It's hard to imagine where John Belushi's career would be today. The hilarious comedic actor and breakout star of Saturday Night Live's original cast had the world at his feet by the early 1980s. He'd already worked with the likes of Steven Spielberg and John Landis and was poised to star in Ghostbusters in 1984. But in 1982, Belushi tragically passed away of a drug overdose at the early age of 33.
Of course, when it comes to the big screen, Belushi is most known for Animal House and The Blues Brothers. But that's just scratching the surface of his short-lived film career. For more, here are John Belushi's 10 best movies, according to IMDb!
Old Boyfriends (1979) 5.5/10
A few years after penning Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader and his brother Leonard wrote Old Boyfriends for director Joan Tewkesbury. Belushi stars as Eric Katz, one of the titular suitors that star Talia Shire visits during a midlife road trip.
When psychiatrist Dianne Cruise's (Shire) marriage hits the rocks, she travels cross-country to visit all of her old boyfriends and examine the root of her commitment issues. Belushi joins the likes of Richard Jordan, Keith Carradine, Buck Henry, and other cool 70s icons.
Neighbors (1981) 5.6/10
Remade with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne a few years back (with a sequel to boot), Neighbors traces the suburban rift among two couples living next door to each other in Staten Island. Neighbors marked Belushi's final film, who died 10 weeks after it was released in theaters.
Belushi stars as Earl Keese, a staid suburban nerd whose quiet life is upended with the arrival of his annoying new neighbors, Vic (Dan Aykroyd) and Ramona (Cathy Moriarty). The production was deeply troubled when, halfway through production, Aykroyd and Belushi swapped roles against type, with the former playing the wildman and the latter playing the straight man.
1941 (1979) 5.8/10
Through no fault of Belushi's, 1941 remains the biggest blemish of the most successful filmmaker of all time, Steven Spielberg. Well, that and War of the Worlds!
The big-budget WWII comedy imagines a scenario in which the Japanese prepare to bomb California in the wake of Pearl Harbor. As a result, a slew of paranoid Californians plan a retaliatory attack. Belushi and his main man, Dan Aykroyd, headline the epic ensemble as U.S. military men. Despite the financial failure, the film went on to score three Oscar nominations.
Continental Divide (1981) 6.2/10
All things considered, Belushi may give the most well-rounded and convincing performance of his life in Continental Divide, a genuinely moving rom-com directed by Michael Apted.
Written by Lawrence Kasdan, the film explores the improbable love affair between Ernie, a tough-nosed Chicago newsman and Nell (Blair Brown), an eagle expert in Colorado. When Ernie's job brings him in close proximity with the mafia, he ends up in the hospital. His editor suggests hiding out in Colorado as a result, where he meets and interviews his ideal romantic match.
Goin' South (1978) 6.2/10
It must have been some kind of honor to be cast by Jack Nicholson in the fun-looking farcical Western Goin' South. Yet for Belushi, the feat is just one of many in 1978, the most productive year of his career!
Goin' South tracks Henry Lloyd Moon (Nicholson), an outlaw scoundrel sentenced to hanging for thievery. But a law on the books stipulates that a married man cannot be hanged. Therefore, Moon quickly mobilizes to marry the single Julia Tate (Mary Steenburgen) to avoid death. Belushi plays Deputy Hector, a portly mustachioed lawman.
Things We Did Last Summer (1978) 6.9/10
In what plays like a collection of deleted scenes, early inspirations, and superfluous odds and ends, Things We Did Last Summer is also a semi-precursor to The Blues Brothers.
The 50-minute SNL offshoot stars Belushi and Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, the gospel-soul singers who shake up Motown. But the film also features a number of sketches and vignettes unrelated to the Blues Brothers, such as one where Bill Murray tries out for a baseball team in the minors.
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) 7.4/10
In one of the earliest examples of a satirical mockumentary, Belushi and his fellow cast-mates have way too much fun poking at the image of the Fab Four, aka The Beatles. Nevermind love ladies and gents, all you need is cash!
The Rutles is a Spinal Tap-like ribbing of a fictional pre-Beatles band who suffers from delusions of grandeur. Monty Python alum Eric Idle co-directs and co-stars in the parody, with Belushi playing feared fictional music promoter Ron Decline. Several real musicians participate, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) 7.5/10
What can we say? As Bluto in Animal House, Belushi delivers one of the all-time funniest examples of crude comedy meeting physical humor. Toga! Toga! Toga!
In a movie likely too offensive to be made today, Animal House charts the drunken debauchery of the Delta House fraternity at Faber College in 1962. The all-time classic from director John Landis and writer Harold Ramis boasts an even higher Metascore of 79/100. As for Belushi and his 0.0 GPA as John Blutarsky, he set the example for everything a college student shouldn't strive for!
The Beach Boys: It's OK (1976) 7.9/10
In the hour-long concert movie blending fiction and fantasy, Belushi and wingman Dan Aykroyd play a couple of keystone cops in The Beach Boys: It's OK!
Also written by the two chummy SNL alums, the film stages several fictional scenarios around a real TV concert performed by The Beach Boys. In between songs, various interviews, comic sketches, and other miscellaneous pieces of footage are included. As mentioned, Belushi and Aykroyd play two dimwitted cops monitoring the venue.
The Blues Brothers (1980) 7.9/10
Two years after working with John Landis on The Blues Brothers, Belushi struck cinematic gold with the director in The Blues Brothers film, arguably the finest SNL movie adaptation to date!
The hilarious Motown musical follows Jake and Elwood Blues, two suited and shaded gospel singers "on a mission from God." With a legendary soundtrack led by the iconic Aretha Franklin, the plot follows the two recently released convicts out to reunite their band in order to save their sacred childhood home.