The Blues Brothers corrections

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The Blues Brothers (1980) - 16 corrections

Directed by John Landis, starring Carrie Fisher, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "make changes" when viewing mistakes, and click "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.

In the scene where the band is visiting Ray's music shop to buy some equipment, there is a dancing scene. In one of the scenes that show Jake and Elwood dancing, there is a rather large, black box just popping out of nowhere. If you play it slow, you can see that that single part was cut together from two different shots. [I have watched this scene several times looking for this. The only black box I can see in this scene is the bottom of Ray's Rhodes piano. It's the model known as the "suitcase" piano, which has an amplifier and speakers in the bottom, as opposed to the "stage" model which had chrome-plated legs and was open underneath. The Stage piano had neither amplifier nor speakers onboard.]

On the cover, when Jake is resting his hand on Elwood's shoulder, his tattooed name is on his right hand. But in the very beginning of the movie, when Jake is waiting to collect his things from the man at the corrections office, he is tapping his fingers on the counter and his tattooed name is on his left hand. [DVD artwork is not part of the film, and not a valid mistake.] Corrected by John W Rosa

At Bob's Country Bunker Bob said that the band had drunk $300 worth of beer. Estimating $2 for a bottle of beer, this would mean the group of 10 men drank 150 beers among them - more than enough to get them seriously drunk. Despite this everyone seemed to be completely sober during their after-show conversation in the parking lot. [It's a joke the filmmakers inserted in this scene. It is consistent with other exaggerated and "impossible" scenes in the movie showing how tough the main characters are; they are shot at with a flamethrower without bothering to notice, sleep through the demolition of the building they are in, duck missiles and keep on walking, etc. Not to mention the incredible "backflip" they manage with their car.] Corrected by Twotall

When the band performs at Bob's Country Bunker, they travel in 2 cars carrying 5 people each. But when Jake and Elwood tell the guys to go ahead, they would have to fit 8 people plus all of the equiptment in one car. [That's an ongoing joke in both this film and the sequel. It's featured most prominent in "Blues Brothers 2000", where you actually get to see the inside of the car with the entire band crammed inside.] Corrected by Twotall

In the scene where Jake and Elwood go to the Chez Paul restaurant to find Mr. Fabulous, he looks up, the shot changes to a close up, and he looks up again. [He could have done a double take between shots, but even if he didn't, it's a common filmmaking technique to show a single action more than once from different angles.]

Near the end of the movie when Jake and Elwood are getting ready to walk out on stage, you can see Jake start to spin the chain in his right hand. When they walk out you get a quick shot of him with it still in his right hand. Then when you see him again, he has it spinning in his left hand. [He had time to switch hands between those two shots. Just because you don't see it happen, doesn't mean it can't.]

Religious institutions are not subject to property taxes. [Not exactly true. You can be denied exemption if you are truly not a not-for-profit organisation and for a myriad of other reasons. Here are some religious organisations that recently lost tax exemption status in Illinois: http://www.taxpertsltd.com/tax_exempt_update.php] Corrected by Rlvlk

When Carrie Fisher uses the flame thrower to blow up the propane tank next to the phone booth Jake and Elwood are in, there is no way the phone booth would have rocketed straight up because phone booths are bolted down to prevent theft. [The bolts are proof against theft, not against large scale explosions.]

When the Blues Bros are racing to the tax assessor's office towards the end, there is a quick shot of the speedometer of the bluesmobile. Right when they cut to it you hear dubbed engine sounds and a manual transmission upshift. The bluesmobile had an automatic transmission. [The kind of transmission makes no difference to the engine noise - the clutch is still engaged on an automatic, and the gears STILL change.] Corrected by Andy Benham

Elwood never takes off his sunglasses at any point in the movie. Jake never takes off his hat. [In the DVD version, Elwood quits his job without sunglasses.]

Immediately upon leaving Bob's Country Bunker, Elwood and Jake encounter the Illinois state troopers that had previously stopped them. The bar was in Kokomo, which is in central Indiana. [There is a Kokomo in Illinois.]

When Jake and Elwood visit the Penguin and Jake gets thrown down the stairs and the door slams, you can see the "ceiling", go in and out because it is actually a piece of canvas. [Given the horrible condition the building is in (and the neighborhood around it) it would be safe to possibly assume that the canvas was a "temporary fix" of sorts, perhaps to catch crumbling plaster from the ceiling.]

The man who sold Jake his stuff, he's saying: "One Timex watch, broken." If it's broken, how did Jake know the time when they both were in the gas station? [First of all, he did not "sell" Jake his stuff. He was a prison guard who gave back to Jake the things he had with him when he arrived at Joliet. Secondly, several days pass between the two scenes. Plenty of time to get a new watch.] Corrected by Twotall

After their performance at the Palace Hotel Ballroom, Elwood announces "It is 106 miles to Chicago..." They speed the entire way to Chicago. This should only take at the most two hours. When they arrive at the office building, it is well into the morning. [It probably would take at the most 2 hours to drive 106 miles to Chicago if Jake and Elwood take the fastest route there. However, with the entire Illinois state police force after them, its reasonable to assume that numerous roadblocks would have forced them to take a much longer route instead.]

At their performance 106 miles north of Chicago, the brothers acknowledge the presence of Illinois law enforcement officers. At 106 miles north of Chicago, the place would be well into Wisconsin. [Yes, but seeing how eager the police authorities are in capturing the Blues Brothers (approving the use of unneccessary violence, for instance), they would not be likely to be very bothered about jurisdiction issues either.] Corrected by Twotall