Awesome / The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers

• James Brown as the preacher doing a soul-blazing sermon that gets his church going.
  • When he "sees the light," Jake proceeds to backflip down the main aisle, do a joyful dance and backflip right back to Elwood. When he tells of the idea of the band, Elwood proceeds to get excited as well.
    Preacher: Praaaaaaise God!
    Elwood: And God bless the United States of America!
    (proceeds to dance down the aisle)
• The entire mall chase scene as the Brothers manage to outrun the cops while smashing the entire place apart, made better by their perfectly nonchalant reactions through it all.
• The band managed to play in some hole-in-the-wall bar under the guise of "The Good Ol' Boys." That is, they claimed the bar manager got their name wrong. After they leave, the real Good Ol' Boys show up; they played their gig and ganked their paycheck in the process (Too bad Jake forgot the first rule of playing a gig: "Never assume the drinks are on the house.")
  • The Good Ol' Boys shouldn't really complain about stealing the gig, they didn't show up until the bar was closing.
• They also tore it up with their revue later on in the film.
  • Special CMOA points go to Cab Calloway for absolutely killing with "Minnie the Moocher". Particularly hilarious since egregious Movie Magic causes everybody's costumes and the set itself to magically switch from Seventies blues to Twenties swing, and he brings down the house with a number that was essentially just a desperate stall for time.
  • Elwood's introduction to "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love": not only acknowledging the presence of the forty police who are poised to arrest him, but welcoming them.
    Elwood: It's so nice to see so many of you lovely people here tonight, and we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of Illinois's law enforcement community that have chosen to join us here in the Palace Hotel Ballroom at this time...
• The entire climactic chase scene of the movie, which starts with this very famous exchange:
  Elwood Blues: It's 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a packet of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
  Jake Blues: Hit it.
  • What follows:
  • The Blues Brothers driving all night with dozens of police cars tailing them, plus defeating the Good Old Boys by putting glue on their RV's accelerator, causing them to drive into a river.
  • Leaving behind piles of wrecked cars on the highway and in Downtown Chicago, and the police car of the first two cops ends up in a truck. Plus the Bluesmobile actually reaches 120 mph.
  • Evading the Illinois Nazis by having the Bluesmobile backflip over them, causing them to go off the freeway.
  • Escaping into the Cook County building, barricading it, climbing up the stairs, and paying the tax just as the army of soldiers surrounds them, cuffs them, and raises their guns at them.
    Handcuffs: Click.
    Dozens of M-16's and other firearms: Clackclickclackclackclackclickclackclack...
• Playing "Jailhouse Rock" while they themselves are all in jail. Bittersweet, perhaps, but—to paraphrase William Wallace—you can take a man's freedom, but you cannot take his blues.
  • The overall tone is triumphant, though, considering how final scene plays out. The band doesn't let a little thing like prison change anything. No matter where they are, or what's happened, they will always be making music, and they will always get people dancing.
  • Not to mention the fact that it practically took a whole damn ARMY to finally apprehend them. The badass points alone are worth the jail time.
• The soundtracks to both movies are amazing—If you can't tap your feet during the musical numbers there must be something wrong with you!
  • Consider the sheer number of musical genres represented.
  • The awesomeness of all the awesomely awesome musicians they managed to get to perform should have caused some kind of world-imploding awesomeness singularity event.
    • So... it was good?
  • Aretha Franklin. Show-stopper Think.
• Who could forget Carrie Fisher's epically badass speech to Jake?
  Jake: It's good to see ya, sweetheart.
  Carrie: You contemptible pig. I remained celibate for you. I stood in the back of a cathedral, waiting, in celibacy, for you, with three hundred friends and relatives in attendance. My uncle hired the best Romanian caterers in the state. To obtain the seven limousines for the wedding party, my father used up his last favor with Mad Pete Trullo. So for me, my mother, my grandmother, my father, my uncle, and for the common good.... I must now kill you and your brother.
  • Followed by a Funny Moment when Jake weasels out of it.
• Ray Charles demonstrating his anti-theft skills as learnt from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
  • He wasn't trying to kill the kid, he was just scaring him off. Makes it more awesome for a blind man to be so accurate.
• This film's rendition of the Rawhide theme is one of the most perfect renditions you'll ever hear.
• Just the fact that this film predates most Jukebox Musicals makes this a CMOA!
• So the Blues Brothers are near a bridge but it's being blocked by Nazis who are giving an incredibly hateful and racist speech, no one wants them around. So what do the Blues Brothers do? Head around the traffic and drive straight for the bastards!
  Joliet Jake: I hate Illinois Nazis.

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