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I had the rare pleasure of seeing it with an appreciative audience at a recent Gene Kelly retrospective in New York. It was an enjoyable experience, not only for the "so bad it's good" chuckles, but for a strange multi-level nostalgia it now offers:
[1] for the music, hairstyles and fashions of the late '70s/early '80s and
[2] for the forgotten form of the corny, sort of lazily thrown-together B-musicals of the '40s.
Kelly's widow, in introducing the film (her least favorite of his career -- she referred to it only as "Xana-DON'T"), remarked that an early test screening, after principal photography was complete, had been disappointing. The test audience noticed that there was no musical number in which Kelly and Newton John performed together, so it was agreed that more shooting would be done. Kelly stipulated that he would only come back for re-shoots if the director of the film was not present. Therefore, the best number in the picture, their duet, was entirely conceived, choreographed and shot by Kelly himself.
If only they'd let him do the whole picture! Damn it!!!
As the evening wore on, and the events onscreen became stranger and stranger, the audience would begin to laugh at each additional number as it seemingly tried to top the previous one, building to an over-the-top finale, followed finally by a "twist" ending that simply made no sense. But gee, I can't say it wasn't fun.
"Xanadu" has evolved over the decades from a major disappointment when it came out to a minor guilty pleasure to be enjoyed with friends. What's wrong with that?
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