Romancefest 3: Sadiefest - Xanadu

If you ever wanted to see a movie about a frustrated artist who fulfills his dreams by creating the greatest roller disco the world has ever seen, then XANADU is the movie for you.

If not, you better skip it.

XANADU is one of those movies where I’m tempted to say you have to see it in order to believe it. But, I don’t want to mistakenly recommend actually watching it. So, maybe it’s okay for you to go through life not quite believing XANADU exists?

The afore-mentioned frustrated artist (Michael Beck) works for a record company, duplicating album covers, when he comes across a cover featuring a girl he recently ran into who kissed him and then disappeared in a flash of light, like the Enterprise when it goes into warp speed. Beck decides he must find this woman.

This is Olivia Newton-John. Thanks to an early scene in which a mural on a brick wall comes to life, with more flashes of sci-fi light, we know Newton-John is a supernatural being. Turns out she’s a muse, sent from above to help Beck achieve his disco dreams.

Also on hand to help is Gene Kelly in his last screen performance as an old man who sits on the beach playing the clarinet. Turns out he once ran a sweet club and wants to run one again. So, Beck, Kelly and Newton-John team up to transform a gloriously art-deco (but broken down) auditorium into Xanadu, the roller disco to end all roller discos.

The movie has at least one good moment, a dance scene between Kelly and Newton-John. It also has some good music performed by Electric Light Orchestra. And, Newton-John carries over her same enthusiastic and sweet screen presence from GREASE.

But, that’s about all XANADU has to offer. Almost everything else is a mess. You could argue the movie is hopelessly dated and that you kind of have to view it on its own terms in order to enjoy it, but I’ve seen plenty of other films from the late 70s and early 80s that do not suffer from this problem, and plenty of others that do have this problem, but overcome it anyway.

The problem begins with Beck as the leading man but continues into the thrust of the story. He’s pretty bland and forgettable in his performance, but he also has basically nothing to work with. All he really has to do is to stare into Newton-John’s big, beautiful eyes like a loyal puppy dog and even that seems to be a problem. Even the great Gene Kelly seems wasted here – on one hand, he provides the film’s only moment of genius, and on the other it’s frustrating and a little embarrassing that he’s in this mess in the first place.

Just as a quick example – FOOTLIGHT PARADE was similarly built on a flimsy premise that was just an excuse for a bunch of dance numbers. The difference is, PARADE crackled with intensity and moved at a rapid fire pace. XANADU, on the other hand, lazily wallows in decadence. PARADE’s song and dance sequences were mind blowing enough to stop the show and get away with it. XANADU’s are poorly executed and confusing. They stop the show, all right.

Sadie Says:

This movie is ridiculous. I can't figure out how this film got made in the first place, but once a decade, I'm really happy that somebody owed somebody a favor. I'm pretty into the roller disco scene, so there you go. In addition, the Electric Light Orchestra score is hard to ignore. If you're into ELO, then this should not be missed. Full Discloure: This film is probably best watched under the influence of something...anything....really....I'm serious...

The Fred Astaire counterpart to this film is FINIAN'S RAINBOW, a film that has a much more traditional musical score, but is equally out there in plot. The flick involves a leprechaun and a whole lot of shenanigans. As i'm thinking about it all, my best guess is that for someone who is a fan of old films, I've always been interested to see how these magnificent men of the of musical make even the worst of films watchable ones. Gene Kelly can make even the most ridiculously plotted film (considered by many a critic), a masterpiece.