So, against all better judgement the other night I went ahead and watched Xanadu for the first time… and, yeah it was pretty bad. But also pretty enjoyable in a lot of ways. Just pure fluff. Good music though, and Olivia Newton-John looked great. A few decent big dance numbers.
So I’m only 30+ years late on this, but what’s the general consensus on this flick? So bad it’s bad, or so bad it’s good?
Deliciously bad. Jeff Beck, Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton John, Electric Light Orchestra, ancient mythology and roller disco-it’s a match made in [del]Heaven[/del] [del]Hell[/del]The Hollywood Home for the Criminally Insane.
One of my favorite really awful movies.
Madame Pepperwinkle LOVES this movie. It’s good cheesy fun, the first six or seven times through…
Panned the movie; loved the poem.
The guy who created the Razzies award got his idea after watching a double feature: Xanadu and You Can’t Stop The Music (a very fictional biography of the Village People: don’t bother).
And The Tubes! Love Xanadu.
Glad to hear it! Let’s barb our wits and have at them.
That was my favorite scene. The 40s song and the 80s song each sound complete when you listen to them separately, with no obvious holes… but when the mashup hits, they fit together PERFECTLY. It’s a really impressive feat of song-crafting.
I do lose my patience with a lot of things in the movie (A record label that has no better way to promote its music than to hang HAND-PAINTED blowups of the cover art outside record stores?), but the music sequences redeem it enough that I haven’t gotten rid of the DVD.
(Yes, I own both the DVD and the soundtrack CD… DON’T YOU JUDGE ME.)
I was there in Hollywood in the late 70’s…and that was pretty much how it worked.
How could I – I own the VHS tape and downloaded the soundtrack on iTunes. I adore both.
Jeff Beck? I believe that was Michael Beck, no relation.
My favorite scene in this awesomely bad movie was when Sonny meets Olivia Newton-John on the beach, then she skates away at subhuman speed trailing glowing orange light and disappears. Then he meets Gene Kelly and tells her that he just met this cute girl on the beach. Maybe he was too confused by watching the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean to remember her supernatural exit.
Thanx for the correction.
The probable reason he didn’t mention the supernatural aspect was because he thought his morning toke hadn’t worn off yet.
Xanadu is a good movie…once.
Or on a dedicated 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year loop. I always get those mixed up.
It’s a fine, fine terrible show. Holds up in its fine, fine, terribleness over time as well.
She was the muse of music, not dance, right?
How often is a MUSE a costar in a show? 
Incredibly cheesy, awesomely silly. Enjoyable music, and ONJ is a hot babe. Sure, it’s not Rodgers and Hammerstein, but who cares?
So bad it’s good, but I love Olivia.
