#718) The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)

#718) The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936)

OR “Agents of Field”

Directed & Written by Pare Lorentz

Class of 1999

Today’s oversimplified history lesson: the Great Plains and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. As always, I’m just here to talk about the movie, but I encourage further research into these expansive topics.

The Plot: “The Plow That Broke the Plains” is the story of the Great Plains; the 1.1 million square miles of flatland that stretches across 12 states in the Midwest, and how it was nearly destroyed in just a half-century. We begin in the late 1800s as settlers arrive and start developing the grassland. As those settlers continue westward, the remaining farmers start plowing the fields, despite the area’s lack of rivers and rain. The land gets a boost when World War I breaks out and there is a demand for wheat. This excessive growth continues through the 1920s but hits a breaking point with stock market crash of 1929 and the Dust Bowl and ongoing droughts of the 1930s, making the land virtually unfarmable. If only there was an off shoot of the US government that could help rehabilitate this bounteous land. Brought to you by your friends at the U.S. Resettlement Administration.

Why It Matters: Both the NFR write-up and the accompanying essay by Lorentz expert Dr. Robert J. Snyder rehash Pare Lorentz and the film’s production.

But Does It Really?: This is a situation we come across every so often on this blog: two films that cover the same ground (so to speak). Like Lorentz’s other NFR film “The River“, “Plow” is a government funded documentary short about a piece of endangered American land, narrated by Thomas Chalmers, and scored by Virgil Thompson. While they’re both equally compelling, neither is more famous or impactful than the other, which makes both being on the NFR a bit of a headscratcher. Although “The River” was made two years after “Plow”, it was added to the Registry first, and I suspect “Plow” was inducted nine years later as Lorentz’s stepping stone movie. On its own, “Plow” is an effective, dramatic look at nature’s destruction by humankind, but as an NFR entry it seems redundant. However, Lorentz is far from the only obscure filmmaker with multiple entries on the Registry, so I’ll shrug my shoulders and give “Plow” the same pass I gave its cinematic younger sibling. But if I see one more Pare Lorentz movie on this list, NFR, you and I are going to have a talk.

Everybody Gets One: Pare Lorentz started his career as a freelance writer in the 1920s, eventually being assigned as a film critic for Judge magazine even though he had no interest in films. By the 1930s, Lorentz had relocated from New York to Washington DC, and became fascinated with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal campaign, writing about it at length during Roosevelt’s first term as president. These writings caught the eye of Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, who arranged for Lorentz to meet with Rexford Tugwell (great name) of the newly formed Resettlement Administration. Originally hired as a film consultant, Lorentz agreed to direct a short about the Dust Bowl, a topic that interested him greatly. Unfortunately, his lack of filmmaking experience caused him to lowball his budget, requesting and receiving only $6,000 (about $135,000 today) from the government, and paying with his own money for the extra costs – another $14,000 ($316,000 today).

Wow, That’s Dated: As I said in my “River” post, “this whole thing is pure New Deal propaganda”.

Other notes

  • From the opening prologue: “By 1880 we had cleared the Indian, and with him, the buffalo, from the Great Plains” Yikes. You know it’s government propaganda when they gloss over Indigenous genocide and the near extinction of the buffalo in favor of their patriotic narrative.
  • In the five years since covering “The River”, I forgot how much I enjoy hearing the rich, excitable tones of narrator Thomas Chalmers. Side note: In my previous research on Chalmers, I somehow missed his directing career, which includes fellow NFR short “The Sex Life of the Polyp“.
  • Shoutout to this film’s cinematographers: Leo Hurwitz, Ralph Steiner, Paul Strand, and Paul Ivano. Unlike their director, each of them had previous experience in filmmaking. In fact, both Steiner and Strand have their own films on the Registry! The Great Plains are shot very stylistically throughout, with plenty of low and high horizons in the frame. Someone was listening to David Lynch as John Ford.
  • Classical composer Virgil Thompson was hired to score “Plow” in part because he also had no film experience. Thompson’s score has that vibrant American sound that was coming into classical music at the time, which explains why it reminded me of something Aaron Copland would compose (Copland was a contemporary – and possibly rival – of Thompson).
  • I didn’t realize World War I was such a major factor in the decline of the Great Plains. Lorentz and his team have fun showing us tractors plowing the field while Great War-era marching songs play. And then they start crosscutting with stock footage of tanks in battle just in case you couldn’t figure it out.
  • The breaking point of the land development climaxes with footage of a stock ticker crashing to the ground. Get it? GET IT? Side note: Apparently none of the major Hollywood studios were willing to supply stock footage to Lorentz, so he had to use his friendships with industry insiders to get the footage he needed.
  • This film would play very well before a screening of “The Grapes of Wrath“, helping give that film a proper historical context for a modern audience. According to one John Steinbeck biographer, “Plow” might have been an influence on the author while he was writing “Grapes of Wrath”. I’m a little skeptical on this one, so no “Legacy” section for you!
  • Unlike other propaganda films, “Plow” isn’t so much about what you the viewer can do to help or could have done to prevent this, but more of a “isn’t your government great?” kind of film. That being said, the film does condemn those who plowed the land to begin with. Allegedly at one screening, Pare Lorentz overheard an audience member say, “They never should have plowed them plains.” Sounds like this film reached at least one person.

Legacy

  • After a successful screening at the White House for President Roosevelt, “The Plow That Broke the Plains” premiered at DC’s Mayflower Hotel. Wider distribution, however, was harder to come by, as the major theater chains refused to carry the film due to its government affiliation. Pare Lorentz travelled with the film across the country, getting independent theaters to screen it and local critics to review it. This strategy created strong word of mouth and helped “Plow” get screened in over 3,000 theaters across America in 1937. The film received positive reviews from critics, and less-than-positive reviews from actual farmers and citizens of the Great Plains.
  • Although Pare Lorentz had resigned from his film consultant position with the US government shortly after completing “The Plow That Broke the Plains”, Franklin Roosevelt convinced him to return and make another film, this time about the Mississippi River.
  • Like many a New Deal program, the Resettlement Administration was dissolved in 1937, becoming the Farm Security Administration, which begat the Farmers Home Administration, which begat the USDA Rural Development.
  • As for the Plains themselves, things finally started picking up in the 1950s thanks to concentrated efforts to better irrigate the land. While the Great Plains are nowhere near as populous as they were before the Dust Bowl, they contain plenty of usable farmland, and in more recent years have shifted their focus to wind power.

#717) Flowers and Trees (1932)

#717) Flowers and Trees (1932)

OR “Hue’s Woods These Are”

Directed by Burt Gillett

Class of 2021

The Plot: “Flowers and Trees” lives up to its title as an animated tale of anthropomorphized flowers and trees…well, mostly trees. As dawn breaks in an idyllic forest, a Boy Tree woos a Girl Tree with a harp made of vines. All this wooing angers a nearby Old Man Tree, who wants the Girl Tree for his own. Boy Tree easily wins a fight for Girl Tree’s honor, and Old Man Tree retaliates by starting a forest fire. But all ends happily in this Disney Silly Symphony; the first film (animated or otherwise) to utilize the new technological marvel of three-strip Technicolor.

Why It Matters: The NFR gives the short its technical achievement, singling out the film’s “vibrant Technicolor”.

But Does It Really?: “Flowers and Trees” is a pleasant, agreeable short, though ultimately its technical innovation is what pushes it into the “important film” column. As a lifelong Disney history buff, I have seen “Flowers and Trees” before and was aware of its significance in Disney history, but even that wasn’t enough for me to include it on my own NFR nomination ballot over the years. Still, it’s nice to see that other people advocated for its NFR inclusion, and it’s refreshing to know that there’s at least one Disney short from this era that can go on Disney+ without any disclaimers or backlash. A pass for “Flowers and Trees”; an important, though not monumental, moment in the history of color film and Disney animation.

Seriously, Oscars?: At the 5th Academy Awards, “Flowers and Trees” was the first winner in a brand-new category: Best Short Subjects, Cartoons (now known as Best Animated Short). Oscar rules at the time gave the award to a short’s producer, not its director, so Walt Disney collected the first of his eventual 26 Oscars (which is still the record). Disney also received an Honorary Oscar that evening for the creation of Mickey Mouse.

Other notes

  • While Technicolor had been around since 1916, the company didn’t perfect their three-color film technique until the early 1930s (I covered this process in greater detail in my “Becky Sharp” post). Technicolor co-founder Herbert Kalmus and his team created a camera that could handle this new process in 1932, but the expensive device attracted few takers in Hollywood (this being the Great Depression and all). While waiting for his team to make enough cameras to be able to loan out to live-action productions, Kalmus wanted to test the camera on an animated short and convinced Walt Disney to sign an exclusive three-year contract with Technicolor. Knowing that his “Silly Symphony” shorts needed a boost in popularity, Disney picked “Flowers and Trees”, already in production, as a test subject. This meant that all the black-and-white animation already completed for the film had to be scrapped and reshot in Technicolor, a move that quickly increased the short’s budget.
  • Even though he’s not in the short, Mickey Mouse’s popularity can be felt here with the opening credit “Mickey Mouse Presents a Walt Disney Silly Symphony”. 
  • I assume “Flowers and Trees” was most audiences’ first experience with color film (aside from the more muted two-strip of such 1920s films as “The Black Pirate“). It must have been astonishing to see this on a big screen, probably like people today going ape for that 18K Darren Aronofsky film at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
  • As with all of Disney’s early productions, there is no credited voice cast. Granted there’s no spoken dialogue in this, but dammit Walt I want to know who did the birds’ chirping and the Old Tree’s growling!
  • Do we know what kind of trees these are? The Disney Fandom wiki lists our three main trees with very unhelpful descriptions of their size and bark color. But I guess that is to be expected from a niche wiki page.
  • I don’t know how else to describe it, but Girl Tree has a very ’30s look to her. Maybe it’s her overall slenderness. She also kinda looks like Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” with leaves.
  • My favorite artistic choice in the film: the Old Man Tree’s tongue is a lizard that lives in his hollow trunk. 
  • I forgot that this movie’s big dramatic climax is a forest fire. Given the number of fires here in California in recent years, this scene is perhaps more relevant now than it was 90 years ago. Now I understand why that fir tree makes a run for it; he knows he’s the redshirt of the forest.
  • This short’s deus ex machina comes from the little birdies flying up into the sky and poking holes through the clouds, therefore creating rain. Is that how that works? Man, I really should’ve paid more attention in school.

Legacy

  • Although the ballooning budget of “Flowers and Trees” made Disney and their distributor United Artists nervous, the film premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in July 1932 after Sid Grauman was won over by a rough cut. Playing before the prestige MGM drama “Strange Interlude”, “Flowers and Trees” was an instant hit.
  • The popularity of “Flowers and Trees” helped save the Silly Symphonies series, which was further boosted by another Technicolor short the next year: “The Three Little Pigs“. Disney would continue producing shorts and eventually features using Technicolor, or at the very least the Technicolor dye-transfer technique, through the late 1970s.
  • The trees from “Flowers and Trees” have made a few cameos over the years, usually as a tip of the hat to their place in Disney history. Boy Tree and Girl Tree have appeared in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit“, episodes of the TV show “House of Mouse”, and in the final group shot of “Once Upon a Studio”, a short that I absolutely adore.

#716) The Hospital (1971)

#716) The Hospital (1971)

OR “I’m Mad at Health and I’m Not Going to Take It Anymore!”

Directed by Arthur Hiller

Written by Paddy Chayefsky

Class of 1995

The Plot: Dr. Herbert Bock (George C. Scott) is the Chief of Medicine at a Manhattan teaching hospital who finds himself at a moral crossroads. His hospital is crumbling both literally and figuratively, with overall mismanagement issues, protests from the community, and several staff members mysteriously turning up dead. In addition to these external issues, Bock is privately dealing with the end of his marriage, his suicidal contemplations, his chronic alcoholism, and his impotency. The only bright spot comes from Barbara Drummond (Diana Rigg), the daughter of a comatose patient (Barnard Hughes), who gets Dr. Bock to open up during an intimate late-night conversation. Will Dr. Bock leave the hospital and move to Mexico with Barbara? And are these deaths the work of malpractice or murder? As they say in another movie, “That is one nutty hospital.”

Why It Matters: The NFR praises Arthur Hiller’s balance of “comedy and tragedy, the real and the surreal”, and heralds Chayefsky’s “vision of health care that looks frighteningly prescient.” It’s also worth noting that “The Hospital” entered the NFR one year after the unrelated but similarly titled “Hospital“. Confused yet?

But Does It Really?: I don’t understand this movie or why it’s on the NFR. “The Hospital” has some wonderful dialogue and a great cast, but it never gelled for me the way a film with this pedigree of creatives should. Additionally, “The Hospital” is nowhere near as memorable or impactful as the rest of either Paddy Chayefsky’s or Arthur Hiller’s filmographies, most notably Chayefsky’s other, significantly more iconic middle finger to ’70s decay: “Network“, which wouldn’t make the Registry until 2000. I suspect “The Hospital” is another one of those “you had to be there” movies of the early ’70s that I can never seem to fully comprehend, but even that argument falls through considering this film’s overall absence from pop culture or film discussions in the last 50 years (even “Two-Lane Blacktop” has its share of supporters). As it stands, I’m left scratching my head and wondering how “The Hospital” made the NFR this early in its run, or at all.

Everybody Gets One: Born in Edmonton, Alberta to Polish immigrants, Arthur Hiller started acting in his parents’ Yiddish theater company as a child and was inspired to become a film director after seeing Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City”. Hiller started directing episodic television for the CBC before making the move to America, where he directed episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “Gunsmoke”, and of all things, the first episode of “The Addams Family”. Hiller’s film career started strong with such films as “The Americanization of Emily” and hit its peak with the 1970 megahit “Love Story”. Arthur Hiller was Paddy Chayefsky’s first choice to direct “The Hospital”, but United Artists insisted on newcomer Michael Ritchie, who was fired during pre-production due to “differences” with Chayefsky and was replaced by Hiller.

Seriously, Oscars?: “The Hospital” received two Oscar nominations, with Paddy Chayefsky winning his second Oscar for its screenplay. Although George C. Scott lost Best Actor to Gene Hackman in “The French Connection“, his nomination is notable for occurring the year after he refused a nomination and eventual win for his work in “Patton“. Clearly the acting branch of the Academy didn’t hold grudges.

Other notes

  • After a very successful run as a writer throughout the ’50s (including his first Oscar for “Marty“), Paddy Chayefsky stumbled throughout most of the ’60s. With a string of flop plays on Broadway and unable to get his original screenplays produced in Hollywood, Chayefsky took jobs adapting other people’s work, including “The Americanization of Emily”, which underperformed at the box office, and several projects he was quickly fired from. Inspired by his wife Susan’s recent trip to a hospital (and its less-than-supportive staff), Paddy pitched a TV series set in a hospital to producer Howard Gottfried, which evolved into a film script that represented, as Chayefsky put it, “a microcosm for all the ills of contemporary society”. Chayefsky and Gottfried formed their own production company – Simcha Productions, named for the Hebrew variation of Paddy’s birthname Sidney – to ensure that Chayefsky would have creative control during production and that the final film would match his screenplay.
  • The opening prologue about the fates of Mr. Guernsey and Dr. Schaefer in Room 806 sets the film up as a delightful black comedy, which I don’t think the rest of this movie fully delivers on. Part of my problem with this movie is, through no fault of its own, the abundance of quirky hospital media that has come out since this film’s release. I’m sure this film’s depiction of hospital life was more original and outrageous in 1971, but with “St. Elsewhere”, “ER”, “Scrubs”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, etc. none of it seems too out of place nowadays. And yes, that is Paddy Chayefsky as the prologue narrator, a temp recording that found its way into the finished film.
  • George C. Scott is, as always, terrific in this, though of his five NFR performances this is the least flashy or memorable. Dr. Bock is such an internal character it doesn’t give Scott much to play with, although we do get one of his trademark rage monologues early on. Side note: Having never seen “The Hospital” before, I was under the impression this was the movie where George C. Scott growls “It is NOT in the file!” to a nurse. Turns out that’s “The Exorcist III”.
  • As someone who has seen “Network” dozens of times over the years, I can’t help but notice the similarities. Both are films about a middle-aged man going through a self-described “menopausal” crisis, watching the institution he has devoted his life to deteriorate around him, and taking solace in an intelligent, beautiful, significantly younger woman. Clearly Chayefsky (who was 48 when this film was released) was working out some things in his own writing. Ultimately, I feel like “Network” did everything “The Hospital” is doing, but with a sharper focus in its writing and execution.
  • I do love any movie with a murderers’ row of New York stage actors. Among those showing up here in supporting roles: Frances Sternhagen, Nancy Marchand, Katherine Helmond, Roberts Blossom, and, in her uncredited film debut, Stockard Channing. Oh, and apparently Christopher Guest makes his film debut too as one of the resident doctors. Definitely missed that.
  • There’s an extended sequence of Mr. Blacktree, an Indigenous associate of Barbara’s, performing a medicine dance over Mr. Drummond’s hospital bed. This scene goes on long enough without anything else happening that I think the joke is the mere sight of a medicine dance, a joke that aged so poorly I didn’t even recognize it as one. This kind of humor always makes me think of that “Simpsons” scene of Homer watching an Indian film with Apu: “It’s funny; their clothes are different from my clothes.”
  • In her American film debut, Diana Rigg spends most of the film’s first half standing in the background of other people’s scenes, but once we get the late-night monologues between Dr. Bock and Barbara, she gives a knockout performance. Rigg didn’t make a lot of movies, and as much as I question this film’s NFR standing, I’m glad she’s on the list at least once (though I’m also holding out for “The Great Muppet Caper“).
  • Speaking of Diana Rigg: I do love that they explain away her British accent by saying that Barbara went to Vassar. Good stuff.
  • I spent a lot of this movie’s second half trying to put my finger on what exactly wasn’t working for me. I was ready to throw Arthur Hiller under the bus and say he couldn’t handle the material, but that notion went out the window once I started doing my research. I haven’t seen a lot of Arthur Hiller’s movies, but his filmography suggests he was one of those chameleon directors who could work in a variety of genres and service the story without putting any distracting “signature directorial style” on it. Plus, he had successfully collaborated with Chayefsky previously on “The Americanization of Emily”, and based on what I know about Chayefsky, getting along with him was no easy task, so being his top choice for director was a huge vote of confidence. As for this film’s NFR induction, I will play a bit of devil’s advocate and point out that Arthur Hiller was a member of the National Film Preservation Board in 1995, the year “The Hospital” made the list. Granted, Hiller is far from the only person to have one of their films inducted while serving on the board, but his presence certainly didn’t hurt.
  • Critics at the time were divided over whether the film’s tonal gearshift in the second half works. While I didn’t completely hate it, it didn’t work for me either. For starters, Chayefsky would bring back the sudden spiritual epiphany storyline in “Network”, so it didn’t come as much out of left field for me as it would have for people in 1971. The main issue with this swing into farce is that the first half is filmed too realistically for the later, more satirical elements to work. “The Hospital” is in the grounded world of cinema verité shaky cam, not the polished, larger-than-life environment you need for a successful farce. Also adding to the confusion is Barnard Hughes playing two different characters: Diana Rigg’s father and one of the hospital’s surgeons. These characters have no connection to each other, and very little effort is made to distinguish the two. There’s not even a “wink-wink” acknowledgment of this dual casting within the film. Very weird.

Legacy

  • “The Hospital” premiered in December 1971, becoming a decent commercial and critical hit, and snagging the aforementioned Original Screenplay Oscar. After that…the film more or less disappeared, save for the occasional reference in conjunction with its NFR inclusion.
  • After his career comeback with “The Hospital”, Paddy Chayefsky turned to his disillusionment with television for his next script: “Network”, for which he won his third Oscar. Chayefsky died in 1981, shortly after the film version of his last produced screenplay, “Altered States”.
  • Arthur Hiller spent the rest of the ’70s making a string of successful comedies including “Silver Streak” and “The In-Laws”. While his subsequent career never matched his run of ’70s hits, Hiller continued directing on and off for the next 25 years and served as president of both the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

#715) The Blues Brothers (1980)

#715) The Blues Brothers (1980)

OR “Road to Chicago”

Directed by John Landis

Written by Landis and Dan Aykroyd. Based on the characters by Aykroyd and John Belushi.

Class of 2020

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.

Other notes

  • While working together on “Saturday Night Live”, life-long blues fan Dan Aykroyd introduced the genre to John Belushi, who became instantly obsessed. The two started performing with blues groups around New York and in 1977, with the help of “SNL” pianist Paul Shaffer, recruited a group of musicians to form what became known as the Blues Brothers (a name coined by “SNL” bandleader Howard Shore). After performing as the “SNL” warm-up act, the Blues Brothers made their TV debut in an April 1978 episode hosted by Steve Martin. This led to the group opening for Martin when he performed at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles that September. Their performance was recorded, and the subsequent album – “Briefcase Full of Blues” – was a smash hit. Hollywood took notice, and Universal won a bidding war for a Blues Brothers movie.
  • 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).

Legacy

  • “The Blues Brothers” opened in June 1980, though in significantly less theaters than expected due to the Mann Theatres chain’s apprehension of booking a film with so many “older black musical stars”. Despite this, “Blues Brothers” was among the top 10 films at the US box office in 1980 and did surprisingly well overseas. Since then, its TV airings and home video releases have helped “The Blues Brothers” maintain a cult following and a recurring spot in pop culture.
  • The Blues Brothers still perform from time to time, although nowadays primarily as authorized tribute bands without the original members. Aykroyd has reprised Elwood on occasion, with the late John Belushi being replaced by either his brother Jim Belushi (as Brother Zee Blues) or John Goodman (as Mighty Mack McTeer).
  • The Blues Brothers franchise has continued through video games, stage shows, and in 1998, the well-intentioned disaster of a sequel, “Blues Brothers 2000”.
  • 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.

The NFR Class of 2024: My Ballot

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)*

On average, three of my picks make it into the NFR, and I’m feeling good about this year’s selections. I’m off next week, but I’ll be back afterwards with more posts and more naked pleas to anyone on the National Film Preservation Board willing to read this.

Happy Viewing,

Tony

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.