Daily Dialogue — March 12, 2015
Jake: What’s this?
Elwood: What?
Jake: This car. This stupid car! Where’s the Cadillac? [Elwood doesn’t answer] The Caddy! Where’s the Caddy?
Elwood: The what?
Jake: The Cadillac we used to have. The Bluesmobile!
Elwood: I traded it.
Jake: You traded the Bluesmobile for this?
Elwood: No, for a microphone.
Jake: A microphone? [pause] Okay I can see that. What the hell is this?
Elwood: This was a bargain. I picked it up at the Mount Prospect city police auction last spring. It’s an old Mount Prospect police car. They were practically giving ’em away.
Jake: Well thank you, pal. The day I get outta prison, my own brother picks me up in a *police* car!
Elwood: You don’t like it?
Jake: No I don’t like it…
Elwood Blues floors the pedal and jumps over an open drawbridge.
Jake: Car’s got a lot of pickup.
Elwood: It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?
A brief thinking pause while Jake attempts to light a cigarette.
Jake: Fix the cigarette lighter.
— The Blues Brothers (1980), written by Dan Aykroyd, John Landis
The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Reunion. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm.
Trivia: The infamous “Bluesmobile” is a 1974 Dodge Monaco. The vehicles used in the film were used police cars purchased from the California Highway Patrol (mocked up to look like Mt. Prospect, Illinois patrol cars), and featured the “cop tires, cop suspension and cop motor — a 440 cubic-inch plant” mentioned by Elwood in the film. A total of 12 Bluesmobiles were used in the movie, including one that was built just so it could fall apart. Several replicas have been built by collectors, but one original is known to exist, and is owned by the brother-in-law of Dan Aykroyd. 1974–77 Dodge Monacos (including the upscale Royal Monaco), especially those which came with the A38 police option, are now considered as collector’s items since they have been used as replica Chicago P.D. and Illnois State Police squads — including Bluesmobile tribute cars. This has led to the scarcity of this generation of Mopar C-bodies where some replica squads and Bluesmobiles use the Plymouth Gran Fury as a substitute — including the Chrysler Newport. Universal Studios Hollywood has a replica Bluesmobile on the lot — a 1974 Dodge Coronet is used since the Monaco has became a rarity.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by James: “Isn’t just like a brother to immediately start criticizing your choices even though you haven’t seen each other in a long time?”
If you have a good suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments.