74The Blues Brothers (1980)

Long a side passion project for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers had a hit record when the SNL stars decided to make a movie about the brothers Jake and Elwood. As recounted by Ned Zeman in Vanity Fair: Aykroyd holed up on the Universal lot to write the script, delivering a 324-page draft to producer Bob Weiss, “its contents wrapped within the cover of a phone book,” and “written in a kind of free-style verse” that included “lengthy, Aykroyd-esque explications of Catholicism, recidivism – you name it.” The result is a caper movie of sorts, with the boys always one step ahead of the law as they get the band back together to save an orphanage. They’re on a mission from God. It all spells blockbuster.