Some couples spend their vacations sipping cocktails and dancing until dawn in exotic tropical locales. Others retreat to the comfort of the air conditioned bedroom of their modest suburban house and watch the 1980 musical bomb Xanadu via Comcast On Demand. I know which option Maura and I prefer...
Considering how unrelentingly harsh I was on the Sgt. Pepper's musical, it might seem odd that I think Xanadu, universally panned in its day, is the bee's knees. What can I say? It's a wonderful and rare experience, being able to witness a gory head-on collision between the 70's and 80's and to gawk at the art-directed carnage of excess.
Maura loves it for the cheesy colorfulness, its peek into old school roller culture, and Olivia Newton John's voice. I love it for its clueless enthusiasm, dated-yet-fascinating special effects work, and the Electric Light Orchestra's and The Tubes' contributions to the soundtrack.
(The Tubes' participation was a nod to cutting edge punk and new wave sounds that "the kidz" were into at the time. I've long considered The Tubes to be the 70's punk scene's John the Baptist figure, but based on the film's "new wave" costume designs and hair styles, it's clear the filmmakers didn't have clue one about the scene. Yet another reason to love the film, as far as I'm concerned.)
Actor Michael Beck blamed Xanadu for dissipating his post-Warriors career momentum. (For all the talk about what a dud the film was at the box office, Maura remembers going to the neighborhood theater to see the film when it premiered and finding that the show had sold out.) As a consequence, Beck fell irrevocably behind in the actors who might be Mark Metcalf but aren't stakes, thus allowing Craig Wasson to claim a decisive lead. (Beck went on to appear in Hal Needham's 1982 classic waste of celluloid, Megaforce, which should have wiped clean any karmic debts in a just universe.)
(from the Xanadu OST, 1980)
Olivia Newton John & Electric Light Orchestra - Xanadu
Electric Light Orchestra - The Fall
Who knew Polyhymnia had such a wild side?
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8 comments:
Never seen the movie, but love the album.
They're currently making a Broadway musical of it by tossing out everything but the songs and the title.
Great post. But I think in the movie, Kiri gives her real name as "Ter—" and then Beck shuts her up with a finger to her lips. So I always thought she was supposed to be Terpsichore, muse of dance.
And I cannot believe I paid that much attention to "Xanadu." Proof of your thesis; it's a cornerstone of our culture.
Your are correct, Jefferson.
That's actually one of Kira's sisters in that panel, from the sequence where they break free of the mural and cut loose...hence the oblique joke.
I remember when that movie came out me and my neighborhood friends would skate around our driveway circle and sing those songs. I haven't seen it in 20+ years, but strangely, I can still sing all the songs. Indelible imprint on the psyche or something . . . Is that why I love those off the shoulder, flowy outfits?
Hilarious -- I have the comic book, too! There's a very interesting feature on the making of XANADU in the current Entertainment Weekly that dispels the myth that it was a complete box office bust; it turned a profit, although it never approached GREASE-like numbers, which I think is what Universal was expecting. Some fascinating comments from Olivia in the story, too.
Wow, thanks for the tip, James! I'll have to pick that issue up.
Oh. My. GOD.
I HAD THAT COMIC BOOK. O_O...
my buddy & i invited another couple for a trip to NYC to, yes, wait for it... experience the Xanadu on-stage. oh yes. rejoice! it was wonderful.
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