Xanadu has received it's share of trashing over the years, right from the get-go, the film seemed already D.O.A. despite riding on the heels of Grease and the disco/roller boogie movement. It hit-just like Can't Stop The Music-another musical/disco kind of thing-right when the Disco backlash was in full swing. Had it been two years earlier it would have done a lot better. The result was the studio had no idea how and whom to market it to, as music was in such a state of change at the time. It's really fun, very colorful to watch and contains as a record,the now-burned down art deco Pan Pacific auditorium which sat for many years, abandoned and decaying, right in the middle of Los Angeles, hidden somewhat by it's own wilderness of overgrowth. It comes across like an old fashioned film in many ways-the music, Gene Kelly (his last theatrical screen appearance before he retired for good- he did some TV after that), the dancing, Busby-Berkley overhead chorus line shots, and the boy-meets-perfect-gal-he-can't-have storyline. It's a lot of fun, no matter what people say and once you put it on you can't stop watching it. Music is by Olivia Newton-John(who looks totally hot especially towards the end in the big dance number) Electric Light Orchestra and The Tubes and combinations of all of them.
