weapon. “The Public Enemy” holds its own alongside the other gangster movies of the time and has remained iconic enough to warrant a spot in the NFR.

Seriously, Oscars?: At the 4^th annual Academy Awards, “The Public Enemy” received one nomination: Best Original Story (the long gone third screenplay category) for John Bright and Kubec Glasmon. They lost to the WWI drama “The Dawn Patrol”.

• The story goes that Edward Woods and James Cagney were originally cast in each other’s parts, with Woods starring as Tom and Cagney in support as Matt. Shortly after production began, Wellman had them switch roles, and the rest is history. While this has been disputed, it would explain why the child actors playing their younger counterparts (presumably filmed before the switch) match this original casting; young Matt in particular looks a lot more like a young James Cagney than a young Edward Woods. By the way, the actor playing young Matt is Frankie Darro, who would go on to star in William Wellman’s “Wild Boys of the Road“.
• Cagney is great in this, though for the life of me I have no idea what he’s saying. But it doesn’t matter because it’s fun watching him clearly relishing this breakout part. And even at the beginning of his career he was finding ways to sneak in a little hoofing into his pictures. Side note: This is not the movie where Cagney calls someone “You dirty rat.” He says that line in…oh wait, he never actually said it.

• As Matt’s girlfriend and later wife Mamie, Joan Blondell is her usual charming screen presence, even in a thankless part like this. Mae Clarke fairs a little better as Tom’s girlfriend Kitty. Speaking of…
• Like many a classic movie moment, the scene where Tom smashes a grapefruit into Kitty’s face has many people claiming it was their idea. William Wellman said that he came up with it while he was arguing with his wife during a grapefruit breakfast, producer Darryl F. Zanuck also claims credit for the moment, but both James Cagney and Mae Clarke attest that Cagney did it as a gag to amuse the crew, never thinking it would make the final cut. Regardless, the scene is the film’s most memorable moment, partly because up to this point there’s been a restraint in on-screen violence. And while we’re talking about this scene, can we acknowledge Cagney’s line right before the smash: “I wish you was a wishin’ well, so that I can tie a bucket to ya and sink ya.” That’s not how wishing wells work.

• Finally, Jean Harlow! As Gwen, the woman Tom will leave Kitty for, Harlow doesn’t show up until about halfway through the movie, and like Joan Blondell before her, she doesn’t get much to do. Thankfully, Harlow’s breakout work at MGM was just around the corner. It’s worth noting that Wellman’s first choice for Gwen was Louise Brooks, the famous silent movie star synonymous with the flapper image. Having recently returned from Europe (making, among other films, “Pandora’s Box”), and reluctant to work in Hollywood again, Brooks turned the part down, a decision that is now considered one of the factors that led to her decline in stardom.
• Once Tom and Matt take out their one-time associate Puddy Nose, the movie picks up steam and becomes everything we associate with gangster pictures. This scene is followed immediately with “Nails” Nathan being killed off-screen in a horse-riding accident, which leads to Tom buying the horse that killed Nathan and having it shot! I can just imagine Mario Puzo seeing this scene and making a mental note to take his own revenge-based horse murder even further.
• Shoutout to Deveraux Jennings, the film’s cinematographer. The bulk of Jennings’ career was in the silent era (he was Buster Keaton’s cameraman), and his work in “Public Enemy” shows that he refuses to let these newfangled cumbersome sound cameras get in the way of his compositions. We get some wonderfully staged close-ups, as well as a memorable shot of Paddy’s car driving directly over the camera.
• There’s a very racy scene when Paddy Ryan’s girlfriend Jane (Mia Marvin), seduces and takes advantage of a very drunk Tom while he’s laying low at her apartment. It’s quite daring for a ’30s movie, maybe too daring because it was one of three scenes cut from the film’s 1941 Code-era re-release. Another cut scene involves an effeminate tailor taking Tom’s measurements, which I thought was pretty funny. I’m glad that these scenes have been reinstated into the film proper, albeit in significantly poorer picture quality.
• [Spoilers] The scene where Matt is gunned down in the street is the reason we need to end our reliance on coal. Also, I’m told that “The Public Enemy” (as well as other films of the era) used actual ammunition on screen. Based on my research, blank cartridges were invented in the early 1930s but wouldn’t have been readily available for a film production, and squibs wouldn’t be invented for another decade. I’m left wondering if this story is true. And if so, I have a lot of follow-up questions.
• [Spoilers] The ending was semi-spoiled for me years ago, or so I thought. I was under the impression that the scene where Tom gets shot in the rain and laments “I ain’t so tough” as he falls to the ground was the final scene in the movie (along the lines of “Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?“). Not only is that not the last scene, but we learn Tom actually survived getting shot! The actual final scene is an inevitable conclusion for a movie of this era, but still contains a striking, unforgettable final image.

• An animatronic of James Cagney from “The Public Enemy” was part of the Great Movie Ride at Disney-MGM Studios for many years. And with that, let me just check my notes here…yes, I have covered every NFR movie that was a set piece on that ride. The only one missing is the NFR-ineligible “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, but other than that I’ve got the whole set. This is second only to my 700^th movie as my greatest accomplishment on this blog.

Before we go, allow me a brief tangent. In the summer of 2009, there was a movie called “Public Enemies” directed by Michael Mann and starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. Obviously, the only connection between this film and “The Public Enemy” is the title (taken from the 2004 book it’s based on) and the overall gangster aesthetic, but it gives me an excuse to talk about one of my all-time favorite movie-going experiences. I don’t remember a lot about the movie itself, but what I do remember is seeing it with my grandpa, who grew up in Chicago in the 1930s. The joy of that day wasn’t watching the movie but rather watching my grandpa watching the movie. The son of a judge, my grandpa knew about Chicago’s crime scene and, as any child rebelling against their parents would, idolized all the notorious gangsters of the era. When Depp’s Dillinger would outsmart and evade the police in the movie, I would look over at my grandpa and see that eight-year-old kid grinning from ear to ear as his hero escapes capture. Afterwards, my grandpa told me stories about growing up during the film’s setting, and about sitting on his front stoop hearing the news that Dillinger had been killed. That day at the movies was one of the last times I saw my grandpa, who died less than two years later. Although “Public Enemies” itself didn’t make much of an impression on me, it gave me the wonderful opportunity to see my grandpa relive his childhood, and for that I am eternally grateful.

The Plot: Directed by Life magazine photographer and first-time filmmaker Gjon Mili, “Jammin’ the Blues” is a jam session between some of the jazz scene’s brightest talents (Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet – tenor sax, Red Callender – bass, Harry “Sweets” Edison – trumpet, Marlowe Morris – piano, “Big” Sid Catlett and Jo Jones – drums, Barney Kessel – guitar, John Simmons – double bass). After opening with the instrumental “Midnight Symphony” (written by Lester Young), the group is joined by Marie Bryant singing “On the Sunny Side of the Street”. Bryant then teams up with dancer Archie Savage to show off their genuinely impressive swing dancing skills during the titular “Jammin’ the Blues” (also written by Lester Young).

Why It Matters: The NFR write-up is mostly a rundown of the short, though they highlight the “evocative background” the lighting and sets give the piece. The write-up also erroneously states the movie is 20 minutes long (It’s 10, maybe they watched it twice?)

But Does It Really?: “Jammin’ the Blues” is a fun, quick entry in the NFR, but I kept asking myself, “Why this short? And why so early in the NFR run?” None of my research could help clarify why this film is so significant, other than its unique aesthetic and the creatives involved with it. I am willing to give “Jammin’ the Blues” a pass for NFR inclusion thanks to its depiction of a more raw form of jazz that the average moviegoer had never heard before, as well as representation of talent both in front of and behind the camera making one of their rare (and in some cases only) contribution to film.

Everybody Gets One: Gjon Mili emigrated to America from his native Albania in 1923, studying electrical engineering at MIT. At a time when photography was becoming an artform rather than just reportage, Mili experimented with various photography techniques, and in collaboration with Professor Harold Edgerton created his best-known work: photos taken with stroboscopic light, capturing several milliseconds in one photo (you’ve probably seen Mili’s shot of Picasso making a drawing with a flashlight). I’m not sure how Gjon Mili went from avant-garde photography to directing a short film for Warner Bros., but he certainly wasn’t the first or last photographer to make the pivot to film (see Gordon Parks), and he had taken enough photos of celebrities for Life by 1944 that I’m sure many an industry connection was made.

Seriously, Oscars?: “Jammin’ the Blues” was nominated in the category of Best Short Subject (One-Reel) but lost to the Paramount comedy short “Who’s Who in Animal Land”. You shouldn’t feel too bad for producer Gordon Hollingshead, though; he won later that night for the two-reel short “I Won’t Play”, his second of an eventual six Oscars!

Listen to This: Of the film’s on-screen talent, the only ones I can confirm pop up in the National Recording Registry are Barney Kessel (Julie London’s “Cry Me a River”), Illinois Jacquet (“Jazz at the Philharmonic”), and Lester Young and Jo Jones (Count Basie’s “One O’Clock Jump”). Given how many of these musicians performed with some of the greats (Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra), I wouldn’t be surprised if more of them are playing in the background of other NRR entries.

The Plot: In the category of movies that live up to their title, “Betty Tells Her Story” is indeed a film in which Massachusetts resident Elizabeth “Betty” Murray tells you a story from her life. Sitting in a comfortable chair in her living room, Betty recounts an incident a few years earlier in which she purchased a very expensive emerald-green dress for the Governor’s Ball in Connecticut, only to lose the dress when she accidentally left it on the trunk of her car and drove off. Halfway through this short, Betty has finished her story, but is asked by the filmmaker to tell it again. The second telling is strikingly different from the first, not so much in the details, but rather in how she tells it, focusing more on her feelings during the events. It’s a surprisingly deep exploration of the impossible physical expectations we put on women, captured by one of the pioneers of the women filmmakers’ movement of the early ’70s.

Why It Matters: Wow, someone really loves “Betty Tells Her Story” over at the NFR. The film gets a longer write-up than many of the Registry’s more iconic entries, being hailed as “classic” and “poignant”. The film’s historical place in the Women’s Movement is also mentioned. Added bonus: A photo of Liane Brandon with her official NFR inductees’ certificate!

But Does It Really?: I enjoyed “Betty Tells Her Story”. The first half is listening to an engaging storyteller with an amusing anecdote, and the second half suddenly becomes a much more personal confession. “Betty Tells Her Story” perfectly exemplifies this style of filmmaking the women’s movement was known for; intimate portraits of ordinary women, helping to add a personal connection and layers of humanity to the growing movement. I’m glad “Betty Tells Her Story” has found its spot on the NFR, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Everybody Gets One: Liane Brandon started out as a substitute teacher at Quincy’s Central Junior High, eventually becoming their full-time English teacher. On a dare from her students, Brandon assigned one of her classes to make a film, borrowing a 16mm camera from the school’s football team. Invigorated by the experience and appalled by some of the more performative aspects of the women’s lib movement, Brandon was motivated to film real women living their real lives, beginning with her 1971 short “Anything You Want to Be”. Brandon met Betty Murray while the two were serving on an educational advisory board in the early 1970s, and Betty would tell Liane amusing stories when they would grab coffee after the meetings. Brandon filmed Betty telling her dress story twice, planning to use only one take, but a viewing of the two back-to-back inspired her to include both takes.