Actually, it was yesterday, March 5th, but I saw some stories today reminding me.
So sorry he’s gone. I loved him in everything I saw him in. And I was reminded again ofthe SNL sketch where he visits the graves of his SNL friends. Almost brings tears to my eyes.
Miss you, John.
Please tell me that, when you made that statement, you had never seen Continental Divide (“It’s a RomCom! It’s Belushi! What the hell were we on when we greenlighted this?”).
Perhaps I’m lucky, I don’t ever recall seeing it. Or maybe the trauma of seeing it did some kind of brain damage that made me forget.
Maybe they were thinking, “hey this fat guy can act”. I liked Continental Divide when I saw it a very long time ago.
*Blues Brothers *is my favorite musical of all time, and still the movie I put on when I’m cleaning the house or cooking. Miss you, Jake. You died too young.
I grew up in Harvey, IL, just a couple miles down the road from Calumet City, not far from Joliet. Harvey is also where they filmed the inside-the-mall-chase-scene in the movie.
I am reminded of the anecdote that Bob Woodward has in his biography about Belushi, that several months after he died, a fan left a sign on his grave that said “He could have lived and given us a lot more laughs. But NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!”
Dan Aykroyd and Judith Belush had a webcast last night. They had cast a pair of very good look-alikes as Jake and Elwood, had Paul Shaffer as bandleader, Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) as greeter and as many living members of the Blues Brothers band as could be wheeled out of their retirement homes.
1941
Howard Hesseman’s eulogy for Belushi.
“Do you think John would still be alive today if he said No Coke, Pepsi?”
I have a flashbulb memory of skiing up to the lift on the first run of the day in Killington in 1982, and the chalkboard by the lift house had a drawing of a grave, which said “RIP: John Belushi”
I still like 1941.
He is the best thing about that movie.
“Fill 'er up! Ethyl!”
“No, wooden Japs, Cheetah, whadda you think?”
“Look, a baby wolf!” (I know, it doesn’t sound funny, but you have to appreciate his delivery…)
“My name is Wild Bill Kelso, and don’t you.-- [Japanese sailors cock guns pointed at him] – shoot. [pause] Alright, turn this tub around. You’re taking me to Tokyo! [pause, takes cigar out of mouth] Anybody gotta light?”
I often wonder, had he lived and mellowed out a little, what sort of roles he would have taken. I sometimes think something like the role of Det. Bobby Goren on Law and Order: Criminal Intent would have been perfect: smart and quirky. Just different enough to challenge him a little.
I still miss you, John. Rest in Party.
So did I. It was fun to see Belushi in a “fish out of water” story, and Blair Brown looked pretty good. And I always laugh at, “The bear ate my cigarettes!”
Miss you, Jake. Keep on hating Illinois Nazis.
Fuckin’ Illinois nazis…
I am still angry. He could have had it all. He could have made the world a better, happier place. He decided to do speed balls. Bleeping waste.
Continental Divide is one of Belushi’s finest films. He absolutely 100% pulls off that role and made it look effortless. Plus I always had a thing for Blair Brown and she was at her absolute cutest in this. Only bad thing in this film is Helen Reddy’s awful song at the end.
I remember watching the ABC Saturday Night Live clone *Fridays *that night. There was a palpable gloom during the whole show, which they finally acknowledged during the final cast goodbyes part…