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Episode 60: Xanadu
45 Plays1 month ago
It's time for Employee Picks and Greg’s up first with the bonkers musical Xanadu(1980). Despite the talents of Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck and also many others behind the scenes, this mash-up of big band music and the roller-disco fad landed with a resounding thud. However, ELO’s contribution would drive the soundtrack to platinum in multiple countries, searing this camp classic into the collective unconscious. And into our hearts! Tune in
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Transcript
Introduction to Bad Movie Podcast
00:00:28
Speaker
Yes, you know that you should.
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. It's the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:00:54
Speaker
We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson, and with me, as always, I have the Danny to my sonny, Mr. Greg Bossy.
00:01:04
Speaker
Hello. How are you, Chris?
Researching for Next Week's Movie
00:01:08
Speaker
I'm doing good. I'm doing very good. I'm a little bit off kilter because I spent a lot of today researching next week's movie. Yeah. yeah now I'm trying to be like, oh, yeah, Xanadu. Right, right, right, right. Get into the head. Get into the mindset. Get into the mindset.
00:01:22
Speaker
And this movie is a mindset. Oh, it is. Yes. Happy to be Danny. Xanadu. It's a place. It's a mindset. Mm-hmm. And of course we have with us my wonderful wife, the Danny to my Kira.
00:01:38
Speaker
It's Anna Anderson. How are you, my dove? Doing okay. Good. and We're glad
Employee-Picked Film Series Discussion
00:01:45
Speaker
to have you with her. This is the first in our series of employee picks episodes. ah these Each week we'll be doing a film that each one of us chose and we watch them in our Discord with the Discord dogs.
00:01:59
Speaker
Shout out to the Discord dogs. Heyo! Hi. hi If you want to join the discord, just reach out. We will shoot you
Greg's Connection to Xanadu
00:02:09
Speaker
that invite. We'd love to have you.
00:02:11
Speaker
ah And you chose this week's pick, Greg. I did. You chose Xanadu. I did Yes. So tell us about your history with Xanadu. Okay.
00:02:26
Speaker
ah So my history with Xanadu is that it was sophomore year of college and And I had a real big like taste change end of college. And then many years later when I eventually go on to start liking bad movies. So this is like a decade before I liked bad movies, but I was killing some time before I had to go to class. I'd like five, 10 minutes or something. it's like, I'll just s flip through cable. I'll find something.
00:02:50
Speaker
And I breezed past VH1 and I stopped because I heard the song Magic, which I knew and really liked. ah Yeah. And I was like, what is this? And it was just a woman slowly roller skating through like an abandoned kind of gymnasium with this strange conversation And she kept kind of eventually like phasing in and out of reality. And I was just transfixed.
00:03:15
Speaker
And I was just like, what is this? And I found out it was Xanadu. And then I remembered that I had to go to class and I had to pull myself off of that couch. And I said, one day I'm going to watch that.
00:03:26
Speaker
ah and That didn't happen until many, many years later when okay I had come back to, I was having a pretty particularly poor moment in my life, as I recall.
00:03:38
Speaker
And I came to your apartment to watch a movie. And i you were like, what do you want to watch? I was like, I just want something real fun and stupid. And you were like, what about Xanadu? And I remembered that scene. And i was like, yes, yes, let's watch that.
00:03:52
Speaker
And I remember like two thirds, three quarters of the way through turning to you and saying, is there a villain in this film? And you said, self-doubt?
00:04:07
Speaker
And it's like, yeah, that's it. That's about it. The reason I picked this movie is because, I mean, I love it. ah It feels we talked about the kind of a movie that you say is yours because like you found it and no one really talks about it. This is not that movie because a lot of people like this movie.
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah. This movie feels like a part of me Like, I feel like this is the, ah like, show it to a significant other to, like, in for like there's something about
Why Xanadu Resonates
00:04:36
Speaker
myself. Let's watch Xandadu together. You know what I mean? Okay.
00:04:39
Speaker
Like, it's at that level. it's got I love Jeff Lynne. I've gone on to, like, really enjoy a lot of his work, even outside Yeah. Uh, it's got Kenny Ortega doing choreography and he did high school musicals. So it's got, and of course yeah all the music and stuff in there, like it's got so many, it's touched on so many parts of my life.
00:04:59
Speaker
Uh, and it's pure joy to watch just pure joy. It is. And I will say that it does remind me of you, Greg. I could i can see why the two of you yes match up.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like if you're going to describe me, it's a way to describe me would be like, my friend Greg has got interesting taste. He likes David k Cronenberg films in Xanadu. It's like, yeah, that's that's the that's the spectrum.
00:05:24
Speaker
now It feels like when you described it right now, it holds ah in your heart a similar place to where Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is in mind, where it's just like a movie that you can watch that just like you walk away feeling really good.
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like this movie has such good vibes. Yes, it does. And at the same time, it's really terrible. Yeah, and there's it's got a lot of problems. Oh, yeah.
00:05:53
Speaker
There's a reason why it was not a hit. Yeah, but one of the things it does have going for it is an absolutely incredible soundtrack. Mm-hmm. Like, that pulls you through the whole thing.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure i had watched it at ah the video store at some point. And it was the kind of thing that I thought of as sort of fun and interesting, but I didn't really appreciate it until we watched it together with the Discord. That was such a fun way to watch it.
Anna's First Impressions of Xanadu
00:06:27
Speaker
And and youre you gave a great introduction that I feel like really like opened me up to being ready to, to fall in love. Well, thank you. Thank you. And, uh, and I think I really did. I, I think this is just a super movie.
00:06:42
Speaker
Anna, what was your background with Xanity? Um, I had not seen it until we watched in the discord a couple of months ago. i only knew it by, ah by reputation as being, yeah you know, that bad movie where Olivia Newton, John sings on skates and,
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, it is that. And I got to say that my take on that is is really, I feel like and feel like the world wasn't ready in 1980. 1980 is just like the wrong year for it.
00:07:15
Speaker
Like, it makes a lot of sense to me that we were all born around 1980 and really liked it. Yeah. You know, that that completely makes sense.
00:07:26
Speaker
makes sense to me that it's doing a lot of things that i don't know. Yeah. Weren't really common in movies until a generation later. And I think it's fair to say there would be no Beyonce's lemonade without Xanadu.
00:07:43
Speaker
Uh, this is interesting. I'm throwing that out there. you I'm not going to defend it at all. I have not thought it through. You're just going to put it on the table, and then we're going to leave it there. Yeah.
00:07:54
Speaker
We report. You decide, Luson. All right. Fair enough. And we've reported. So now it's your turn. Now you decide. um Well, give you guys- Did we get this synopsis?
00:08:06
Speaker
No. No. Oh, my goodness. You're right. We got so excited. Lusons, if you have not seen Xanadu, here's just a brief summary to hold in your mind.
00:08:22
Speaker
A young artist is feeling uninspired until a beautiful muse inspires him to team up with an aging clarinetist to create his greatest work of art yet.
00:08:34
Speaker
A big band slash rock and roll fusion nightclub slash skating rink called Yeah. Yep.
00:08:44
Speaker
yep Yeah, and that really is the whole plot, huh? Yes. Yeah. yeah There is, like, literally two scenes of conflict that happen within the last five minutes of plot.
00:08:58
Speaker
Because the last 15 minutes of the movie is one continuous musical number. Yeah. yeah I clocked it today. Nice. yeah yeah There is a solid, I'm going to say, at least 12 minute musical number to wind up the film before the closing credits.
00:09:18
Speaker
Which is crazy. Yes. It's so There are three other songs within the song. At least. Yeah. yeah It's wild. Do you guys want to hear the context that I found out about Xanadu? Please.
00:09:33
Speaker
Please. Yeah. Oh, it's all hell to come.
00:09:50
Speaker
So Xanadu came out in 1980 and
00:10:15
Speaker
so xnadu came out in nineteen eighty The director, Robert Greenwald. Greenwald. ah The tagline, ah fantasy, a musical, a place where dreams come true.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah, all true. Yeah. Yeah, no, I'd say that's very apt. now robert greenwald he was born on august 28th 1945 in new york city a true baby boomer his father was a pioneering psychotherapist who developed the technique direct decision therapy anybody heard of that no no listeners check out direct decision therapy it might work maybe it's not be discredited That might be one of the good ones.
00:11:04
Speaker
yeah episode We haven't done any research in our doctors for legal reasons. We have to say that. It's true. His uncle was famous choreographer, Michael Kidd. Okay.
00:11:17
Speaker
Choreography fans. Yeah. ah Greenwald started his directing career in the theater in New York. ah He notably directed a production of I Have a Dream in 1976, a play based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and starring Billy Dee Williams.
00:11:37
Speaker
Wow. Okay. I'd check that out. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds fun. I mean, not fun necessarily. It sounds good. Yes. Yes. He moved to L.A. in 1972 and transitioned from theater to movies there. He did a little bit of a theater at first, but he worked his way into film.
00:11:57
Speaker
He mostly worked as a producer, ah but he directed three TV movies titled Sharon Portrait of a Mistress, Katie Portrait of a Centerfold and Flatbed Annie and Sweetie Pie Lady Truckers.
00:12:12
Speaker
Wow. Making Xanadu in 1980. Yeah. Flatbed Annie and Sweetie Pie Lady Truckers. That I need to see.
00:12:22
Speaker
Xanadu was not Robert Greenwald's idea. He did not come up with the concept of a roller skating fantasy musical. That credit belongs to co-producers Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver.
00:12:37
Speaker
The two of them had worked previously together on The Warriors. Okay. okay You guys like The Warriors? I love The Warriors. I love The Warriors. and that yeah I can kind of see the...
00:12:50
Speaker
The mutual influence. Yeah, that kind of makes sense. When you said the names, was like, they sound very familiar, but it's like I've watched both of these movies, so that makes sense. Yeah, and and Joel Silver went on to do, I think, a lot of stuff that you'd be familiar with. Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
also might explain Michael Beck being in this as well. Absolutely. Now, the original casting for the lead role of Sonny was supposed to go to Andy Gibb. Okay. Which makes sense because Andy Gibb can sing.
00:13:16
Speaker
And this is a musical. ah But then that fell through. So they were able to get Michael Beck, the star of the Warriors, to jump in. Now, Olivia Newton-John was cast on the back of her performance in the smash hit Grease.
00:13:31
Speaker
Obviously, Grease, huge hit. If you get Olivia Newton-John in your musical, you got it. Obviously, then you got Gene Kelly up in the mix.
00:13:44
Speaker
Now, Kelly was initially cast with the understanding that he would do no singing or dancing. What? Yeah. he's like um He's like, I'm past my prime. I'm just in it to act.
00:13:56
Speaker
Wild. If you want to pay me to just be in your movie, sure. But you're not getting the good stuff. And maybe maybe they couldn't meet his quote. Maybe. Maybe. They were eventually, though, able to convince him to do a little singing, a little dance and a little roller skating.
00:14:14
Speaker
You'll see that like in he's maybe in two or three numbers. He's in the changing montage. Yeah, he's in the roller skating ah final final act. nelly But in both of those, like he's not in a lot of shots.
00:14:33
Speaker
Like that's a lot of the chorus dancing and he's just in like four or five shots in each number. So I'm sure they were not working him. But then there was also uh, the number that he did in, uh, his house.
00:14:50
Speaker
That was his house. Was that his actual house? No. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying that was his actual house. I was just like, that's crazy. I thought you figured that out. I'm sure Gene Kelly had a beautiful house. I'm sure he did. I'm sure he did.
00:15:03
Speaker
ah But in in his character's house, anyway. and Okay. He... That scene was the number that he like was like, okay, I think I could try out doing a dance number.
00:15:16
Speaker
But he wanted to have it be a closed set with just him, the cinematographer, the choreographer, and ah just a couple of like lighting guys. Interesting. Interesting.
00:15:27
Speaker
And if you see him dancing, like obviously he's dancing beautifully in this movie. Yeah. But none of the takes go on for longer than a minute. And he's not doing anything that's like wildly athletic. He's just moving gracefully.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah. and Yeah. You know, but because he's, I think he was 68 at this point. Yeah. I know is his last movie that was Yeah. And I think, I think 68 when you were born in 1912 is older than 68 now.
00:15:58
Speaker
That's fair. you Yeah. But he looks great in this movie. He does. Yeah. He is, he is very graceful. And some of that, like,
00:16:12
Speaker
I don't know. I can see stamina for athleticism in dancing, you know obviously getting lower as you get older, but because because grace requires fluidity in movement and you start to...
00:16:30
Speaker
you start to stiffen up and get less, less flexible. Like yeah the, the gracefulness is, is honestly even more impressive to me. Yeah. Yeah. And, and you can tell that it's the result of a lifetime of athleticism. You know what I mean?
00:16:46
Speaker
Like this was a, a guy who had physically trained himself to be a ah beautiful work of art. And it clearly pays off too late for me though.
00:16:57
Speaker
ah You could start. It's true. i've I've been getting on the exercise bike at least. There we go. So his dance number, yeah, we all agree it looked great. It was one of the stronger musical numbers.
00:17:11
Speaker
Another favorite musical number of mine in the film was also a late addition to the picture. ah Don't Walk Away, the animated sequence. Okay. This sequence was done by Don Bluth, who were they able to get for just a song,
00:17:28
Speaker
Hey, for a song, ah because he had just left Disney and he was looking to start making his own films. So this is a good way to start. Yeah. You know, working your way towards that. Yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah. Get a successful job, get a paycheck, get some systems in place, you know. Now, the Electric Light Orchestra provided a handful of previously written songs, as well as at least one new one. They did write the title track.
00:17:56
Speaker
Uh, and, uh, their maximalist pop rock stylings work perfectly for such an over the top film. I think, I think this is a real perfect marriage.
00:18:08
Speaker
Uh, Now, with the combined talents of Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Yellow, and Don Bluth, it's easy understand why this ragtag sort of mishmash band of stars would sort of leave producers to believe that they would have a hit on their hands.
00:18:27
Speaker
They even had I watched a 22 minute making of special about this. Everybody was very psyched. and i had good to actually watch that I'd also like to mention very quickly that Kenny Ortega, while also having done the high school musical trilogy, he also choreographed Dirty Dancing.
00:18:43
Speaker
Oh, wow. Like he's a name. He's ah yeah, he's he's in the business and he is respected. Yeah, I think if anything, ah complaint that I saw about this film that I kind of agreed with was that the choreography was not shot very well.
00:18:59
Speaker
Sure. That it was often shot from eye level. And so you couldn't get a view of all the dancers very, you know, it would have been more impactful if they put the camera on top of a ladder. Yeah.
00:19:10
Speaker
That's sort of, i think, emblematic of a lot of little unexpected things that sort of added up to be like, oh, yeah, that's why people don't generally like this movie. this That's why this didn't connect.
00:19:22
Speaker
Because it does do a lot of things strangely wrong for all the things that are wonderful and pleasant about it. Yeah. It's so easy to be like, of course, course nobody's going to watch this.
00:19:35
Speaker
Uh, they also, i I don't know how much you could talk about this. I don't know how much to talk about this right now, but it's such a like potpourri of ideas. Yes. Uh, it's yeah just held together on the barest thread.
00:19:49
Speaker
I call it a film by committee. Like, I feel like you see old dogs is another one of these, or it's just like, we put this in here for this particular target market. It's like, you sure did. Yeah.
00:20:02
Speaker
Now, audiences and critics, however, ah this band of all-stars was a little too ragtag for them.
00:20:12
Speaker
It only pulled in $23 million dollars at the box office on its $20 million dollars budget, so at least it did turn a profit, given that. Variety described it as stupendously bad. Yeah. Okay.
00:20:27
Speaker
Roger Ebert described it as mushy and limp. Mm-mm.
00:20:33
Speaker
To add insult to injury, a double feature of Xanadu and the Village People musical Can't Stop the Music inspired John J.B. Wilson to create the hated Golden Raspberry Awards. Yeah.
00:20:49
Speaker
o
00:20:55
Speaker
And it won the first ever Razzie for worst director for John Greenwald or Robert Greenwald. Yeah. Robert Greenwald, who later on in life went on to direct a lot of left wing documentaries. Yeah.
00:21:15
Speaker
Yeah. like The made for TV movie, The Burning Bed, I think. Yeah. But he also did like, what was it? The Walmart, the high cost of low prices, stuff like that, that there were a lot of them in like the mid aughts as like a response to the George Bush years.
00:21:34
Speaker
A classic trajectory for a career. I mean, hey, he was on the right side history. I can't, I can't be too mad at him. And he made Xanadu. So Andy made Xanadu. So I have no reason to be mad at other musicals 1980. Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:21:48
Speaker
oh yeah So you got the apple, obviously. Yes. These two movies, just perfect. Yeah. They're two sides of the same coin.
00:22:00
Speaker
And I love that coin. It feels like what one gets right, the other one gets wrong. Yeah.
00:22:08
Speaker
You also obviously got Can't Stop the Music, which I should revisit. I know it's got Steve Dudenberg in it. Never seen it. Yeah. It might be a great double feature with Xanadu.
00:22:19
Speaker
It's true. ah You also got Popeye. oh wow. Robert Altman's Popeye. ah You got the Blues Brothers. Oh, classic. Okay. i sake okay What always weirded me out about the Blues Brothers is they would play their songs on the radio like they were a real band.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was always interesting. It would, like, give me cognitive dissonance while I was driving. It's a great movie, though. You know, I'm not sure if I've ever seen it.
00:22:47
Speaker
if It's a good time. Yeah, Fame. Fame came out in 1908. I want to live forever. Yes. Remember the movie's name. It's Fame. And you got Forbidden Zone, the Oingo Boingo musical.
00:23:03
Speaker
Oh. no Don't know anything about it. No, yeah. Oingo Boingo made a musical. i think I think Danny Elfman might have directed her Richard Elfman, one of them, might have directed it. Cool.
00:23:14
Speaker
So, yeah. Eclectic year for musicals. Yeah, yeah. You could really see a lot of different styles. We hadn't gotten our first hip-hop musicals yet.
00:23:25
Speaker
Those, I think, are still a couple years out. But they're coming. Well, you guys want to talk about the plot of Xanadu? Yes. All right, let's hit it.
00:23:53
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:24:05
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:24:18
Speaker
So we start with an overture over a retro Universal logo. I love an overture. What do you guys feel about overtures? It's always nice. And I'm glad that they gave us a visual because sometimes it's just like blank screen while we do this. It's like, give me give me a little something.
00:24:35
Speaker
I like it when it's a title card that says overture. that also You know what? That's a little something. Yeah. you Give me that. But I would like to say that this logo is first like an old style, like passenger plane and then a Concorde and then a spaceship.
00:24:54
Speaker
And so I think it's, we're we're already getting into the like too much. Like we got into it in the first 15 seconds of the film. Yeah. It's thrown out ideas at the rate of like airplane. Like you can slow down.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:11
Speaker
So then we cut to Sonny, a young artist played by Michael Beck, the star of our picture, who for some reason does no singing and almost no dancing.
00:25:23
Speaker
That's correct.
00:25:27
Speaker
What do you guys think about Michael Beck in this movie? I really like Michael Beck as an actor. I love this movie, so it's hard to like say anything disparaging about him.
00:25:38
Speaker
But he is very much just like, a I'm here, ah look good, i say my lines, and then, you know, I roller skate. Yeah, it's not a particularly challenging role.
00:25:53
Speaker
No. Yeah. It's very... off-putting that he does not sing or dance everything else that he does is great but the fact that he's the lead in a musical it like it reminds me of like when you're doing a high school musical you're like well we're gonna have to cut it for time let's cut out all the songs for the men because none of the guys can sing anyway that was not my experience in high school uh none of us could fucking sing
00:26:26
Speaker
And it had that kind of vibe to me. So ah Sonny is frustrated with his latest work, a ah graphite illustration he drew with a fountain pen somehow.
00:26:41
Speaker
He tears it up and he tosses that out the window, exclaiming, oh, what the hell? Guys like me shouldn't dream anyway. yeah Great line.
00:26:53
Speaker
Then the torn up drawing flies out the window, carried on the wind over to a large mural depicting the nine Grecian muses.
00:27:04
Speaker
These muses are all real. And we get our first musical number of the picture. i am alive. Yeah. Yeah. a great song by the electric light orchestra, but it is very strange that this song is introducing Olivia Newton-John and Olivia Newton-John isn't singing an introduction song.
00:27:24
Speaker
The long questionable choices in this film. It feels like these guys could have stood to like watch just a couple Disney princess movies and be like, we need to just make this a Disney. If this, if they had structured this like a Disney princess movie, it would have worked.
00:27:40
Speaker
It would have been off there home run. Yeah, no, that's that's that's interesting, and I hadn't really ah thought about thought about it, but it is but I do think part of why it doesn't work is that it's not...
00:27:55
Speaker
following the the tropes of the musical. Yeah. Or any tropes, really. There's really no story. It's, yeah, it's just like ah collection of things.
00:28:07
Speaker
It feels like an AI did. It's like, I've seen a movie. This is what it is. It's like, that's mean that's technically a movie. Yes. if It feels like they started with the songs and then they worked backwards. Yeah. But the songs didn't like it.
00:28:22
Speaker
Is this what a jukebox musical is like? I've never seen one. This feels like a jukebox. I think it's just that movie by committee vibe where it's just like we've got this point. And then for these people, we got this. And let's not forget, dad, we got this in there. It's like, but what is the through line to any of it?
00:28:37
Speaker
Like what holds it all together? It's like you're paying for it. That's what holds it together. They're building a club. Mm hmm. There we go. Roller skates. Yeah. But what did you guys think of ah I'm Alive?
00:28:50
Speaker
Great its song. Great song. It's a great high energy number. to start Oh, yeah. um I do think that the Miro looks pretty bad.
00:29:00
Speaker
I don't hate it. I'm not mad at it. I think it's a little abstract. i mean yeah I think what it is, is it's it's weird to me that it's like these women are coming, they're like popping out of this thing. It's like, then you'd think that they would look more realistic in a way.
00:29:15
Speaker
yeah Now, this movie, it's all about expressionism. It's not about realism. That's fair. that's fair Oh, I'm sorry, Twinkle. oh cat alert cat alert she jumped up on the arm and i moved my arm and knocked her down accidentally oh yeah well uh olivia newton john escapes the mural and roller skates right up to sunny and kisses him on the mouth and then she skates away perfect Yeah, classic meet cute.
00:29:49
Speaker
You summoned me with your torn up drawing and now I have kissed you. Goodbye.
00:29:56
Speaker
ah Sonny then wanders over to his job where he's painting giant reproductions of album covers to hang in record stores. This job sounds amazing.
00:30:07
Speaker
Was this really a thing? I don't think if I don't think if there was, it probably wasn't ah like a team of six guys like they have here. Yeah. This is probably like maybe three guys.
00:30:22
Speaker
Tops. And this is like a special thing that your record company is trying out for a year ah to promote records. And then they realize it doesn't work. And then they stop. It's really slow way to get an album cover enlarged and printed.
00:30:37
Speaker
Well, you know, at the time there weren't Kinkos everywhere. It was 1980. Right, but I feel like it's still... In 1980 you should be able to get a poster printed. Well, this is much bigger. than These paintings are... They're six feet tall. because of court No, there's no way you could get... There's no way you get like a six-foot piece of paper printed with a picture on it in 1980. No, not in 19... Not at these prices. No. not Not in that market.
00:31:00
Speaker
I think it genuinely might be cheaper... to have paid an artist to do it than to blow it up that big. I think it's still very, very expensive.
00:31:13
Speaker
Yeah, and especially if you wanted to get it printed on canvas. Yeah. You know? Well, regardless of the economics of the job, it seems like it would be a pretty good gift. it'd be pretty kick-ass. Yeah, it'd be great.
00:31:26
Speaker
You know, you work on your craft during the day at night. You can work on your own projects, you know, but Sonny fucking hates it for some reason. Yeah, it's corporate gig.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah, he's like I don't like painting other people's things. I only want to paint my things, but also I've been a failure at that so far. Uh, so, Sonny's boss, Mr. Simpson, tells him to stop making the album cutter, stop making the album covers better than they actually are.
00:31:59
Speaker
And then he gives him his next assignment. That's one problem that Sonny has is he needlessly embellishes the album covers and he makes them look amazing, you know, and then people look at the real album cover and like, Oh, this sucks.
00:32:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:14
Speaker
It seems to me like maybe you should then hire him for your art department and have him paint album covers. That's fair. Now, the album cover that his next assignment is.
00:32:28
Speaker
Is an album that has Olivia Newton-John on the cover, the woman from before that just kissed him. And he's like, oh, my God, this is incredible. I was just kissed by this girl. I need to find her. this is just too much of a coincidence for old Sonny.
00:32:41
Speaker
So he storms out of work and immediately tries to find her. He hits a dead end talking to the people who made the album cover. ah So he goes back to the beach where he saw her that morning.
00:32:54
Speaker
ah He instantly gets distracted in his quest. However, when he hears the beautiful sound of Danny McGuire's clarinet, Danny McGuire is played by Gene Kelly and he is amazing.
00:33:08
Speaker
Yep.
00:33:10
Speaker
Now, we learn that Danny is a retired jazz man and a retired builder. And he and Sonny seem to be really hitting it off for no particular reason.
00:33:23
Speaker
yeah They're in a movie together. Yeah. Yeah. They meet and they're friends. They're fast friends. It is funny how quickly it happens. Yeah. He just walks over was like, hey, you play clarinet pretty darn good. and He's like, thanks.
00:33:36
Speaker
Let's hang out. I think it makes sense. I think they're two kind of lonely artist types. who It's true. We don't need someone to believe in them.
00:33:50
Speaker
You're absolutely right. I don't think. Well, anyway. Anyway, suddenly, Danny sees Kira in the crowd at the beach. He borrows a mini bike from a couple of babes, ah but he gets distracted mid-chase and accidentally drives off of a pier in a very funny gag.
00:34:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Real good. Danny takes him to a diner for lunch, and Sonny tells him all about his Kira situation.
00:34:20
Speaker
Now, later that day, Sonny skating around town, hitching the ride on the back of a diner's delivery truck that he painted. and When he finds himself rolling past the building he saw on the album cover, the one with Kira on it.
00:34:37
Speaker
It's a big dilapidated auditorium called Auditorium. Yeah. He breaks inside and he finds Kira skating around and singing the song Magic.
00:34:51
Speaker
What do you guys think of the song Magic? Love it. Yeah. This is probably her best song in the movie, I want to say. Yeah. It's incredible.
00:35:04
Speaker
I wrote down lots of arm dancing. Yes. lot of That's a trick to skate dancing. of Yeah. Yeah. You express to the arms. I mean, no, I know we have a couple of skate dancers that listen to the show.
00:35:19
Speaker
ah No disrespect to skate dancing. What she is doing here, I'm going to say she would not win any skate dancing contests. no ah No, no, no, no. That's what she's doing. Arm dancing, I think, because she's not a high enough level roller skater to do the yeah jumps and shit.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah. I also, is she singing it or is it just kind of playing in the background again? I feel like it might just be playing in the background. I feel like it might switch back and forth. That's also very possible.
00:35:53
Speaker
Because she also sort of blinks in and out of existence. She She does. she does oh So obviously, Sonny finds that to be very intriguing. Well, who wouldn't? Because I sure did as a sophomore in college sitting on a couch.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:12
Speaker
The two of them, they flirt a little bit after the song, and he's finally able to get a name out of her. It's Kira. Ira. Ira. Ira.
00:36:25
Speaker
The next day he goes into work, and he gets chewed out by his boss for making things that are too beautiful. And so he gets sent out to hang up some of the giant paintings at a record store.
00:36:38
Speaker
ah His boss has a really incredible line when they're having this conversation where he was like, you want to do what you want, but you can't have everybody at a company doing what they want. And then he's like, if you do, you got a lot of people running around doing what doing what they want to do.
00:36:55
Speaker
That's not a company.
00:36:58
Speaker
It's not wrong. No, he's not. But it's such an interesting line. And I feel like this is a movie by committee. I feel like that's sort of the committee being like, we know exactly what's wrong with companies.
00:37:10
Speaker
And it's all these people running and around doing all the stuff they want. Yeah. But it's also, you know, classic boss double speak, you know, this sort of solipsism, you know, because everybody, you got twist the knife on the boss. Audiences love when you twist the knife. Oh, yeah. And he's the closest thing we've got to a villain. And I'm pretty sure we won't really see him again after this.
00:37:32
Speaker
No, no. I think one more scene. Yeah. Like, it's just like, but they're very just like, hey, and then that's it, you know? Yeah. Like, Sonny, why I'm gonna?
00:37:44
Speaker
Yeah. And then, yeah. Now, uh, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. So while he's out hanging up records at the record store, he runs into his new friend, Danny.
00:37:56
Speaker
And the two of them head over to Danny's place to listen to Danny's new Glenn Miller record. It turns out that Danny used to play with Glenn Miller, and it also turns out that his house is basically the Palace of Versailles.
00:38:11
Speaker
ah Danny's fabulously wealthy. Extraordinarily nice. He has been a very successful builder. He made his fortune in the construction business, but he would love to open a nightclub again. He owned a nightclub back in the forties and he led a big band and his big bands thing was that they were all veterans, which was, so they were all in uniform.
00:38:35
Speaker
It was kind of cool, cool hook for a big band. I liked that. It made a more specific, um but he wants to open up a new nightclub, but he hasn't found the right place.
00:38:49
Speaker
So ah Danny says, ah oh, yeah. So he asked Sonny if maybe Sonny could find a place for him. And Sonny says he'll keep an eye out.
00:39:00
Speaker
and's It's weird to propose this to him, but I like that he does it. like I've tried real people, but you try to see if you can find me a piece of real estate. You've got the eye of an artist.
00:39:12
Speaker
That's what I need. I don't need the eye of a realtor. um i I mean, so there's not a lot of like characters throughout the whole movie because they really just, it's like three people.
00:39:22
Speaker
But I love that a lot of people are just like, you've got the eye for it. Yeah. Everybody knows that Sonny's very talented. Yes. He could do anything he puts his mind to if he's just inspired. Yeah.
00:39:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And women throw themselves at him, which we haven't really established, but there are women throwing themselves at him throughout the film. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit here and there. And men trying to throw their daughters at him, too, which is bizarre.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
Now, ah thetata keep an eye out. And then so Sonny heads home. Done for his bro down with Danny. ah Danny sits down, listens to the record, and he finally remembers the good old days via a musical number whenever you're away from me.
00:40:10
Speaker
just Just a classic sort of throwback, a little bit of soft shoe, a little bit of couples dancing with the Olivia Newton-John. Just a real charmer.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah. And this is where we also learn, too, that like Kira came to him as a muse at that time, right? Yes, that's why he was so good at jazz. Yeah.
00:40:34
Speaker
You're a jazz man, Greg. Does that speak to you? ah Muse is inspiring you? Sure. Yeah. Did a muse ever inspire you while you were on the sax? I mean, we could call, we could call, why can't I remember his name? Jerry Mulligan, we call him a muse, sure.
00:40:50
Speaker
Absolutely, we can call Jerry Mulligan a muse. Now, Sonny, meanwhile, he's gone back to his day job. ah But he's really working hard to paint Kira.
00:41:03
Speaker
That's that's the main reason why he's there. Loves painting Kira. So speak of the devil. Kira pops up at the studio. So ah ironically, now Sonny's blowing off work so that they can hang out again.
00:41:19
Speaker
Kira tells Sonny to tell Danny to buy the old auditorium, that it would be perfect for a new nightclub. And Sonny says, maybe, before taking her on a roller skating date at the very strange recording studio they have on site.
00:41:34
Speaker
They say in the movie it's just used for inspiration, which is insane. Yeah. It's just like one large warehouse with several sets. One's like a rooftop.
00:41:46
Speaker
One's a thunderstorm. I can't remember. there's ah There's an oasis. There's an oasis. Yeah. Yeah. A park bench. Yep.
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah. And they have a nice. Yes. And apparently somewhere, I think while on the rooftop set, Olivia Newton-John fell and broke her coccyx.
00:42:11
Speaker
Oh, God. Apparently it was very painful, as you might imagine. Sure, yeah sure. um I'm also going to take this time to say that it suddenly might be my favorite, not maybe my favorite number in the in the movie, but my favorite song itself.
00:42:28
Speaker
It's got a real nice sort of like adult contemporary love song duet. Just like you put this on the radio while you're on the highway and just cruising along, tapping your hand on the steering wheel.
00:42:39
Speaker
This was definitely, this is definitely a song that I knew well before Xanadu. Like I was surprised to learn that it was from Xanadu. Like, Oh, this is from this. Yeah.
00:42:50
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah. It's, it's a real charm. So,
00:42:56
Speaker
And as soon as the song is over, they get chased out of the studio by a mean old Mr. Simpson. And they go for a long walk that leads them over to the auditorium.
00:43:07
Speaker
and And now he's convinced. We keep coming back here. Why do you keep on walking me here?
00:43:17
Speaker
When the next day, he takes Danny there. And Danny quickly sees the potential of the space. He imagines a big band on a bandstand playing classy swing music in tuxedos.
00:43:31
Speaker
And Sonny says no. And Sonny imagines ah rock and roll band wearing neon orange jumpsuits and playing up-tempo contemporary rock music.
00:43:43
Speaker
And then they both imagine the two bands playing a mashup. And that mashup is called Danson. This is, i think, the thesis statement of the film.
00:43:55
Speaker
That's fair. This is a very important song. Yeah. And at one point they literally take the two sets and they push them together and they like interlock with people dancing on both of them.
00:44:06
Speaker
ah coming It's actually kind of really impressive. Yes. Except that it's also insane. We haven't really addressed. I feel like this is the first point in the movie where the insanity is starting to reveal itself.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah. Now the cracks are starting to show. It's starting to yeah sow its oats. Yeah. It's like, yeah. And train pick up steve I genuinely thought that that band was a lot of weird actors doing stupid things that no band would ever do. But apparently that's the tubes.
00:44:35
Speaker
That's the tubes. Yeah. And God, they were one of the few other bands that got a writing credit on here. If I remember it. Yeah. And yeah. And they're, the Both these songs feel like pastiches.
00:44:49
Speaker
yeah You know what i mean? like Neither of them feel authentic, but because we don't have as much familiarity with like what authentic swing dancing clubs are like, as much as we have you know familiarity with what 80s rock and roll music is like...
00:45:07
Speaker
The swing feels more authentic and the rock and roll just feels like very strange and surreal. Yes. And like slightly hellish. then Yeah.
00:45:19
Speaker
It's also someone pointed this out on the discord. Like, so they, at one point, like this is the eighties, which is one ridiculous. I love it when a show does the, or a television show or movies or something does it like in 1980 or 1990 where it's like, this is the nineties.
00:45:35
Speaker
It's like, it hasn't really been that for that long though. Yeah. Like we're not even into the nineties yet. We're into the 90, we're into the 80 at this point. And you're probably also with this filming it 1979, which is interesting.
00:45:48
Speaker
But as someone pointed out in the Discord, they're like, there's almost kind of making a prediction on what Rock was going to be like in a way. That's fair. Which is sort of interesting. But somehow not quite predicting the swing revival. No. Well, who could have?
00:46:05
Speaker
Yeah. But Anna pointed out while we were watching that, like, watching this pre-swing revival could possibly have been very discombobulating. Oh, yeah. Yeah. but But I guess it would have made more sense for the Gene Kelly fans. and Yeah, it's a weird, weird musical number. I love it. It's maybe it's my i think my favorite musical number as far as dance and song goes.
00:46:29
Speaker
That's fair. It was very impressive. At the beginning, the songs do sound very disparate. Yeah. Just because the ah the rock song's in a very minor key. But then when they get to the chorus, they change keys into something, i guess, a major key.
00:46:45
Speaker
And all of a sudden, now you begin to hear how they're going to start coming together. You know, it's impressive.
00:46:52
Speaker
Now, this concept of ah this mashup club gets Danny so excited. He decides to buy the auditorium and turn it into ah club and to have Sonny be his full partner.
00:47:09
Speaker
ah Despite Sonny providing no investment capital or ideas other than here's an old abandoned building where we can play rock and roll. Or cloud or influence.
00:47:22
Speaker
Yeah, no, just ah trust me. This kid, he's worth his 50%. He's earned it already.
00:47:31
Speaker
Danny ponders a name for the club, and kia recites the poem Xanadu to him. Love that we're throwing Coleridge into this now, too.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yeah, really classes up the joint. Yeah, yeah. The next thing in the chili, poetry. yeah Now, ah Sonny, he quits his job. He tells old man Simpson to stuff it.
00:47:56
Speaker
I'm not doing this beautiful, fantastic job for you anymore. That's right. Son of a bitch. And all his co-workers are like, I wish I was as talented as Sonny.
00:48:07
Speaker
oh I have to stay here and do this. They have pretty good jobs. Yeah. I'd take that job. I would love that job. Probably doesn't pay good. i Then after that, he goes on another date with Kira, where she evades all personal questions.
00:48:25
Speaker
Classic manic pixie muse girl. Yeah. That's great. and And I don't know if we've mentioned it, but I like that she uses a little bit of her accent in this movie.
00:48:37
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's no reason a Greek muse couldn't be Australian. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. Completely. Yeah, she's probably using, like, Australian TV accent.
00:48:49
Speaker
ah Now, she basically gives Sonny the vibe that he should focus on the here and now. And ah he does. And he goes in for a kiss. And when they kiss, they become cartoons and they become what, in my opinion, is the best musical number of the film.
00:49:08
Speaker
Don't walk away.
00:49:11
Speaker
I think this is the best song on the soundtrack. Interesting. Interesting. um I think ELO really hits it out of the park with this one.
00:49:22
Speaker
ah but i am a big blue-eyed soul fan, and this is very much in a blue-eyed soul by way of ELO, which I think is really cool. I think the animation by Don Bluth is really good. Yeah.
00:49:35
Speaker
And I realized, and they're doing this sort of almost like if anybody's seen... The sword in the stone. Yes. Where what's his face is chasing the squirrel girl around. Wart. Turns into a fish. Yeah. yeah And like that, i wouldn't be surprised if Don Bluth had worked on that. And then there was some overlap there.
00:49:55
Speaker
um Cause yeah, they turn into a fish and they turn into birds and it's great stuff. And what i realized why this sequence hit home for me so much is that this was clearly one of the songs that ELO didn't write for the movie that was just pulled from their catalog.
00:50:15
Speaker
And they're like, oh, we need a love song. We need something romantic. Well, here's a love song, but it's a song called Don't Walk Away. And it's about ah woman leaving the singer. And the contrast of this being a scene of these two characters falling in love and the heartbreak of this sweet song about a woman leaving you, I think that push and pull just was really effective for me. Sure. You know?
00:50:39
Speaker
Heartbreak is, to me, one of the most romantic emotions. So to be able to evoke that for a falling in love scene, I think, is it it really just makes for a fantastic scene.
00:50:55
Speaker
Now, the next day, the partners, they raise a toast to their nearly completed club. ah The renovations are really flying, apparently. and It seems to be really moving along now.
00:51:06
Speaker
Yeah. I think when Sonny quit, he's like, there's going to be opening night on Friday and drinks are on me. That's right. I forgot about that.
00:51:17
Speaker
Like, it doesn't take long to get this old. decre yeah They're going to bang it out in about three days. It should be up to code. And obviously, ah Sonny's already giving drinks away. John Tapper would be screaming his head off.
00:51:33
Speaker
Tomorrow night's going to be opening night. But the bad news is Kira has a confession to make. She's a Greek muse from Mount Olympus. And now that she's inspired Sonny and Danny to create their greatest work, Xanadu, the roller skating nightclub, she has to return to her father, Zeus, even though she has genuinely fallen in love with Sonny.
00:51:55
Speaker
This is the only conflict in the film. Wait a second. Yeah. Did we, did we skip past the absolutely bonkers, uh, scene where they did do the changing montage?
00:52:07
Speaker
The makeover montage? Yes. Oh, you know what? I might have missed some of my notes. All right. Somebody catch me up. Where did I miss? So when they're at there and they're just like, oh, we're celebrating. We're to every Friday or whatever. And they're just like, well, we got to get ready.
00:52:21
Speaker
ah And he's like, I just don't know if I'm dressed. And like, well, there's yeah, you got to get some glitz. he's like, well, where does someone get some glitz? And they're like at a franchise glitz store. And then they go into one of the craziest musical numbers I've ever seen in my life.
00:52:38
Speaker
Yes. It is. I skipped a whole page here. Do you have it? No, no. well I didn't transcribe it. go Okay. So it like, they go to this, they go to this, they're walking into this building, which has a doorman.
00:52:53
Speaker
And like all the people in this case, and then they come alive. And then it's just, it's just a, it's just a balls to the walls, crazy escapade from there. ah Danny comes the mom, the place where he's changing clothes.
00:53:08
Speaker
ah has like a woman's legs that open and he walks out. So you get to see him walk out of a woman's legs multiple times. That's crazy. There's a lot of people in various types of clothes kind of jumping out of clothing racks. There's one scene.
00:53:25
Speaker
It's incredible. It's a row of dressing rooms and you see a bunch of women come out with spider webs on their, on their tights. And then they stop with their legs open. And then a man dressed in like a spider web kind of leotard with kind of tiger stripes on his face, crawls toward the camera under the legs.
00:53:50
Speaker
And then they do some dancing and it cuts to his face in an extreme close up with like a digital zoom and there's growling. And now it's like a tiger theme kind of. And it's just like, what, what is actually happening here?
00:54:02
Speaker
Yeah. Like, yeah, this musical number is nuts. My my one crazy shot that I remember that I want to point out is there's just one shot where Danny is inside a pinball machine.
00:54:20
Speaker
Oh, I forgot. There's too much to take in. Yes. Yes. I forgot about that. He's literally inside of a pinball machine. he's and so Just for one shot, he just like walks up to a bumper, bumps against it, and walks away.
00:54:33
Speaker
like it's And that's it. That's the whole pinball scene. And that's just in the middle of this. And we haven't even described any of the dog shit outfits that they put him in to make him look like a goofball.
00:54:45
Speaker
They're terrible. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great makeover montage. It is one of the classics, classic of all time. What was the song all over the world? That was an that was an upbeat yellow number. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:58
Speaker
Great song, too. Yeah, absolutely. So, OK, then after that, Kira has a confession to make. She's a Greek muse. She has to go back to Mount Olympus.
00:55:09
Speaker
Sonny, he doesn't believe it, as you might understand. So to prove it, she says, open up the dictionary. And in the dictionary, it has the definition of a muse. And then at the end, it says, and do you believe me now, Sonny? And they have a close up of the dictionary where the text is printed out. And that's pretty good gag. That's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. She's specifically Terpsichore, the muse. Yes. Yes.
00:55:32
Speaker
Makes sense. ah Now, then they they also, she turns on the TV and there's like a gangster movie and then the gangsters start talking to Sonny and being like, you better believe she's a muse or I'm going to fill you for the light.
00:55:48
Speaker
Great scene. Yeah, great stuff. And then Kira's on the TV and they're like, oh, what are you doing here? What do you not think she's a muse? It's good stuff. And then she says, I'll love you forever. And she disappears.
00:56:04
Speaker
Classic. actmo We've all been there. Yeah. ah
00:56:10
Speaker
Now, the next day, Sonny doesn't show up at the club in the morning. So Danny goes to look for him. When he finds him, he tells Sonny that he should go find Kira wherever she's at.
00:56:22
Speaker
She's worth it. Find her. Damn straight. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And so once again, Sonny roller skates aimlessly around town looking for her.
00:56:33
Speaker
And this time he finds the mural where she lives. And so he roller skates into it Roadrunner style to the sound of ELO's The Fall, which I think is the one that goes, it's alive.
00:56:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's alive. Yeah. yeah Yeah. That was not the most memorable song, but still good. That's the one I think they were playing in the very beginning with the mural. So it's probably like a callback. I think they're both songs that I think one is I'm alive and the other one has the lyric it's alive. I see. i see. It's very strange that they both have that.
00:57:11
Speaker
Also, I think the reason that the mural upsets me is the fact that he's roller skating around and he's like, oh, that's Kira. It's like, is it? Can you tell the text from that image? Or is it just the fact that it's nine women and you know that there are nine muses? I don't actually know if he knows that there's nine muses.
00:57:28
Speaker
but i think I think there might have been some like Greek like Parthenon shit in the background. Sure. I just remember just being like, oh, there she is. It's like, come on. you don't You can't tell that that's her.
00:57:40
Speaker
Well, you know, sometimes love takes a leap of faith. I guess that's true. And he does take a leap of faith. And it's great to see actually someone in the physical world pull a Wile Coyote and have it work.
00:57:51
Speaker
Yeah. ah Now, he finds himself in this sort of endless void where the floor is made out of laser beams. I love it. Yeah, it's great. It's a great scene for what is hypothetically the emotional climax of the film.
00:58:07
Speaker
Sure. ah hypothetically it's a love story and now we've got our third act conflict where they split up uh except they never he never sang a song about how he loves her and that's really would have changed the movie uh instead also there we've got zeus and aphrodite and they tell sonny that they don't care that he's in love and they send him back to earth aphrodite or who's zeus's wife hara
00:58:41
Speaker
I mean, if it's if it's the Muse's mother, that's ah mean Minerva? Minemosune. It's M-N-E-M-O, the memory.
00:58:55
Speaker
i just assumed that it was Zeus's wife. Okay. be Hera, right? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Anyway, whoever they are, they send him back to Earth.
00:59:06
Speaker
They a fun little bickering thing. Yeah, they've got a fun little relationship. Zeus is all hand-picked. And there's there's also this whole thing where they're it'll be for tonight or forever. I don't remember which one is the one. Yeah, that's a good runner with them.
00:59:23
Speaker
But Kira's very upset that no one has considered her feelings in all of this. And ah so she then sings a song so heartbreaking, it makes Zeus change his mind and send Kira back to Earth.
00:59:36
Speaker
And that song is called Suspended in Time. And I think it's the worst song in the movie. So what's interesting is when I saw this, I was like, wow, this is like a real like low point in the movie. Like the energy just feels like it's dropped.
00:59:51
Speaker
And when I spoke to Matt Finnegan, he was just like, that's the best song in the movie. And I was like, what? I think he thinks it's just a really good song. Like it is an actual song, but like visually it's just like her in a black background, like literally just black with like a really vibrant outline, which is interesting, but it's just like slowly closing in on her or zooming in on her.
01:00:14
Speaker
And she's just singing. And it's just like, after all of this spectacle, it feels very like it was just like, we don't know what to do with this one. So just a single shot. Well, but also you do need to sort of reset a little bit because we are getting ready.
01:00:31
Speaker
It's true. Spectacle of spectacles. It's true, but it just feels strange to me. It feels like maybe if it had some like a instead of slowly zooming in, if it's slowly moved to the left and she was like walking or. Yeah.
01:00:44
Speaker
yeah But it is just her standing with the camera, just getting a little closer. And I got to say, for a hook suspended in time, i'm it's not great. It's just, it was lyrically not a great song.
01:00:59
Speaker
um Anyway, anyway. The good news is it's opening night. Yes. Opening night of the Sanity. Opening night is essentially... A 12 minute long musical number.
01:01:11
Speaker
Yes. Yes. The title track Xanadu. This is one of the only songs that ELO wrote specifically for the film. It starts off with Danny leading a pack of roller skaters in circles around the club while they all chant Xanadu.
01:01:26
Speaker
before Kira appears and starts singing the song Xanadu proper. she then goes on to sing at least three distinct other songs within the song.
01:01:36
Speaker
It's a country song. It feels to me like this is the moment when Xanadu is saying to Xanadu, hold my beer. It's like Xanadu's like, I'm going to end the film. And Xanadu's like, no, you're not. No, you're not Xanadu.
01:01:48
Speaker
i got a couple more genres to throw at the wall. Return of the King thing going on with Xanadu. And several ending points. It really, it leaves it all on the table or arguably stretches it out to 90 minutes either way.
01:02:04
Speaker
ah And one of the genres is like space future tap dancing, which is weird. Yeah, yeah, there's sort of a retro futurist thing, which ties in with, I guess, a lot of it.
01:02:15
Speaker
And yeah, there's a rock number and a country number. And then da dot dot da she returns back to the main song, Xanadu, for one last reprise.
01:02:28
Speaker
And then she and Sonny kiss, and the movie's over. Mm-hmm. Oh, but not what it is is she disappears and then he's really bummed.
01:02:38
Speaker
And then Danny's like, well, maybe you should order a drink from my friend here. And it turns out that it's Kira. Yeah. But also not Kira. Yeah. She's just like, oh, hello. And he's like, oh,
01:02:51
Speaker
hi And then they're like slowly talking to each other suddenly. And it seems like they've never known each other before. So it's an interesting little. Like they're falling in love, but now she's a mortal version of herself, but their souls still know each other. Yeah. That's what I'm taking from it.
01:03:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to read it. So with that. Yes. Final thoughts. Yes. Five star ratings on our unique watchability and weirdness scale.
01:03:19
Speaker
Who wants to go first? I can go. Yeah. It's your pick. If you want to go first or last, it was your movie. So, I mean, um i feel like watchability, this is a five.
01:03:30
Speaker
I feel like it's hard to maybe pin that down. But like I have after watching it in discord with a group of people and seeing the reaction there. And I remember taking Matt for like when this came to the theater at Alamo, I was like, Matt, we're going to see this.
01:03:45
Speaker
And he was absolutely enthralled. Like it's a thing where this is your thing. It's, it's genuinely perfect. Like it's really great. It's a lot of fun.
01:03:56
Speaker
Even the bad stuff is very easy to sit through because the music is really great. And it's also just bonkers. um Final thoughts on it. I would just say, i do i do just have to say that I just love this movie just desperately.
01:04:10
Speaker
um It's ah it's pure joy. If you haven't seen it, you should see it, especially if you like this kind of a thing. um And the, so as far as weirdness goes, when I think about this movie, I always think that what's weird about it is that it takes so many mundane things and puts them together and it turns out to like a really weird stew.
01:04:37
Speaker
But when I watch it again after the discord for this recording, I realized, no, it's just genuine it after a while, it just becomes genuinely very crazy. like It's hard to remember the insanity that it gets to ah when you step away from it. So for weirdness, i'm going to say like a four and a half.
01:04:55
Speaker
Fair enough.
01:04:58
Speaker
What about you, my dove? I'm going give it a four for both. I think it's very watchable, especially with a group. ah because, you know, everybody has a good time.
01:05:11
Speaker
um And as for weirdness, yeah, it's just a very maximalist, big band musical in which the mythological muses are totally real.
01:05:30
Speaker
And also there's a lot of neon, but also that really blousey printed fabric bloousy printed fabric Yeah. ah lot of... There were a lot of great costumes in this. lot of smocks.
01:05:43
Speaker
Yes. Well, I i landed i pretty much right between the two of you. I gave it a four and a half in terms of watchability. I think it's very visually satisfying.
01:05:54
Speaker
i think one or two of the songs don't hit as hard as the others, you know? i it's And it's obviously... It's light on plot, but it's long on good vibes.
01:06:06
Speaker
It's a quick watch. You won't regret watching it. If you go into it with an open heart. Yeah. Very watchable. Oh, yeah. For weirdness, I'm going to say four stars. It's very weird to want to make a big band rock and roll nightclub roller rink.
01:06:20
Speaker
That's a weird MacGuffin for these characters to be chasing down. And it's very weird to make a musical where the leading man does not sing or dance.
01:06:30
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I think. It's very weird to be able to see all these flaws in this movie, but to have none of them matter in terms of how much you enjoy watching it. Yeah. You know, it's like saying, i can't believe you served me this delicious meal on a purple plate.
01:06:49
Speaker
Who gives a shit? ah It also does a really good job of the thing we talked about. We're constantly trying to find new ways of being crazy. Yes. It, it turns up the dial slowly and steadily throughout the course of the film.
01:07:03
Speaker
And like the animation, when it starts, it's just like, wait a second. What? Like, it just comes like, I never would have guessed that from the start. Yeah. And to have it be so good.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. It just instantly washes over you. And you're just like, now I'm in it. It's, it's fantastic. Well, you guys want to get to the third act of the show. We're running long. We got to keep this moving.
01:07:28
Speaker
All right. It's time to imagine, if you will, listeners, a cinematic universe.
01:07:45
Speaker
This movie was really cool. It had a lot of cool ideas. This rich setting would really work for a cinematic universe.
01:08:05
Speaker
dude. A cinematic universe.
01:08:14
Speaker
A cinematic universe.
01:08:21
Speaker
Cinematic universe.
01:08:38
Speaker
Let's face it, there are nine muses Nobody can say anything against that. ah Let's face it. ah So that means, obviously, you could make nine Xanadu movies about each of the Miliuses.
01:08:57
Speaker
So we thought we'd each come up with one Xanadu Cinematic Universe film. yeah Who wants to to throw theirs out?
01:09:10
Speaker
I can start if you want. Sure. Yeah, I'd like to go last. Okay. okay I think we figured out the order. All right. I think mine's a little bit long, so I apologize. My ah concept, it's called The Pleasure Dome, A Xanadu Tale.
01:09:26
Speaker
Ooh. The year is 2025, though this would film would have been shot in 1983. it takes place in 2025. but it takes place in twenty twenty s And a young flautist named Dan, played by Gede Watanabe, busks for a living on the Santa Monica Pier.
01:09:46
Speaker
Unfortunately, the crowds don't care much for jazz flute in this futuristic age. And at the end of the day, Dan's only made one thin dime. As he walks home that night, he tosses it into a fountain and wishes his luck would change.
01:10:01
Speaker
As he walks away, who should emerge from the fountain but Euterpe, the muse of flutes, played by Geena Davis. Nice. The next day she finds him playing more of his weird flute music. He's doing like experimental jazz flute.
01:10:18
Speaker
ah He's playing it for in different tourists and she calls him out. She's told him she tells him that he's forgotten the most important thing about jazz flute, that it's got to swing.
01:10:32
Speaker
Dan is naturally going to listen to anything this beautiful lady has to tell him. And the two of them spend the next half hour or so of the movie falling in love in various set pieces designed to get Dan to become a better flautist.
01:10:48
Speaker
Euterpe tells him he has a problem with the avant-garde jazz flute.
01:10:54
Speaker
I think he's not living up to his potential in terms of communicating to his own. you know an art thing of moary fruit honest It's a bit much for me. I'll take it over.
01:11:08
Speaker
Well, I don't know. Anyway, you terpy tells Dan that he's finally ready to debut his new sound to the public. She knows just the place. There's going to be a big talent show at the Xanadu.
01:11:22
Speaker
In fact, an aging Sonny and Kira, well, actually only Sonny is aging, Kira's just fine, are now looking to retire and hand off the Xanadu to new owners and announce at the talent show that the first prize is the deed to the building.
01:11:37
Speaker
oh Unfortunately, Dan is not the only major competitor. In fact, there's a death metal band called Cerberus that's being backed by a mysterious benefactor named Mr. P. Luto, Alice P. Cooper. Nice.
01:11:55
Speaker
And they are real contenders. the final act ah the talent show is ah ah The final act of the the talent show with a wide variety of talents.
01:12:06
Speaker
When it becomes clear that Euterpe and Luto know each other, Dan finds out about the whole Greek god thing. Euterpe tells him that she has no doubt about his greatness and that he'll win, but then she'll have to move on as he is mortal.
01:12:23
Speaker
ah Dan bets Luto his very soul against immortality for the final round of the talent show. But when Luto says he's not interested, Euterpe bets her soul as well.
01:12:36
Speaker
Dan emboldened by this act of faith and love goes on to defeat Cerberus in a head to head mashup number. I'll all the mashup number of Xanadu and wins back the club.
01:12:49
Speaker
Uh, Sonny and Kira hand over the keys, which Dan and you terpy rename the pleasure dome. And the music is by Herbie Hancock.
01:13:01
Speaker
Nice. Yeah. That's, that's my pitch. Okay. ah Mine is far less ah complicated, but I will give you what I have. So I don't know when this takes place because I feel like all these people were kind of coming up during the eighties.
01:13:17
Speaker
so don't know when the proper year was for this, but this is the one that's in my brain. ah So we've got a Jeff Goldblum, who's an astronomer. And he's always enjoyed looking at the heavens, but of late has been like kind of down about it. He's in a band.
01:13:31
Speaker
We don't get to that in a moment, but you know, like he plays piano in a band. Cause I know Jeff Goldblum can actually play piano. yeah So he plays piano in a band and they sing about all this stuff. And one day he gets a new telescope and he's getting it set up and he looks through the telescope and who does he see? But Cindy Lauper,
01:13:49
Speaker
who's also setting up a telescope. And he's just like, what is this? You know, and he looks again and he like sees her looking back at him and she winks or whatever. and it's just like, what is, and they end up having this kind of flirtation.
01:14:01
Speaker
She's in a band. i don't know who is the band there, but I think it's like more new wavy. He's with, they might be giants. I forget they have this kind of science based astronomy music. I think that could work, you know, yeah and what it is, is they start falling in love and there's this back and forth and it's sort of interesting.
01:14:21
Speaker
But he thinks that she likes the telescope because she's into astronomy, but she's Urania and she's ah the ah of astronomy and astrology.
01:14:32
Speaker
So she is looking at the heavens to try to figure out like is Jupiter, what house is Jupiter in at the moment, you know? And so he's like, well, I can't, I can't be with someone who's into astrology, but it is through their pursuit and through their back and forth that she reminds him through her love of astrology, that there still is a little bit of magic left in life.
01:14:55
Speaker
and it inspires him in some way. I don't know what way entirely, but we'll get there eventually. And I think at the end, they'll all the bands sing together on stage. you got your new wave, your new wavy, they might be giants number with Cindy Lauper and Jeff Goldblum.
01:15:11
Speaker
I love it. You had me at Cindy Lauper. I'm going to be. I think she's a great choice for this kind of a thing. I think she would work really well for that. Absolutely. but Anna, what's your pitch?
01:15:23
Speaker
All right. So. ah The year is 2020. actually Because this is a reboot. Okay.
01:15:33
Speaker
And it's ah basically Xanadu Down Under. ah My working title was Oz. ah i think i think to I think we should get Boz Lorman into direct.
01:15:48
Speaker
I agree. Because think he can do maximalist musicals. He's done a lot of them. think that... i think that ah Well, okay.
01:16:00
Speaker
So Patty Harrison from I Think You Should Leave plays Harriet Harry Patterson, an American stand-up comic at her first Melbourne International Comedy Festival, ok where she runs into Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, played by Demi Lardner.
01:16:24
Speaker
Funniest woman in the Southern Hemisphere. And also, I think she would be great. Yes. As a muse. I agree. um And I don't really have a ah plot here. I basically... Patty Harrison...
01:16:38
Speaker
characters she's competing for something you know with uh uh the villain it's a kind of you know washed up older Aussie comedian played by Russell Crowe and once I cast Russell Crowe I was like you know what we should put Ryan Gosling in there too because ah they're both really funny together and there has not been a nice guys too so let's make Ryan Gosling uh her manager or something nice and uh the music will pull in weird al yeah love it yeah fantastic boy i think we've really got a solid cinematic universe here we do get at us uh people that own the rights to xanadu we've got some great ideas here
01:17:26
Speaker
Yeah, and trust me, we could easily come up with five more muses. This is an idea that has legs. It does. Do you guys want to play a little game? Yeah. All right. We're going to play a little two out of three are real.
01:17:43
Speaker
He's this guy, he's that guy But there ain't no way he ever played the third guy I know how you feel But two out of three are real I said I know how you feel
01:18:13
Speaker
Two out of three are real. Maybe we talk all night.
01:18:23
Speaker
But now it's time for the segment.
01:18:32
Speaker
That's right, it's time for the segment. And the segment is a game, and that game is two out of three are real. And we're doing it with the films of Michael Beck. Ooh, good. Okay. So I got nine questions here.
01:18:45
Speaker
Each one, I will read you three films with three roles played by Michael Beck, but one of those three will not be real. This is a buzz
Michael Beck Trivia Game
01:18:56
Speaker
in game. You'll buzz in by saying your own name.
01:18:59
Speaker
And ah if your opponent gets it wrong, you will have the opportunity to steal. Everybody ready? Yes. Okay. Question number one.
01:19:11
Speaker
Michael Beck in Madman as Boris Abramovich. Michael Beck in Lucky Strike as Montoya.
01:19:23
Speaker
Or Michael Beck in The Last Ninja as Kenjiro Sakura. Wow. ah Greg? Greg? The Kenjiro Sakura?
01:19:35
Speaker
The Last Ninja? I'm sorry, he did play Kenjiro Sakura. Mahabakh. Anna, can you steal? Ooh, Montoya. Correct. He did play Montoya.
01:19:50
Speaker
Question number two. Michael Beck in Pompeii, the Mountain of Death as Scipio.
01:20:00
Speaker
Michael Beck in Mayflower, the Pilgrim's Adventure as John Alden. Or Michael Beck in Alcatraz, The Whole Shocking Story as Clarence Carnes.
01:20:14
Speaker
Greg. Greg? The Alcatraz one. I'm sorry, that was real.
01:20:22
Speaker
God. Can I get the other ones? Pompeii, The Mountain of Death as Scipio. Or Mayflower, The Pilgrim's Adventure as John Alden.
01:20:34
Speaker
ah Mayflower. No, he was in the Mayflower. He did not play Scipio. There's no movie called Pompeii, the Mountain of Death. It's a great title, though. Thank you.
01:20:46
Speaker
Question number three. Michael Beck in Battle Truck as Hunter. he Michael Beck in Megaforce as Dallas.
01:20:58
Speaker
Or Michael Beck in Fight Squad as Big Boy. Anna. Anna? Big Boy.
01:21:08
Speaker
You're correct. Yeah. He's not a big boy. No, no. He's lean and mean. I was really afraid that it was going to be a trick question and it was someone else that he played in Megaforce.
01:21:21
Speaker
oh No, no, no. Boy, I would love to talk about Megaforce. We should at some point, but yes. Question number four. Triumphs of a man called Horse as Coda.
01:21:36
Speaker
The Grace of Jake as Henry Haynes or A Song Named Billy as Will Sr. ah Greg?
01:21:49
Speaker
Greg? it ah The Grace of Jake?
01:21:53
Speaker
Sorry, that one was real. A Song Named Billy.
01:22:00
Speaker
You're correct. He did not play Billy Sr. in a movie called A Song Named Billy. Question number five.
01:22:10
Speaker
Escape the grave. Jerry McIntyre. Deadly game. Peterson. Or only one survived. Paul Haskell.
01:22:23
Speaker
Anna. Anna. Paul Haskell.
01:22:29
Speaker
I'm sorry. That one was real. What were the other two? You've got Escape the Grave, Jerry McIntyre, or Deadly Game, Peterson. Escape the Grave.
01:22:43
Speaker
You're correct. Greg is on the board.
01:22:48
Speaker
Question number six. Stranger at my door, Jimmy Lee Dancy. The Kissing Game, Bow, or Fade to Black, Braith.
01:23:02
Speaker
Greg. Greg? Fade to black braith. No, I'm sorry. It wasn't fade to black braith. Felt good to say it.
01:23:14
Speaker
The kissing game. You are correct. I really felt good. That of course, the game from Shallow Hal.
01:23:26
Speaker
Oh yeah, you didn't watch All Hell. You're better off. That was the first one we've done. I definitely listened to it and wrote a blurb about it and I gotta tell you, I was really glad I didn't watch it. Yeah, yeah. Question number seven.
01:23:40
Speaker
Forest Warrior Alan Slater The Wizard of Texas Corbin or The Golden Seal Crawford
01:23:55
Speaker
and Anna um Crawford.
01:24:02
Speaker
I'm sorry. He did play Crawford in the Golden Seal. there was There was one about Texas. What was that one? The Wizard of Texas? Yes. Corbin? Yeah, that's the one. Yeah, I made up the Wizard of Texas.
01:24:17
Speaker
They should make that movie. They should. and They should put someone named Corbin in it. Yeah. He shouldn't be the wizard though. That should be someone else. No. Question number eight.
01:24:30
Speaker
Nighttime. Alan Grisham. Blackout. Mike Patterson. Or chiller. Miles Crichton. ah Greg.
01:24:42
Speaker
Greg. Chiller. Miles Crichton.
01:24:47
Speaker
He did play Miles Crichton in Chiller. Good.
01:24:52
Speaker
ah The first one. Nighttime with Alan Grisham? Yes. You're correct. I could tell. i can verse-engineer that you got Grisham from Patterson and Crichton.
01:25:11
Speaker
Oh, yeah. You figured I wouldn't have thought of Patterson and Creighton, but I would have thought of Grusham. Very crafty. Question number nine. Gas cap.
01:25:25
Speaker
Max keys. Rear view mirror. Jerry Sam hops or the streets. Sergeant Danny Reed.
01:25:39
Speaker
ah Greg. Greg was the second one you said. Rearview mirror, Jerry, Sam hops. Yeah, that's the one.
01:25:48
Speaker
Nope. He really plays Jerry, Sam hops in movie called rear view mirror. Anna, can you see the third one? The streets with Sergeant Danny Reed.
01:25:58
Speaker
Yes. No, that one was gas cap. Max keys was the fake one. yeah Great name. Thank you.
01:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was going to be a car thief movie. I don't know why it would be called Gas Cap. Uh-oh, it's the Batty Awards. Who won?
01:26:24
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:26:35
Speaker
Now you're Batty Awards. you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:26:41
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:26:48
Speaker
Who won the game? It was definitely you, Anna. was definitely you, Anna. Congratulations to Anna. Hooray! win our first Batty Award. The Batty Award for being a winner.
01:27:02
Speaker
I'll kick us off. I'm going to give my Batty Award to Lise Lang, who played the Popcorn Girl. The girl that sold popcorn to Sonny while he was walking to the beach and she was very pretty.
01:27:17
Speaker
She had a very cute haircut. Shout out to you, Lise Lang. No one's said it before to you. You should know you were very pretty in Xanadu.
Humorous Batty Awards & Closing Remarks
01:27:31
Speaker
Anna, why don't you go next? We'll save. um I'm going to give my baddie award uh, ah the leg warmers that the little animated cua bird is wearing in and the that's a nice animated sequence. Cause they're so cute.
01:27:48
Speaker
Yeah. They were very cute. And then they really, they hit home that bit of femininity the same way. Like you would have put a bow in a character's hair and like, no, no, we'll just give her the leg warmers.
01:27:58
Speaker
It works. Yeah, it's great. Well, Greg, this was your movie. yeah Tell us your Batty Awards. So my Batty Awards go into my favorite like little bit of a song, and it is the hand claps and dancing during the tubes. Lover, i won't take a backseat tonight portion.
01:28:18
Speaker
i don't know if they're on the upbeat or there's just something about that makes my heart start beating faster in the most exciting and wonderful way.
01:28:29
Speaker
And I also just love the line lover. I won't take a backseat tonight because it definitely sounds like they've they've had some backseat issues where they're constantly just like not tonight. Not that ground i' put my foot down. I will put my I'm put my foot down tonight. I'm putting my foot down.
01:28:45
Speaker
That's how it is. I called shotgun. That's right. And I'm going to want that to be respected. And I'm going to choose what's on the radio.
01:28:56
Speaker
Greg, thank you for choosing such a wonderful movie this year. Yeah. yeah It was great. Thank you for letting me do so. And, uh, thank you for everybody, ah who's listened to the show. Thank you for all the discord dogs that showed for the screening. Yes. Thank you. If you want to join the discord and we do screenings every month and there are always a lot of fun. Uh, just shoot us a message. You can email me at a favorite, bad movie pond at gmail.com.
01:29:25
Speaker
And I will get you right on there, or you can shoot us a message on our blue sky or on our, uh, ah Instagram. That's the other one where we're on. You can find on Instagram. You get all the through the link tree that's in our show description.
01:29:43
Speaker
And please do. And ah join us next week when we'll be talking about my pick, City Dragon. I've uncovered some very exciting information about City Dragon. I'm very excited to share it with you.
01:29:57
Speaker
Yes. And ah yeah, until next week, be good. Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:30:06
Speaker
Goodbye.
01:30:29
Speaker
you were before when you don't want me anymore don't turn