Xanadu

Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China. This city appears in Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a poem that is quoted in the film. The film is a remake of the film Down to Earth (1947), the sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).

Xanadu stars Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly (in his final film role), and Michael Beck, and features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard, and The Tubes. The film also features animation by Don Bluth.

A box office flop, Xanadu earned mixed to negative critical reviews and was an inspiration for the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards to recognize the worst films of the year. Despite the lackluster performance of the film, the soundtrack album became a huge commercial success around the world, and was certified double platinum in the United States. The song "Magic" was a U.S. number one hit for Newton-John, and the title track (by Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra) reached number one in the United Kingdom and several other countries around the world. The film has since become a cult classic for the way it mixes the storyline from an old-fashioned 1940s fantasy with modern aesthetics featuring late 1970s & early 1980s rock and pop music on the soundtrack as well as for fans of Newton-John.

Plot
The film opens with a large mural of the Nine Muses of Olympus coming to life, with the women emerging from the painting and flying into the sky. One of them returns to Earth.

Sonny Malone is a talented artist who dreams of fame beyond his job, which is the non-creative task of painting larger versions of album covers for record-store window advertisements. As the film opens, Sonny is broke and on the verge of giving up his dream. He quits his day job to try to make a living as a freelance artist, but after failing to make any money at it, Sonny resigns himself to returning to his old job at AirFlo Records. After some humorous run-ins with his imperious boss and nemesis Simpson, he resumes painting record covers.

At work, Sonny is told to paint an album cover for a group called The Nine Sisters. The cover features a beautiful woman in front of an art deco auditorium (the Pan-Pacific Auditorium). Earlier that day, this same woman had collided with him, kissed him, then roller-skated away. Malone now becomes obsessed with finding her, but discovers that no one knows who she is. He finds her at the same auditorium, now abandoned. She identifies herself as Kira, but she will not tell him anything else about herself (other than a cryptic comment about living with her sisters in an apartment on "the second floor"). Unbeknownst to Sonny, Kira is one of the Muses that emerged from the mural.

Walking near the beach, Sonny befriends Daniel "Danny" McGuire, a has-been big band orchestra leader turned construction mogul. Danny lost his muse in the 1940s (who is seen in a flashback scene to bear a startling resemblance to Kira), and Sonny has not yet found his muse. Kira encourages the two men to form a partnership and open a nightclub at the old auditorium from the album cover. She falls in love with Sonny, and this presents a problem because she is actually an Olympian Muse ("Kira's" real name is Terpsichore). The other eight women from the beginning of the film are her sisters and fellow goddesses, the Muses, and the mural is actually a portal of sorts and their point of entry to Earth. When Sonny finds out that Kira is a muse, he gets upset; Kira leaves and then abandons Earth. In a conversation between Danny and Kira it becomes apparent that Kira was Danny's muse years ago and that Danny had also fallen in love with Kira, but when Danny discovered that Kira was a muse he had walked away from her, abandoned his music, and went into construction, which he had always regretted. Now Danny counsels Sonny not to be alone and regretful like he has become and to pursue his muse, telling him that if Kira can visit Earth, there must be a way Sonny can visit Kira's home, a forbidden place called Xanadu. Sonny then realizes that the mural on the wall of the muses is a portal to Xanadu and he crashes through the portal by roller skating at high speed into the mural.

The Muses visit Earth often to help inspire others to pursue their dreams and desires, but in Kira's case, she has violated the rules by which Muses are supposed to conduct themselves, as she was only supposed to inspire Sonny but has ended up falling in love with him as well. Her parents, presumably the Greek gods Zeus and Mnemosyne, recall her to the timeless realm of the Olympian gods. Sonny follows her through the mural and professes his love for her. A short debate between Sonny and Zeus occurs, with Mnemosyne interceding on behalf of Kira and Sonny. Kira herself then enters the discussion, saying the emotions she has toward Sonny are new to her; if only they could have one more night together, Sonny's dream of success for the nightclub Xanadu could come true. Zeus ultimately sends Sonny back to Earth. After Kira expresses her feelings for Sonny, Zeus and Mnemosyne decide to let Kira go to him for a "moment, or maybe forever." They cannot keep these straight because mortal time confuses them, and the audience is left to wonder what her fate is to be.

In the finale, Kira and the Muses perform for a packed house at Xanadu's grand opening, and after the final song, Kira and the Muses all return to the realm of the gods in spectacular fashion. With their departure, Sonny is understandably depressed. But that quickly changes when Danny asks for a drink for Sonny from one of the waitresses -- a waitress who looks exactly like Kira. Sonny approaches this seeming double and says he would just like to talk to her. The film ends with the two of them talking, in silhouette, as the credits begin to roll.

Cast

 * Olivia Newton-John as Kira (Terpsichore)
 * Michael Beck as Sonny Malone
 * Gene Kelly as Danny McGuire
 * Matt Lattanzi as young Danny McGuire
 * James Sloyan as Simpson
 * Dimitra Arliss as Helen
 * Katie Hanley as Sandra
 * Fred McCarren as Richie
 * Ren Woods as Jo
 * Melvin Jones as Big Al
 * Ira Newborn as 1940s Band Leader
 * Jo Ann Harris as 1940s Singer
 * Wilfrid Hyde-White as Heavenly Voice #1
 * Coral Browne as Heavenly Voice #2
 * Darcel Wynne as Background Dancer
 * Deborah Jennsen as Background Dancer
 * Alexander Cole as Background Dancer
 * Adolfo Quinones as Xanadu Dancer
 * Matt Lattanzi as Xanadu/Background Dancer
 * Miranda Garrison as Xanadu Dancer
 * Sandahl Bergman
 * Lynn Latham
 * Melinda Phelps
 * Cherise Bate
 * Juliette Marshall
 * Marilyn Tokuda
 * Yvette Van Voorhees
 * Teri Beckerman
 * John "Fee" Waybill
 * Rick Anderson
 * Michael Cotten
 * Prairie Prince
 * Bill Spooner
 * Roger Steen
 * Vince Welnick
 * Re Styles
 * Joe Mantegna was in the film's cast, but the scenes he appeared in were deleted.
 * Olivia Newton-John and Matt Lattanzi met on the set and were married from 1984 to 1995.