Music

Aretha Franklin’s Show-Stealing ‘Blues Brothers’ Cameo Is The Perfect Testament To Her Talent

An utter show-stealer.

by Jared Richards  17 August 2018
Aretha Franklin

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With news that Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, has died this morning aged 76, tributes are pouring in online as fans celebrate a monumental figure who left her mark on both music and civil rights.

And as fans remember their favourite performances, there’s one which keeps popping up: Franklin’s rendition of ‘Think’ in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

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There’s a bucketload of cameos in The Blues Brothers (Ray Charles, James Brown, Chaka Khan), but Franklin’s has become one of the film’s most-loved moments. For many online, it’s their earliest memory of seeing Franklin in all her might.

In the five-minute scene, Franklin plays Mrs. Murphy, a diner waitress who’s not too happy her husband’s about to run out to rejoin the brothers’ old band for one last show. She sings a rendition of her 1968 hit ‘Think’ to let him know what’s up.

Of course, it’s a complete powerhouse of a performance. And to think that it almost didn’t happen: at first, Universal wanted newer acts to cameo, but the film’s co-writers and stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi stuck to their guns and won out.

As Vanity Fair point out, Universal would later campaign for Franklin to be Oscar-nominated for the five-minute role. While that didn’t pan out, it rekindled Franklin’s career, which had struggled at the turn of the decade as disco reigned above soul and Atlantic let her contract expire.

In an interview with Deadline, this morning The Blues Brother director John Landis reflects upon working with Franklin on the film and it’s 1998 sequel, the only films she did in her career.

“I have nothing but praise for Aretha,” he said. “She trusted me and was wonderful in the movie. We were a little concerned, uh oh, how’s she going to react to this costume. And she totally was fine, she loved it.”

“Attention must be paid,” he said. “Aretha, she was the Queen of Soul and a great artist. But she also had a firm place in American history. As a civil rights figure. She sang at Dr. King’s funeral. She sang at the inaugurations of Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama. She is right up there with Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, these artists who put themselves on the line.”

Watch the performance below.