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Xanadu (1980)

 
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Brent Gair
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Joined: 21 Nov 2014
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:17 pm    Post subject: Xanadu (1980) Reply with quote

One of my last holy grail movies has been announced for Blu-ray Disc release in early March.

I'm a huge XANADU fan and had almost given up on a BD release but Universal has it penciled in for this Spring.



XANADU was a flop and it was the victim of a few unfortunate events. The detractors will say it was just a bad movie.

Fair enough . . . everybody has their taste in movies, and if somebody doesn't like this, there's no point in arguing about it.

Certainly a significant strike against XANADU was awful timing. Developed at the height of the disco craze, XANADU was released in 1980 when disco was not only on it's last legs but was suffering from a major backlash.

In 1979, XANADU may have been cutting edge pop-culture. But, a few months later in 1980, everything about it seemed comically dated. It was the quintessential 1970's movie . . . released in 1980.

But the years have been kinder to XANADU. No longer judged against the "futuristic" 1980s, the movie has a stalwart following of born-again 1970s fans.

And, whatever shortcomings this production had as a movie, it was a musical masterwork of 1970's pop with Olivia Newton-John and ELO.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember really resenting all the rearrangements of the classic songs into disco numbers back in the day.

That is, until I took some hustle lessons. Then I couldn't get enough. I used to play my disco mix cassettes while driving around in my car, envisioning dance moves to try out. (It was probably almost as dangerous as driving while texting, or at least talking on the phone.)

The drawback to dancing the hustle(s) well was that it required having a steady partner you could rehearse (and invent) your dance moves with. But if you had that arrangement, it could be spectacular.

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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I liked the film even if it did spawn the Golden Raspberry Awards. The exterior was the beautiful Art Deco Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which sadly burned down in 1989 after years of neglect.

There was a joke in the movie Action, where the star of the movie was denied entrance to an exclusive restaurant, while another producer was allowed inside.

The Maitre De explains his actions by telling the star how much the Matrix made.

The star replies, "Yes, but he also made Xanadu."

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't seen Xanadu in years, and I knew nothing about the Art Deco Pan-Pacific Auditorium until you mentioned it's tragic loss by fire.

I'll bet I could download Xanadu and start doing the hustle in the comfort of by own home!.

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Aug 07, 2022 5:55 pm; edited 2 times in total
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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And maybe I might watch it with you.
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Dr Acula
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Joined: 23 Feb 2016
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm one of those who really rather like it. It's a fun fantasy flick, but the script falters at the end, where the film more or less stops rather than truly ends.

Some of the musical numbers and dance arrangements are magical, like the Dancing medley between the Tubes and Olivia Newton John, and the musical suite at the end with all the different song types. There is even a Don Bluth animation sequence!
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Zackuth
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Joined: 31 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm a big fan of Xanadu also.

I saw this in a theatre, but it would have been late 81 or early 82 because I was stationed at the San Diego Naval Base at the time.

I like the music (I wore out a few tapes in my Walkman) and the dancing numbers were fantastic. I was completely entertained by the movie and still am after all these years and quite a few viewings.
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Rick
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually liked disco quite a bit. I worshiped at the altar of Gene Kelly. And I was madly in love with Olivia Newton-John.

But this was one of the worst major motion pictures ever made.

I saw it when it was brand shiny new, the very day that it opened. I had read no reviews, didn't know what to expect, but, hey, Gene Kelly was in it. How bad could it be?

Well . . . terrible, that's how bad.

I taped this off HBO ages ago and would show the tape to people very often. It always earned the sort of hoots and laughs normally reserved for the likes of PLAN 9 from Outer Space.

Weirdly, when it was renovated as a Broadway musical, it got some really great reviews and did good business.

I knew a couple of people in that cast and they were dumbfounded. They had just assumed that the critics would massacre them. But I gather the writers and director had done a great job of buffing it up in just the right places for a modern audience.

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scotpens
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's been reported that the script of Xanadu was being rewritten daily as it was shot -- never a good sign.

Rick wrote:
. . . Weirdly, when it was renovated as a Broadway musical, it got some really great reviews and did good business. I knew a couple of people in that cast and they were dumbfounded. They had just assumed that the critics would massacre them. But I gather the writers and director had done a great job of buffing it up in just the right places for a modern audience.

I haven't seen the stage version, but I understand it's been reworked as an intentional spoof. Maybe that's what the movie should have been all along.

As a side note, the first line of the title song — "A place where nobody dared to go" — I used to hear as "A place where nobody tears your clothes".
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Well, as a musical finale, this beats the hell out anything that cinematic piece of shit calledl Grease inflicted on us! Rolling Eyes


_________________________ Xanadu Finale


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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
I actually liked disco quite a bit. I worshiped at the altar of Gene Kelly. And I was madly in love with Olivia Newton-John.

Weren't we all? She had the face and voice of an angel.

But this movie did nothing for her career, except to prove once and for all that she couldn't act.
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tmlindsey
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sadly, Olivia Newton-John just passed away Crying or Very sad

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/entertainment/olivia-newton-john-obit/index.html

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Olivia Newton-John, singer, actress and philanthropist, died Monday, Aug. 8 at the age of 73 after a long struggle with breast cancer. Newton-John is survived by her husband, John Easterling, who announced the sad news via her official Facebook page, and her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi.

"Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2022 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Dammit, I'm sick and tired of learning that beautiful and talented people who were young and healthy when I was in my prime have suddenly passed away and left me thinking that the Grime Reaper is standing behind my sofa, looking over my shoulder and waiting for the right moment to lop off my head with that black scythe he carries!






I'll turn 74 a week from tomorrow — August 16th. Finding out that the lovely and talented Olivia Newton-John died at 73 makes me think I'm only still around today because Mr. Reaper skipped me by mistake, and I'm not long for this world! Shocked


__________


With that in mind, I hope the members of All Sci-Fi will remember me fondly when I've gone to Xanadu and started rubbing incorporeal elbows with a beautiful blond, blue-eyed angle . . . named Olivia!
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