Well, isn't that nice?
Thirty years after the movie made its debut, L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, has given its official stamp of approval on one of my all-time favorite movies: "The Blues Brothers."
The flick that starred Dan Ackroyd and the late John Belushi has been named on a list of "Catholic Classics," along with some more predictable entries. It's a nice switch in perspective. Time can do that.
Back in 1980, the old Legion of Decency in the U.S. gave the film an "adults only" rating. "The plot is interspersed with scenes of wholesale destruction and frenzied chases which are spectacularly unfunny and uninvolving," said their original review. "Some good musical portions from Cab Calloway and Ray Charles, but not enough depth from director John Landis to save this zany comedy from milking cheap laughs from rough language and crude situations."
Wholesale destruction? Check. Frenzied chases? Check. Good music? You betcha. Cheap laughs? I suppose. Rough language? If you say so. Crude situations? Yeah, OK.
I've loved the movie from when I first saw it way long ago, and who cares what some humorless Catholic bigwigs say. It was just fun. At that time, I wasn't into blues music--mostly guitar rock and '60s music and psychedelia. "The Blues Brothers" opened me to a whole new universe, populated by John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles and James Brown and Aretha Franklin and the magnificent Cab Calloway.
With that kind of foothold, I explored further into blues and pop music from past generations. There was much to learn, and I'm still learning it. Today, my iPod has music of many different styles and genres and ages. It's all good. It's all wonderful. "The Blues Brothers" helped open me to that world, and I'm terribly grateful.
As for the Legion of Decency (now known as the Office of Film and Broadcasting) ... It must be terribly difficult to be so terribly "decent" all the time. To know that the moral fiber of the world hangs on every word you say. To know that if it weren't for you, people would be exposed to such morally toxic content as "The Blues Brothers" and may even be inspired to explore the new ideas that come to them, ideas that may not come from the pope's mouth or the pages of the Bible.
I'm sure I have written things over the years that I regret now. That's part of life and writing for a living--even something as ephemeral as a small weekly paper that nobody cares about outside of town.
As you get older, presumably you get wiser and you learn more things. You get a little more worldly and come to realize that the world doesn't give a rip how you feel about this and that ... nor should it. You also understand that you're just one little person, and one little person can't change the world. So you do what you can in your own little way by being a human being and treating other human beings with kindness and respect and love.
At times, that has led me towards the church. At other times, it has led be away from it.
Can't say how "The Blues Brothers" has influenced your life. But it made my life a little happier. And I believe in happy.
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