The Club of Forgotten Dreams

XANADU (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Xanadu" is a flashy, absolutely fun, completely nonsensical yet alarmingly watchable musical. I first saw it in the early 1980's and had forgotten it. Seeing it again now in 2012, it is pure kitsch but also spirited kitsch.

Michael Beck (fresh, at that time, from his sublime work in "The Warriors") is Sonny Malone, a painter who had to abandon his own personal work to do "someone else's work." He paints larger versions of record album covers in a makeshift work environment with three other painters. One day, he runs into Olivia Newton-John who rollers skates up to him and kisses him. Then Sonny discovers that the album cover he is recreating features Olivia herself, who basically came out of thin air. That is because the dazzling blonde beauty is a muse who calls herself Kira! The building in the background of the album cover is an abandoned art-deco auditorium. The grand tap-dancing legend Gene Kelly shows up as a former big band leader, Danny McGuire, who longs to live the good old days of 1945 and, well you guessed it, it is high time to put on a show at the defunct auditorium.

It doesn't take much to figure out how these elements fuse together. What is fascinating is how Sonny and Danny dream up their idea of a nightclub that has elements of 1940's big-band music and 1980's rock (which includes the Electric Light Orchestra). The last few scenes of "Xanadu" handles these musical numbers fairly well, though I could have lived without these dancers riding on roller skates (the film was originally a roller boogie disco picture, and thank God that idea was scrapped). I don't get how this muse, who brings inspiration and initially inspired Danny forty years earlier, doesn't inspire Sonny to paint what he loves as opposed to commercial art. How does Sonny's aspirations have anything to do with converting an auditorium into a ritzy nightclub?

My other problem is Michael Beck - he is no romantic leading man. He has too much edge and a certain killer instinct in those penetrating eyes that makes it hard to fathom any chemistry with Olivia. Olivia mostly dances and smiles as brightly as any toothpaste commercial. Gene Kelly has such a fantastic role as a somewhat dashing old legend who can still tap dance like no one's business that it night have been a more heartfelt, genuine film had he fallen for Olivia, rekindling his 1940's glory years.

"Xanadu" is technically a mess but it also has a certain gracefulness to it. The dancing has flair and it pops, especially Gene Kelly's duet with Olivia. I just wish they got rid of those damn roller skates.