Dan Aykroyd: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

2. Elwood J. Blues - The Blues Brothers (1980)

The BLues Brothers movie shouldn't have worked. Seriously, when do sketch show skits turn into feature films that are fully formed, improve on the characters and are that magically thing - funny? If you're trying to answer that genuinely, the answer is stunningly rarely.

Even more impressively, The Blues Brothers weren't exactly the most narratively appropriate characters to adapt out, but thanks to Aykroyd's writing and John Landis' direction, the result of this supremely weird film was surprisingly successful. It's not just a cult gem, it's actually a legitimately great comedy - one of the best of the '80s in fact.

20 years later, he'd revive the character for an unthinkable, misguided sequel, but the less we say about that the better.