Cast and Crew:    Robert Greenwald (Director); Joel Silver (Co-Producer); Barry De Vorzon (Score); ELO and The Tubes (Soundtrack); Don Bluth (Animated Sequence); Sandahl Bergman, Wilfred Hyde-White

What It’s About: Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is an artist who paints murals and window displays of album covers.  Everything changes when the muse Kira (Olivia Newton-John) comes into his life and indirectly introduces him to one of her old flames, Danny MacGuire (Gene Kelly) a clarinetist from the Big Band era.  Soon the trio is working together to open a roller disco club named Xanadu, but Kira is a Muse and is not supposed to fall in love with mortals…

Why Watch it Today?:  Gene Kelly was born 101 years ago today.  We’ve previously featured some of his greatest films:  Singin’ in the Rain, On the Town, Brigadoon, Anchors Aweigh and one of his worst Viva Knievel!  Xanadu is definitely not a good movie, but with the right crowd (and maybe a bit of nostalgia if you, like me, grew up with it), it can definitely be a fun film.  The Disco era isn’t exactly kind to Kelly, but the film is respectful, in its way.