Jake...
... what was the on-screen reason for Jake not appearing? I know the off-screen reason is because john Died, but I want to know the on-screen reason.
shareWhat?
HE DEAD.
It's kind of hard to continue acting when you dead.
Remember, they are just films.
What I couldn't figure out was why nobody had informed Elwood prior to his release about Jake's death.
As well, how come Elwood was in prison for so much longer? Jake was obviously released first. How come Elwood had so much more time to do?
well considering that Elwood drove the car for most of the movie and did most of the out of car destruction, Jake was more of an accomplice. Elwood also had alot of outstanding traffic violations. Jake basically just broke parolle and was in the car while Elwood drove.
shareThey never went into specifics of how and/or why Jake died. They only told Elwood at the beginning "about Jake" but no specifics were ever given. It's also never stated that Jake was released before Elwood. Perhaps Jake and Elwood were supposed to get out of prison at the same time but were in different areas of the prison? It is all speculation and doesn't really matter. The fact is that John Belushi passed away and therefore so did Joliet Jake.
shareI followed several threads about it and I have to get this thought off my chest now!
I read a draft about it very long ago (almost 15 years): I wasn't that good with forums, websites nor English back then, so I remember printing stories without knowing where they came from. It may as well be fan fiction or some dvd-extra, for what I remember.
Jake dies of pneumonia(?)
Right before Jake is out of prison, he received a letter(?) from Elwood that tells is gonna get out of jail a precise date, not too long from his own, but something happens that day and he is kept in jail for another while (a long time). He doesn't have mail or phone or Jake a real address, so there's no way for them to tell each other what's going on.
Not knowing where to go or what to do, Jake waits for him in hope he is going to show up soon, but time passes and he doesn't.
Jake waiting for his brother becomes a well known fact (or a joke) among the guards.
They have fun of him every day (and) or he greets them every single day in the same way telling one thing (or the same thing, something like "I'm Jake and I wait for Elwood, my little brother" it could be something shorter), but one day he gets sick by waiting outside overnight under the bad weather.
---I remember an heart-breaking part where he holds the letter and read the due-date over and over 😢-
Jake keeps showing up and doesn't take care of the sickness (pneumonia?) until one day he's too sick and doesn't show. (And that's how Frank Oz's character remembers of Jake so well)
As soon as the guard looks again, he finds Elwood standing in the same position instead of Jake realizing first that it's another person and that Jake was telling the truth all along. That's how the warden knows everything: Jake was always there waiting for his brother.
This story would have happened just days before Elwood gets out of prison and he just misses the funeral by a day or so (or the funeral is the same morning he gets out?).
(This would be the reason nobody tells Elwood: nobody knows as it's just happened.)
According to this draft, Matara would have mentioned the funeral of Jake to Elwood in the car(?) as she or Willy(?) (or both?) were at Jake's funeral the day before and started discussing about him and Jake and the fact that Elwood supposed to be out any day by then.
And that's why Matara, out of pity for his sad story, accepts the request of Willy and passes every other day by the prison to check if Elwood is out, to find him at her first attempt(?).
----STILL, I'm not fully sure about it!
I found other threads mentioning the pneumonia, but nothing more, nor the other details. Pretty sure I din't invented it, because it is way too evil.
It answers many questions and gives the character of Jake a longer life than his real counterpart, but still doesn't add up!
It would have been so hard to see a funeral scene while Elwood is waiting outside the jail! (Or even knowing it in the movie).
Why only Willie (and eventually Matara, that just hears the story from Willie) were at Jake's funeral?
And why did Jake would just wait for Elwood months without working or doing anything else in life? I mean, if he couldn't hold the Band, why he couldn't do like Elwood and getting a day-job? Was he really that helpless? Maybe Jake was working for Willie as Elwood does in this movie?
Plus, would Elwood feel extra guilty after knowing this story?
The beginning of BB2k is sad enough as it is and I'm glad that this part of the draft has been cut out and left unexplained in the movie (if it's real).
If it wasn't because I remember this story, I would guess like many others that Jake was transferred at first and then just died in prison later.
Nice writing. Thanks.
That scene Elwood was told Jake died was really sad but I also felt that's the right way to portrait it in Blues Brothers style. I loved the movie so far and i was hopeful.
After that scene they destroyed the Elwood character. I don't understand why Dan Aykroyd made Elwood such a douche in this movie. He is nothing like the Elwood from the original.
Also this movie suffers ridiculous situations. A boat flying through the air and magic turning people into mice is just NOT funny. Also Cabel seeing the light is nothing like the epic moment Jake saw the light.
If they kept Elwood cool and have the over-the-top situations 'plausible' this would have been a very fun sequel.
Also this movie has no real goal. Elwood said the lord working in mysterious way because he couldnt say they were on a mission.
At the end I never found the old printout I translated and I have no clue on how to find the original text of that story. Never found out who the author is and it's not in modern archives like ff.net :(
About Elwood... For sure it doesn't come out this way in the movie, but Elwood character in Bb2k is supposed to be more mature from the first movie: proven by all the events around himself, he's angry with his destiny and tired with a life behind bars, but he still have one thing to live for: the music. The plot IS the music itself...
What's hurting about Cab is that there's no "benefit of the doubt". When Jake "sees the light" we might believe him or not, but when Cab "gets it" we don't have a choice... Also the character is very weak, when he should be the true "other brother", falls behind many other weird events instead :(
The rats scene is a tad too cheap and long, it should have been happening in a blink of an eye, as the rednecks magically disappear and not tranforming-morfing into rats, like nobody knows what the real power of the witch is. It's pretty much like you just wrote, if this stuff was a tad more plausible it would have been a way better movie... I still enjoyed it as a teenager and the soundtrack is good :)