The three minute, twenty five second intro to Xanadu

I love the very enthusiastic dyed blonde queen with the moustache on roller skates. My eye goes right to him in every shot. I hope he's still on the planet with us.

I think it's tremendous

It's a circus, but without the animals.

When cocaine ruled Hollywood.

I wanted to be Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu when I was five years old in 1983.

SOMEHOW everyone in my life knew I am gay before I knew it.

How I adore this. One of my favourite songs. And the gorgeous male tight rope walker...

And the gorgeous future husband working that hair behind Olivia when she first emerges. Hot.

Are you stoned? No?

You’re doing it *wrong*.

This is so great, for so many reasons. Xanadu was released in the summer of 1980, before the decade truly defined itself and before we let go of the '70s. I saw this at least 7x in its original theatrical release.

It's a funny one because the album sold tons, was Number 1 with hit singles left and right but the film was a flop at the box office (perhaps for obvious reasons).

They certainly didn't trouble Olivia with any difficult choreography.

Xanadu was an apex mountain for anyone who appears in this film on roller skates.

It was originally intended to capitalize on the roller disco craze, but ended up being rewritten several times, which is why it's a total mess. But it looks good and has a great soundtrack.

I was so annoyed when I bought a ELO greatest hits cd and it was missing both "I'm Alive" and "All Around The World," two of their best singles.

OP, this is a cut version the YouTube prefers for rights reasons, there’s also a one minute hoedown and a one minute hard rock part too, so the three minute intro isn’t so odd. It comes at the end of a very odd film ,so why not?

what did you do in the 70s if you couldnt skate?

Wonder how many weeks it took to film these 7 minutes. I thought it was fun entertainment.

Open your ass and see

What we have made is real

I read or heard on commentary that Gene Kelly's wife said he was pissed because you couldn't see his feet enough in the final film so it looked like he was cheating at the skating. (I disagree).

This short documentary talks extensively about the choreography and the finale.

The cute tightrope walker is Albie Selznick, who's straight, alive and still working.

So it is as bad as they say it is. How is that possible?

I was 8 years old in the summer of 1980. I was into all things Xanadu! I wanted to be Olivia and wanted Michael Beck as my boyfriend.

Is that a waffle iron at 4:33?

I want the muses mural painted on an accent wall in my living room.

FABULOUS

Friday the 13th and Xanadu. Summer '80 was really a campfest.

This should be re-released as a single.

I saw Xanadu and The Shining back to back when I was 13 in 1980. About as far apart as you can get in two films. Good times.

Thanks R17. You’re the best.

If you had told people back then that Xanadu would have a resurgence including a hit Broadway play, they'd have laughed you out of the room. It was that big of a bomb. Cool to see it get the last laugh. Time for Michael Beck to come back and remind folks he is NOT Andy Gibb in the movie. I can't convince some people otherwise and they do look much alike.

You can watch the full movie online for free, if you want to see the unedited ending.

the end sequence is REALLY long

If you wanted to know an example of camp, there you go. Someone thought they were making a classic musical, but it's only classic to gays.

Give me the dirty blonde on the left with his feathered hair, BDF, and cocky attitude at 1:58.

HOW I WISH THEY WOULD JUST RELEASE THE COMPLETE UNEDITED FINALE ON CD ALREADY!!!!!! Include the whole "Drum Dreams" section right into "Xanadu" with the tap dance section, "Fool Country" and then back to "Xanadu". Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?!?

[quote]I saw Xanadu and The Shining back to back when I was 13 in 1980. About as far apart as you can get in two films. Good times.

I vaguely remember seeing both around the same age too. What a strange combo! One was a terrifying, psychologically l-damaging horror film, and the other was based on a novel by Stephen King.

Its a wonderful mess. Olivia looks lovely but you get these vibes of awkwardness from her during the number. One can't blame her.

If I recall wasn't the aethestic supposed to be combining the 40s with the 80s, which was a plot point? Which is why a lot of the male dancers are in those zoot suits?

Isn't another point of the loooong intro to give Gene Kelly something to do before Olivia sings the song?

It makes no sense!

It’s a musical.

They were thinking, “finale.”

Tell me, especially younger people who have never seen Xanadu or Grease 2 before: would you classify this as better or worse than Xanadu?

1980 was fun. Michael Jackson, Queen, Xanadu, “Funkytown” American Gigalo, Empire Strikes Back, The Wall...

I loved this article about Xanadu from NY Mag. The best quote-

“I blame cocaine,” says Beane of the film’s glazed messiness. “It’s like people say, ‘When you hear Ray Charles play, you can hear the heroin’? When you watch Xanadu, you can see the cocaine up on the screen.”

So much time and money spent but the end result is so ugly. The music is great but it’s not pleasing to watch. I’ve never been able to sit through the whole thing from start to finish.

I loved Olivia so much around age 5. I had a legit crush on her.

Her crazy eyes at the beginning of this video make me worry a bit about my instincts. But she’s so cute!

If some of the numbers were better directed and produced, it would have been a better movie. Dancin and Suddenly are the biggest messes, there's no spark to them. Dancin was performed better on the Midnight Special and Olivia did Suddenly better in her Hollywood Nights special with Cliff Richard.

It did get a small handful of good reviews. NY times thought Olivia was very charming.

R43 But look how pretty she is in this dress with this hairdo!

[quote] The three minute, twenty five second intro to Xanadu

I see, so this is when essentially time stood still for you and you stop paying any attention to passage of time and the cultural changes it brings about. Well you've found a home here on DL, where your childhood lives on forever!

I saw it on a double bill with "The Great Muppet Caper." It is definitely in the top ten of "films so bad they're good." I watched it again a few years back on TCM and it was just as entertainingly bad as I remembered.

I watched this film twenty years ago and I just found it tedious...just long and dull. And I want to like it, I like ONJ and like any self-respecting gay born in the early to mid-70s, wanted to be her in my boyhood, but the idea of slogging through it again makes me ill.

I forgot that not only did it spark the leg warmer trend, but also the ribbon barrette trend that was very big in the first couple of years of the '80s (every girl I knew had them)

Thank you, [R18]

I spot some Solid Gold Dancers in there.

But do you spot the Mother of a Solid Gold Dancer?

I remember when this came out I was horrified to see the Tubes in it. They were a favorite of mine, and to see them in such a cheesy number was disheartening. To me it was overall a trainwreck of epic proportions; it still is but I find myself watching it whenever it's on.

And it did effectively kill Michael Beck's career

The gorgeous Matt Lattanzi is there just to the left as Olivia emerges on screen. He went on to marry her three years later.

I had fleas when I first saw this film. Godamned cars brought them inside my home!

[quote]r15 Open your ass and see / What we have made is real

At 01:25, to me it sounds like the crowd is chanting "Can't do!"

Cuz Xanadu is a XanaDON'T

[quote] The cute tightrope walker is Albie Selznick, who's straight, alive and still working.

Are you kidding? He's in that documentary about the film posted above, and in that he's about as "straight" as Aaron Schock's decorations for his congressional offices.

OLE LUVV YEW F'REVVA!

Fame and Flashdance are to blame for leg warmers, R47.

I remember seeing this film when I was a kid not long after it came out. I loved Grease and had heard the Xanadu soundtrack and thought I’d love the film too. But it’s a total mess.

It’s a real shame as the soundtrack is good, it’s got Olivia Newton John in it and Gene Kelly. But it’s like a pasted together collection of music videos.

It's sad that this was Gene Kelly's last film role.

Does anyone. Still wear. A leg warmer?

[quote] WTF were they thinking? Three and a half minutes of intro to a song?

Don;t forget: it was a place.... where nobody dared to go!!!

The intro is actually its own song, not part of Xanadu proper.

Not very catchy, is it Jeff?

The original making of documentary with rare alternate footage.

Including a wrap party with Cher and Olivia busting a move to Michael Jackson.

[quote]r47 the idea of slogging through it again makes me ill.

The idea of slogging through it has kept me from watching the whole thing even once.

It just looks soggily [italic]inane[/italic]. And Olivia is too low key to carry a movie.

I love Olivia’s little two step shimmy Xanadance move.

The fact that one of the great cinematic bombs of all time still ives and thrives, even on Broadway, is pretty amazing. Who'd have guessed.

I didn’t realize Olivia’s muse dress was different colors throughout the film. I thought it was all the same white frock.

It's the biggest piece of shit you'll ever love.

Well put, R70.

R51 "And it did effectively kill Michael Beck's career" True. John Travolta has been in several godawful films, but he dodged this bullet