How Aretha Franklin Really Felt About Making The Blues Brothers
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John Landis' 1980 musical comedy "The Blues Brothers," which made one of my /Film colleagues a lifelong fan of the action genre, is based on characters created for "Saturday Night Live" and is a miniature blues hall of fame unto itself. There are cameos from musical legends like James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, John Lee Hooker, and, of course, the inimitable Aretha Franklin. The makers of "The Blues Brothers" came up with the flimsiest possible excuses to get these musicians to perform, and the audience doesn't mind the contrivance. Any excuse will do if it gets Aretha Franklin to sing "Think."
In the context of the movie, Franklin plays Mrs. Murphy, the co-owner of a soul food diner and wife of Matt "Guitar" Murphy (himself), the ex-guitarist for the Blues Brothers' band. The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi) have arrived at the Murphys' diner to recruit Matt for their band in the hopes of playing a reunion show and earning enough money to save the orphanage where they were raised. Mrs. Murphy implores that Matt not rejoin the band, and she sings "Think," asking him to, well, think about it. It's a standout musical sequence in a film full of standout musical sequences.
Franklin loved making the movie. She was no stranger to cameras, having first performed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jack Parr" all the way back in 1962. 1984 notwithstanding, Franklin didn't let a year of her career elapse without turning up on a talk show, a variety program, an awards show, or a musical special. "The Blues Brothers," however, was one of only four instances wherein Franklin played a role other than herself. In Mark Bego's biography "Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul," the legend was quoted as enjoying herself quite a bit on the set of "The Blues Brothers," objecting only to one thing.
Aretha Franklin loved working on The Blues Brothers, even if the shifts were long
It should be noted that "The Blues Brothers" was a pretty big hit, making over $115 million on a $27.5 million budget. The plot for the movie is incredibly thin and the taciturn title characters aren't compelling protagonists (in a screenwriterly way) — acclaimed film critic Pauline Kael infamously disliked the movie – but one cannot deny the film's comedic energy nor fault its constant musical cameos. If Aretha Franklin is going to sing "Think" in a movie, it's going to help even the worst of movies. Indeed, one of Kael's central criticisms is that director John Landis only asked Aretha Franklin to perform one musical number, and not several.
About the film, Franklin was quoted as saying:
"'The Blues Brothers' I enjoyed making tremendously. [...] It was my debut film. The only thing I really didn't like about it was the hours. I had to get up at seven o'clock in the morning to get ready to be on the set. But once you get there, and once you started rolling, then everything fell into place. I had a lot of fun with Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd — great guys — big sense of humor, and very, very professional and astute. So I had a good time. It makes everything so much easier [when] you're having fun and you're enjoying what you're doing."
It seems that Franklin had it light. For those who have worked on film sets, waking up at seven o'clock seems like a luxury. Many actors and crew members regularly have to arrive on set before dawn to get everything set up, or to get makeup applied.
Aretha Franklin didn't often play characters other than herself
Aretha Franklin was also likely having a good time — even if Pauline Kael hated this — because she only had the one musical number; Franklin likely wasn't present for every single day of the film's shoot. A little bit of internet research reveals that "The Blues Brothers" was shot between July and October of 1979. Franklin liked her experience so much, however, that she said she wanted to do more. In her words:
"I confess that I would like to do another film. [...] Maybe something like the Bessie Smith story. I truly empathize with Bessie Smith, and would love to play her life. She was a singer, a great singer. I'm a singer. People have said I'm great, and I can some mighty close to simulating Bessie's size, too!"
Bessie Smith was, of course, a jazz legend from the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s. She was one of the most popular jazz singers of her era, and tragically died after a 1937 car crash at the age of 45. Franklin would have made a fine Bessie Smith in a biopic. Queen Latifah eventually played the role in one of the best TV movies of all time.
Franklin never got to play Bessie Smith, and actually didn't do much proper, scripted acting after "The Blues Brothers." Prior to the movie, she played a character named Inez Jackson in an episode of the sitcom "Room 222." She didn't act again until playing the voice of a computer in the animated film "The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue." She then returned to the role of Mrs. Murphy for the (useless) late-stage sequel "The Blues Brothers 2000." Franklin passed in 2018, and the world lost a legend. But we'll always have her music.