Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John (1980) 1/13/24

In 1980, the Roller-Disco-Fantasy film "Xanadu." starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly in his final film, was released to theatres, and instantly became a huge---Box Office BOMB!

Instead of diving deep into the plot and/or why that happened, let me quote Variety Magazine: '"Xanadu"' is a stupendously bad film whose only salvage is the music."

To underscore Variety's "stupendously bad" description, "Xanadu" was nominated for several "Golden Raspberry" Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Actress (Olivia), Worst Actor (Michael Beck), and Worst Director (Michael Greenwald).

On the other hand, the music was written and produced, (for the most part), by Jeff Lynne of The Electric Light Orchestra, who won the Grammy Award for Best Film Theme, Song or Score...and Olivia's version of the Title Song--which is today's Great Song of 1980--charted in 20 countries, reaching the Top 10 in all but 2 of them!

In fact, it topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Israel, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, The UK, and West Germany!

Here in the US, It reached #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart, and #8 on The Hot 100.

So in the end, thanks to Jeff Lynne and Olivia Newton-John, the music of "Xanadu" was a hit. The rest of the film, not so much. (It's a shame Gene Kelly had to end his incredible career with the film...but his legacy as one of the most talented dancers America has ever seen remains intact.)

"Xanadu:" A Great Song of 1980!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLi8fTlDEag

Tomorrow: Hard to Say if you remember this one...