Canadian actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker Dan Aykroyd is a cinematic legend who helped revolutionize television and film beginning with his role as the youngest member of the “Not Ready for Primetime Players” on Saturday Night Live. As an SNL writer, he would share an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series and would inevitably spin his wacky, eccentric, and wholly unique talents onto the movie screen.
He would eventually go on to star in some of the most culturally recognized comedies of all time and has since been a cinematic staple for over four decades. Here are Dan Aykroyd’s 10 best movies.
The Couch Trip (1988): 5.8
Based on the novel by Ken Kolb, The Couch Trip is a crackpot comedy perfectly suited for Dan Aykroyd’s comic sensibility. Aykroyd stars as John Burns, a former computer hacker confined to a mental hospital. Anxious to get out Burns escapes and makes his way to Los Angeles and ends up performing for a radio talk show.
Though the film was considered a box office flop, The Couch Trip did very well upon its release on home video. If Aykroyd seemed to have good chemistry with co-star Donna Dixon, it’s probably because they had been married for five years and are still together today.
Dragnet (1987): 6.0
Dan Aykroyd and a young Tom Hanks star in the buddy comedy film that acts as both parody and homage to the original cop television serial, Dragnet. Aykroyd plays Joe Friday, the nephew of the original Dragnet star, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who begins to investigate a string of bizarre robberies with his new partner.
The film was not Aykroyd’s first portrayal of Joe Friday. He had impersonated the character in a Dragnet parody eleven years earlier. Dragnet was a summer blockbuster upon its release, more than tripling its budget worldwide.
Spies Like Us (1985): 6.4
Aykroyd’s comedic style works well both on its own and with a partner to bounce jokes off. As a result of this, he has more than his fair share of buddy comedies. Spies Like Us stars Aykroyd alongside former Saturday Night Live castmate Chevy Chase, as two bumbling American intelligence agents who are sent on assignment to the Soviet Union.
Aykroyd portrays Austin Millbarge, a lowly codebreaker with dreams of being a secret agent. The film was a box office smash hit and the title song “Spies Like Us”, written and performed by Paul McCartney, reached #7 on the United States singles chart.
Ghostbusters II (1989): 6.6
Following the phenomenal success of Ghostbusters, it seems only natural that a sequel would follow, although it took a great deal of effort and initial objection by the cast and crew. Aykroyd reprises his role as Dr. Raymond Stantz, who along with the rest of the Ghostbusters must reform to overcome a new impending threat to the safety of New York.
The film, while commercially successful, was met initially with mixed reviews for not living up the hype of the original, though in modernity it has since been recognized as being funny and charming in its own right. A sequel titled Ghostbusters: Afterlife with several members of the original cast appearing is set to be released in July 2020.
The Great Outdoors (1988): 6.7
Written and produced by the legendary John Hughes and starring funnyman John Candy alongside Aykroyd, The Great Outdoors is a rollicking vacation comedy. Aykroyd stars as Roman Craig, an investment banker who along with his wife and twin daughters’ crashes Candy’s family vacation at a Wisconsin lake resort.
The vacation doesn’t go as planned and Candy and Aykroyd are faced with mineshafts, 96-ounce steaks, and bald-headed grizzly bears. The Great Outdoors was a summer box office success and a reboot is currently in the works by Universal Pictures with Kevin Hart and Nia Long starring.
Gross Pointe Blank (1997): 7.3
Gross Pointe Blank is one of the most humorous black comedies of the 1990s, thanks in no small part to Aykroyd’s role as the hitman Grocer, the chief rival and antithesis to star John Cusack’s Martin Blank. The film follows Blank, a depressed hitman who finds himself in Grosse Pointe, Michigan for his ten-year high school reunion.
Villainy suits Aykroyd well considering his status as a chiefly comedic actor. The film was a critical and commercial success, more than doubling its budget worldwide in addition to spawning two soundtrack albums composed by the legendary Joe Strummer, frontman for British punk rock band the Clash.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989): 7.4
Though not a starring role for Aykroyd, his performance in the critically acclaimed Driving Miss Daisy was enough to net him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 62nd Academy Awards. Aykroyd plays Boolie Werthan, the son of Miss Daisy Werthan, who buys his retired widowed mother a new car and hires a black chauffeur named Hoke to drive her around.
The two form an unexpected bond that is built on deep emotion, tolerance, and patience. The film was a critical success and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning four including Best Picture (the last PG-rated film to do so). Driving Miss Daisy is also the only Best Picture award winner to have been based on an off-Broadway production.
Trading Places (1983): 7.5
Another outlandish comedy with Aykroyd starring alongside a former Saturday Night Live alumni, Trading Places is, as the tagline would have you know, “some very funny business”. Aykroyd stars as Louis Winthorpe III, a well-educated managing director who is unwillingly caught in a social experiment where he is fired and framed for illicit activity and replaced by a poor street hustler, played by Eddie Murphey.
The two men discover the experiment and seek to take revenge on the wealthy brokerage firm owners who set them up. The film was a summer blockbuster making more than 6x its $15 million budget. Trading Places has since become an Italian Christmas classic and has been shown on Italian television every Christmas Eve since 1986.
Ghostbusters (1984): 7.8
Dan Aykroyd’s fascination with the paranormal inspired him to write Ghostbusters. With writing help by Harold Ramis, who would also star in the film, and the comedic talents of Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Rick Moranis along with the sultry Sigourney Weaver, Ghostbusters would become one of the greatest American comedies of all time.
Aykroyd portrays Dr. Raymond Stantz who, along with two of his parapsychologist cohorts, starts a ghost-catching business in New York City and must inevitably save the city from the apocalypse. The film was a critical and commercial smash hit and has become one of the most culturally recognizable films in history.
The Blues Brothers (1980): 7.9
Based on characters created by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi during their period on Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers is one of the most epic musical comedies in American cinematic history. Aykroyd and Belushi star as Elwood and Jake Blues, blues musicians “on a mission from God” to save the Catholic orphanage in which they grew up from shutting down.
To do so they must get their old blues band back together, while also avoiding Neo-Nazis, homicidal women, a disgruntled western band, and perhaps the entire Chicago police force. With performances by famed musicians James Brown, Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and John Lee Hooker and quite possibly the greatest car chase in cinema The Blues Brothers is a masterpiece.