I’m not about to get drawn into the debate that last night’s Academy Award winners will no doubt spark. I’ve never been a big fan of the Academy or its awards. I think of it largely as a popularity contest, and a poorly run one at that. How else can anyone explain to me why Meryl Streep has more nominations - thirteen - than Gary Cooper and Elizabeth Taylor combined (ten total)?

So instead of talking about what Hollywood thinks, I ask you the following:

Given the opportunity to go back in time and see any movie in the theatre on the night it opened, which movie would you pick?

Gone with the Wind? The African Queen? Citizen Kane? Rear Window?

None of the above. Not I.

My pick for the movie I’d most wish to have seen - as an adult - when it first premiered is…

*drumroll as I open the envelope*

The Blues Brothers.

You read that right. The Blues Brothers is the pinnacle for me. I’m not saying that it’s the best move ever filmed (Casablanca), or even my favorite (Avalon), but it would be the one I’d be most excited to see.

It is, in the very loosest sense of the term, a musical, or musical comedy. It is the best musical of the past forty years, and probably in the top ten musicals of all time. Skeptics might question that statement, but an examination of the artists featured in the movie shows that, even just in the musical realm, The Blues Brothers has serious chops.

Featured in performing roles are:

Cab Calloway
John Lee Hooker
Ray Charles
Steve “the Colonel” Cropper, co-founder and lead guitarist of Booker T. & the MGs
Donald “Duck” Dunn, bassist for Booker T. & the MGs
Lou Marini and Tom “Bones” Malone of Blood, Sweat & Tears
Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Memphis Slim’s guitarist for 20 years
Alan Rubin, horn player for the Saturday Night Live band
James Brown
Aretha Franklin
Paul Schaffer (musical arrangements)

The film has introduced two generations to blues music and has brought numerous new fans (including myself) to the genre. In addition to the main numbers, the background music features artists such as Elmore James, Sam and Dave, Louis Jordan, Kitty Wells, and Fats Domino. For a serious American music fan, this film is a highlight-reel.

As a comedy the movie is also excellent, one of the most successful films featuring a Saturday Night Live member. Though much of the action is pure (and wonderful) hyperbole, Ackroyd and Belushi’s deadpan is extremely well done. There is rich parody in the car chases and the actions of Carrie Fisher’s jilted character, gleefully poking at The French Connection and Wile E. Coyote. The little things are well done - Belushi twice flashes a crushed cigarette package as official ID and chucks the cigarette lighter out of the car after using it once. Ackroyd’s accent is spot-on, and his landlord has one of the funniest voices ever.

Granted, it’s not a great movie the way Casablanca or High Noon are great. Given the opportunity to go to three movie premiers, those are the other two films I’d want most to see. But The Blues Brothers beats them both because of it’s exuberance, incredible music, and Easter Eggs (cameos by John Candy, Frank Oz, Joe Walsh, Paul Reubens, Steve Lawrence, John Landis, and Steven Spielberg).

I can imagine the crowd in the theatre getting increasingly rowdy with each glorious scene. The elation after the final scene in prison would be palpable. The Blues Brothers is everything moviegoing is all about, and I really wish I could have been there in 1980 to see it debut.