Xanadu (film)

Xanadu
File:Xanadumoviecover.jpeg Xanadu DVD cover
Directed by	Robert Greenwald
Written by	Richard Christian Danus Marc Reid Rubel
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon
Starring	Olivia Newton-John Gene Kelly Michael Beck
Cinematography	Victor J. Kemper
Edited by	Dennis Virkler
Music by	Barry De Vorzon John Farrar Jeff Lynne
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release dates	August 8, 1980
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000

Xanadu is a 1980 musical/romance film directed by Robert Greenwald. It stars Olivia Newton-John (fresh from her role in Grease), Michael Beck and Gene Kelly, and features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, UK pop idol Cliff Richard, and the San Francisco-based art-rock band The Tubes. The film's tagline is "A fantasy. A musical. A place where dreams come true."

The film was a box-office flop, and was nominated for six Razzies at the first-ever Golden Raspberry Awards (winning one), but the film has endured to become a cult classic. It is a "roller disco" film with emphasis on disco music and extensively-choreographed roller skating sequences. Fans of the film argue that its early commercial failure and hostile reception in many quarters relate not only to the declining popularity of disco at the time of its release, but also to the film's emotional honesty. A contributing factor may have been a difficulty experienced by audiences in placing the film in its intended idiom, i.e., the more innocent musical romances of the 1930s and 1940s. The film's soundtrack was more of a commercial success and went platinum, with many hits including the title track "Xanadu" (which has been featured in the video game Dance Dance Revolution), "Magic", "Suddenly", and "I'm Alive".

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is a talented artist who dreams of fame beyond his job: painting larger versions of album covers for record-store window advertisements. As the film opens, Sonny is broke and on the verge of giving up his dream. Having quit his day job to try and make a living as a freelance artist, but having failed to make any money at it, Sonny returns to his old job at AirFlow records. After some humorous run-ins with his boss and nemesis Simpson, he resumes painting record covers.

One day Sonny is told to paint an album cover with a beautiful woman on it. This same woman has literally run into him ealier that day, kissed him, then roller skated away, and Malone becomes obsessed with finding her. She finds him and identifies herself as Kira (Olivia Newton-John), but will tell him nothing else about herself.

Sonny befriends a has-been big band orchestra leader named Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly). Danny lost his muse in the 1940s; Sonny has not yet found his muse. Kira encourages the two men to form a partnership and open a nightclub. She falls in love with Sonny, and this presents a problem because she is actually Terpsichore, the muse of dance. Her parents, the Greek gods Zeus and Mnemosyne, call her back to the timeless realm of the gods, but when Sonny follows and professes his love for her, they agree to let her be with him.

Trivia

• This film is dancer Gene Kelly's last starring role in a motion picture. (He had a minor appearance in the film Action U.S.A. nine years later.) Xanadu features his last dance on film. In this film, Kelly is also shown on roller skates during a musical number, a reference to a similar routine he performed in It's Always Fair Weather.
• Gene Kelly's character Danny McGuire has the same name as Kelly's character in Cover Girl (1944), starring Rita Hayworth.
• The title of the film is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Coleridge had begun work on this poem, intended to be of epic proportions, when he was interrupted by a man from Porlock who detained Coleridge long enough for him to lose his train of thought after returning to his desk. The poem was never completed; it might be said that Coleridge had "lost his muse." Yet the poem is considered to be one of Coleridge's best. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province where Khan establishes his pleasure garden in the poem.
• The muse Terpsichore also appears in the 1947 film "Down to Earth", where she is played by Rita Hayworth. However, it is completely unrelated to this film.
• Gene Kelly took the role of Danny McGuire because filming was a short drive from his home in Beverly Hills and at the same time, he could be close to his family.
• Xanadu contains the first known appearance in the popular media of what later became known as the "Flock of Seagulls haircut." The hairdo is sported by drummer Prairie Prince of the Tubes during their performance of the song "Dancin'" in the film.
• The film contains a short animated sequence by former Disney animator Don Bluth and his new animation studio. It is accompanied by the song "Don't Walk Away" by ELO (not to be confused with the song recorded by Jade more than a decade later).
• Matt Lattanzi, who was to become Olivia-Newton John's husband and father of her daughter Chloe, was a dancer in the film.
• The film owes its cult status partly to audiences who were deeply touched by it as children during its short theatrical run in 1980. Xanadu also has a large following in the gay community.
• The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, California.

• All Shook Up's Christopher Ashley is set to direct a new musical production of Xanadu — based on the 1980 film of the same name — Off-Broadway in spring 2007.

Douglas Carter Beane will pen the book for the production, which will be produced by Robert Ahrens. The musical will utilize songs from the movie's soundtrack. The film featured tunes by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne, including "Xanadu," "All Over the World," "I'm Alive," "Magic" and "Suddenly."

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane is the author of The Little Dog Laughed, As Bees in Honey Drown, The Country Club, Music From a Sparkling Planet, Advice From a Caterpillar, White Lies and Devil May Care and Old Money. Director Christopher Ashley has directed All Shook Up, The Smell of the Kill, Voices in the Dark, Princesses, As Thousands Cheers, The Country Club, Rude Entertainment, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Jeffrey, Blown Sideways Through Life, Fires in the Mirror, Bunny Bunny and Das Barbecu.

The 1980 film "Xanadu" was written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel and was directed by Robert Greenwald. Described as "a fantasy, a musical, a place where dreams come true," the film starred Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck, James Sloyan, Dimitra Arliss, Katie Hanley, Fred McCarren and Ren Woods.

Quotes

"The Warriors opened a lot of doors in film for me, which Xanadu then closed." Xanadu co-star Michael Beck.

Awards and nominations

• Young Artist Awards

Nominated: Best Major Motion Picture - Family Entertainment

• Golden Raspberry Awards

Won: Worst Director (Robert Greenwald)

Nominated: Worst Picture

Nominated: Worst Screenplay

Nominated: Worst Actor (Michael Beck)

Nominated: Worst Actress (Olivia Newton-John)

Nominated: Worst "Original" Song (Suspended in Time)

Nominated: Worst "Musical" of Our First 25 Years

External links

• The Xanadu Preservation Society
• A sympathetic article on Xanadu at 80s Movies Rewind. Includes a nice selection of stills from the movie. (Scroll down the site's movies menu and click on Xanadu.)
• Xanadu at IMDb
• Xanadu (a Rhapsody Playlist)
• Xanadu at Rotten Tomatoes
• A representative negative review, plus some good sound clips, screenshots, and a short video clip from Xanadu's opening musical number, "I'm Alive," in which the Muses spring to life.
• A Man and His Muse
• The Love That We Came to Know