"They're not going to catch us," Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. "We're on a mission from God." So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit the big screen in June 1980. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, the film opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since it has been acknowledged a classic and has been inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance. This book illuminates the making of an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.