Mary Owen/Triblocal.com reporter
The Blues Brothers are coming to Joliet’s big house.
On Aug. 13, a 50-foot outdoor movie screen will show the “Blues Brothers” – the 1980 flick starring John “Jake” Belushi and Dan “Elwood” Aykroyd – in the city’s Old Joliet Prison Park, just outside the limestone walls of the Collins Street Prison. The event starts at 8 p.m. and there will be lawn seating on the parking lots south of the prison walls.
The massive, now-shuttered prison, which at one time was one of the largest in the country, makes four cameos in the movie, said Joe Amari, senior location scout at the Illinois Film Office. A scene also was shot in a warehouse behind the prison at 331 Hill Street.
The first cameo is the prison’s property room, when Jake gets his clothes before leaving prison. The second is in prison’s sally port gate on Collins Street when he is leaving the prison. Scenes were also shot in the cell block and in the prison yard, Amari said.
The entire movie was filmed in the Chicago area, Amari said, including Chicago spots such as Daley Plaza, the old Steelworks plant, under the Old Post Office and on Maxwell Street. Other scenes were shot at the now-shuttered Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, the Des Plaines Oasis on Interstate 90, on Route 12 in Lake Zurich and at a gas station in Park Ridge.
The Joliet movie event is free and open to the public. The sponsors – Alamo Drafthouse, a Texas-based movie theatre chain, and Levis – are showing films across the country as part of the 2010 Rolling Road Show. Joliet is one of nine cities with stops. Other cities include Detroit, which will show “Robocop;” Philadelphia, which will show “Rocky;” and New York, which will show “The Godfather.”
For information, visit www.rollingroadshow.com.
This will be the first event at the Old Joliet Park Prison, which opened a year ago. The prison closed in 2002, but city officials have been trying to capitalize on its storied past with interactive exhibits and tours.
Other movies that have filmed at the prison include: “Natural Born Killers,” “Dillinger” and “Derailed.” The FOX television series “Prison Break” also spent almost a year shooting at the facility.
