20 Things You Didn't Know About The Blues Brothers
6. The Showdown At The Daley Centre Was Basically An Invasion Of The Plaza
At a cost $3.5 million, the final fifteen minutes of the movie set at Chicago's Daley Plaza was the most expensive set-piece of the entire film.
Surprisingly, the city's mayor was extremely cooperative, and Aykroyd and Belushi agreed to each donate $50,000 to charities of the city's choice as a thank you.
The finale involved shutting down much of downtown Chicago for three Sundays in a row, making use of 500 extras, including 200 Illinois National Guardsmen, 100 city and state police officers, 15 police horses, and three each of Sherman tanks, police helicopters, and fire engines.
The crew had permission from the city to drive the Bluesmobile onto certain areas of the plaza, but this part of the plan fell a bit short. On one occasion, the stunt drivers hit a few spots they shouldn't have, causing about $10,000 worth of damage that had to be repaired immediately, before the plaza opened again for business on Tuesday morning (it was a long weekend in the US).
Still, the extra expense was worth it when you watch the scene, which is choreographed like a ballet of destruction.