5 replies to this topic

[kriankay]

Does anyone know if stunt doubles were used during filming of the mall chase? I'm watching the clip now, and can tell it's John/Jake in the car during the parking lot segment of the chase, but does anyone know if it's them during the rest of the scene?

[TK826]

For the most part it is not them.

[666TheGame666]

if you watch the Stories Behind The Making Of The Blues Brothers on the DVD they have some old footage of the two stunt drivers they used for the film.I assume they were used for the Mall Chase as they were used for the Chase at the end of the film

[The Blues Man]

Hi dos it matter ?

[Steam McQueen]

A basic rule of thumb would be that if you can't clearly make out their faces then it's the stunt doubles. Tommy Huff is Elwood. Eddy Donno is Jake. Anytime you can see Elwood's (Dan's) face then the car is being towed or in the case of the parking lot before they enter the mall, it's a cutaway prop car being filmed with a screen in the background. Except of course for the scenes where Elwood pulls away from the damaged music store and the Oldsmobile dealership. That is Dan driving but he's only moving the car forward a few feet. Then Tommy takes over.

For insurance purposes the studios usually don't let these guys do their own stunts. If Dan was stunt driving in the mall and had an accident causing injury to himself or John it would shut down production. That's why stunt people were invented, hate to say it but it's true ... they're expendable.

Some exceptions would be Tom Cruise and Jackie Chan. Tom takes unnecessary risks thinking it adds to the realism of the movie, he'll eventually be seriously hurt on set one day if he continues that reckless behaviour. Look at the Bonus Features on Knight and Day (2010) and you'll see what I mean, in particular the fall off that roof. An absolutely unnecessary risk. And Jackie Chan is just an animal lol. Although when he's doing a movie in the US the studios will insist on a stunt double. When he's doing a movie in Hong Kong, well, he's hanging off of helicopters and jumping off buildings and it's all Jackie.

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[carl3615]

I escorted a Chicago Sun-Times reporter and photographer through the old Mall, as they were doing a story on the film's 25th anniversary, visiting each of the filming sites. The photographer was the ambulance driver for the film and had many stories. He said that both Dan and John did a lot of driving in the mall--some when not filming for sake of pure fun. He wasn't specific about stunt men, but Steam's wisdom seems to apply.

The mall floor was covered by black tiles for sake of better traction and--perhaps--to ease the glare of reflected lights from the original, shiny flooring. Once cleared of debris/mud, one could see endless tire tracks from the Bluesmobile, some really dug into the tiling.