# Xanadu **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053 "2013-07-09T16:28:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/21 "2013-07-09T19:45:18Z")
I was a huge ELO fan in the Seventies, so of course I got the soundtrack album as soon as I could. Lotta good songs on it, many of which I now have on my iPod. Saw the movie again a few years ago and it still sucks (reminds of what was, perhaps apocryphally, the shortest movie review ever: _Xanad_on’t). Also saw the tongue-in-cheek stage musical of it, which was good, silly fun. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/22 "2013-07-09T20:00:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 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. This - I have to stop and watch it every time I run across it. Mr. Kat took me to this for my birthday a couple of years ago, bless his heart: [http://xanaduonbroadway.com/](http://xanaduonbroadway.com/) ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/23 "2013-07-09T20:07:16Z")
I enjoy the music, and Olivia Newton-John is always fun to look at. Definitely a stinker of a movie, though… ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/24 "2013-07-09T21:45:54Z")
I saw this movie TWICE in the theaters in 1980, back before videos were ubiquitous. Then again, I think I was smack dab in the heart of their target market: 13-year-old girls, apparently. I still love the soundtrack, though. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/25 "2013-07-09T21:53:00Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I saw this movie TWICE in the theaters in 1980, back before videos were ubiquitous. Then again, I think I was smack dab in the heart of their target market: 13-year-old girls, apparently. I still love the soundtrack, though. The soundtrack is very good! And I’m sure that a lot of guys went to the movie specifically to see Olivia, like I did. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/26 "2013-07-09T21:56:28Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > 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… Yes, and here it is: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I) They did something similar in _Godspell_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8) Is there a name for that kind of musical technique, two dissimilar songs that combine so nicely? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/27 "2013-07-10T00:05:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, and here it is: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I) > > They did something similar in _Godspell_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8) > > Is there a name for that kind of musical technique, two dissimilar songs that combine so nicely? There is but I’m blanking on it. “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You” from The Music Man does this also. My wife tells me they do it in Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas as well. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/28 "2013-07-10T02:37:21Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > There is but I’m blanking on it. Counterpoint? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/29 "2013-07-10T06:23:29Z")
Counterpoint indeed: [Counterpoint - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/30 "2013-07-10T13:43:23Z")
It’s a type of counterpoint called a [quodlibet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quodlibet) Irving Berlin was famous for them. (“You’re Just In Love” from **Call Me Madam** , “Old Fashioned Wedding”, from **Annie Get Your Gun** , etc) Xanadu wouldn’t have been so awful if it wasn’t for that Beck douche. If you’d gotten someone who could sing, dance and/or act (even one of the three would be an improvment) to take his place, it would have been a charming bit of fluff. You guys also know that it’s a kinda-sorta sequel to Down To Earth, right? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/31 "2013-07-10T13:57:26Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Xanadu wouldn’t have been so awful if it wasn’t for that Beck douche. If you’d gotten someone who could sing, dance and/or act (even one of the three would be an improvment) to take his place, it would have been a charming bit of fluff. _“I knew John Travolta. John Travolta was a friend of mine. You, sir, are no John Travolta.”_ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/32 "2013-07-10T14:14:41Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I saw this movie TWICE in the theaters in 1980, back before videos were ubiquitous. Then again, I think I was smack dab in the heart of their target market: 13-year-old girls, apparently. I still love the soundtrack, though. My sister was 12 when it came out; she and her friend adored the movie, and it’s still a guilty pleasure for them to this day. Myself, I was a 15-year-old boy, with a huge crush on Olivia, and ELO was (and still is) my favorite band. Those were my reasons. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/33 "2013-07-10T14:50:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, and here it is: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hcd02rr-1I) > > They did something similar in _Godspell_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txgcqvc8sJ8) I believe that’s the TV appearance, not the cut from the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/34 "2013-07-10T15:29:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I believe that’s the TV appearance, not the cut from the movie. [Here is the original movie version.](http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/5117/Xanadu_-_Dancin-_Two_bands_at_once/#.Ud19eErn9pg) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/35 "2013-07-10T17:26:48Z")
The movie was poplar…wasn’t there a sequel made…something like “A Night In Paradise”? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/36 "2013-07-10T17:31:06Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > The movie was poplar..wasn’t there a sequel made..something like “A Night In Paradise”? If you mean _Xanadu_, then, no. The film barely broke even at the box office, and received mainly mixed-to-negative critics reviews. No reason to make a sequel. And after _Grease_ and _Xanadu_, ONJ started working on a more adult/bad girl image, as in her _Physical_ music video. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/37 "2013-07-10T19:03:39Z")
I don’t know. Most of it sucks. Parts of it feel like a genuine attempt to make movie magic. A friend is very fond of Xanadu. We went to a free outdoor showing that attracted at least several hundred fans. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/38 "2013-07-10T19:10:20Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > If you mean _Xanadu_, then, no. The film barely broke even at the box office, and received mainly mixed-to-negative critics reviews. Agreed, and this is from someone who enjoyed the movie, even then. [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081777/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus) indicates that it had an estimated $20 million budget (not a huge budget, even in those days), and it looks like it might have grossed $22.8 million. Roger Ebert’s [review](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/xanadu-1980) from its original 1980 release is online; he gave it 2 stars, though, reading the review, I’m a little hard-pressed to see why he gave it 2: > [@Roger Ebert](#): > > “Xanadu” is a mushy and limp musical fantasy, so insubstantial it keeps evaporating before our eyes." > > "Well, Hollywood musicals have been made with thinner plot lines than this one, but rarely with less style. The movie is muddy, it’s underlit, characters are constantly disappearing into shadows, and there’s no zest to the movie’s look. " > > "The movie approaches desperation at times in its attempt to be all things to all audiences. Not only do we get the 1940s swing era, but a contemporary sequence starts with disco, goes to hard rock, provides an especially ludicrous country and Western sequence, and moves on into prefabricated New Wave. There are times when “Xanadu” doesn’t even feel like a movie fantasy, but like a shopping list of marketable pop images. " One of the few good things he had to say about it: “it’s not as bad as “Can’t Stop the Music.”” 😉 From what I remember, Ebert’s review was pretty typical. There weren’t too many people, at that time, who liked it, and most found it to be just silly. It’s grown in popularity in the years since, and has become a cult favorite, at least in part for the camp value. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/39 "2013-07-10T19:48:33Z")
My favorite one-word review is still “_Xanad_on’t.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053/40 "2013-07-10T20:01:23Z")
BTW, [Xanadu ranked #28](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1980) among the top-grossing movies of 1980. Heck, even the also-awful \*Flash Gordon \*(#23) beat it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xanadu/663053.md?page=3)