It wasn’t that long ago that Olivia Newton-John left this plane of existence. The star of Grease, top-selling singer, and overall dreamgirl of many of my friends was good at many things. Picking projects, though, wasn’t one of them.
One of her largely forgotten films was 1980’s Xanadu. In the film, Newton-John plays (as far as one can tell from the weak explanation) a goddess who basically commutes back and forth to Earth, but who decides she likes some dude and wants to stay. There’s not a lot there to hang your hat on other than that, but the movie could absolutely have succeeded. Just its stars’ fresh-faced good looks and a killer soundtrack from ELO should have gotten it to the top of cinemaphile lists. But, with competition like The Blues Brothers, The Shining, The Empire Strikes Back, Friday the 13th and more, it didn’t have a chance. In retrospect, maybe adding a “the” to its name might have helped? Probably not.
The film also starred Gene Kelly, a legend in Hollywood. Today known for his work on films like An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, and Brigadoon, Kelly was still respected in 1980 but firmly belonged to a pre-rock-and-roll generation unlikely to see Xanadu.
How bad did it flop?
It barely met its budget of $20 million, and probably lost money for its studio. It became remembered as a catastrophic flop, even being nominated for the first ever Razzie awards. It’s still inspiring videos like this one, 40 years later.
I watched this film about two years ago after not having seen it in decades. And yeah, there’s a lot that’s bad about it. The dialogue is the thinnest of thin and there’s a general feeling of almost embarrassment that seems to imbue practically every performance. Even as a time capsule, it fails. Newton-John’s Kira is the embodiment of “lack of agency” — she literally exists only to please others and has absolutely no ability to act independently. While her dancing looks decent when she’s alone, her performance next to Gene Kelly, then a senior citizen, looks just plain awful. Even when Grandpa is Gene Kelly, getting outdanced by Grandpa has to hurt.
But there’s surprisingly good stuff
Unlike the video above, I think the special effects are pretty special. Rotoscoping was a very popular technique at the time. It required hours and hours of hard work by artists to produce one shot. The animation may not have had the groundbreaking style of Industrial Light and Magic, but it’s perfect for this film. Just knowing that so much work was put in by anonymous artists, in a film about how an anonymous artist finally chucks “the system” and gains happiness, is incredibly meta.
Gene Kelly, as I said, was far from his youth in 1980 but if you were into those old MGM musicals it was a treat to see him on the screen one last time. It’s unlikely there will ever be someone quite so smooth/cool as he was, so effortlessly.
The 1980s, but still, the treatment of women…
And let’s talk about Olivia Newton-John for a minute. Despite being treated onscreen like a blow-up doll and a clothes horse, she does her best to put everything out there she can. There isn’t much in this film to offer her (or indeed any woman at any time, it’s pretty misogynistic) but she really does put herself out there. A for effort even though it often ends up being a D for execution.
Without a doubt though, it’s the soundtrack by Electric Light Orchestra that should be remembered. The combination of Jeff Lynne’s production experience and Newton-John’s voice provide the perfect form of fantasy. Not just for that moment but perhaps for any moment. It’s almost unintentional ASMR. Add a surprising cameo by then-hot band The Tubes, and you have something ridiculously special. This isn’t just my opinion. The film may have visited theaters only briefly, but its soundtrack pervaded the summer of 1980 in a way that only top albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Saturday Night Fever, and Thriller have.
Worth another watch?
You’ll have to decide that for yourself. Just be prepared to shell out a buck or two. I was originally going to feature this as a “Streaming Saturday” article since I saw it on HBO Max. Then I discovered like hundreds of other shows and movies, it had been removed. There’s no trace of it there. You have to wonder why. I guess it’s just another fatality of David Zaslav’s poison pen. That man seems to genuinely hate HBO, doesn’t he?
