Xanadu soundtrack on CD (pt2)

So they cast a guy who looked like Andy Gibb!

"Suddenly" certainly sounds like it was written for Andy to sing.

 

I suppose Beck is a bit Andy Gibb-ish, now you mention it. It's hard to imagine now, but back then Beck was an up and coming star given much praise for his role in The Warriors. Xanadu pretty much destroyed his career.

I think Gibb would have been a bit too young for leading man. He was 10 years younger than Olivia and she may have looked like his baby sitter. That said, at this time, of course, Miss N-J was courting one Matt Lattanzi, who was 11 years her junior. So maybe nobody dare say anything!

Mel Gibson would have been interesting, but even he's 8 years Olivia's junior! I think they should have gone with an established male lead, but it's hard to see an A list actor being tempted by that script and plot. It was very much a vehicle for Olivia and her perceived image at this time.

 

I think the only thing that ruined Michael Beck's career was Michael Beck. Sure, Xanadu was anything but a career-making move for him, but if he'd had even a modicum of acting talent, he could have turned it into a reasonable addition to his portfolio. A better actor could have taken the cheesy dialogue and run with it, adding some actual chemistry with ONJ, of which Beck had zero.

Seriously, a great male lead wouldn't have transformed Xanadu into a gigantic hit, but it would sure have made it a heckuva lot less cringe-worthy to view.

You know there's a serious problem when an aged, fish-out-of-water actor like Gene Kelley delivers a more memorable and genuinely warm performance than the film's lead.

 

True. I think Beck's worth was exaggerated in The Warrior's reviews. I don't know if they didn't go for an established male lead because they didn't want to spend the money, or because they didn't want to take the shine of Olivia. Either way they crippled the film. I wouldn't even say Beck was a handsome or cute man. It was mystifying why he was chosen.

 

I don't think they cared all that much in the male lead as this was a vehicle for Olivia. I'm sure they were thrilled to get Gene Kelly and called it a day. They should had cut Beck's Sonny out of the script and made it just about Kelly and his muse revisiting him.

 

I don't think that would have worked. They needed a romantic angle. More importantly, they needed to distract the audience from the fact that Olivia had very little charisma on screen and really couldn't act!

 

Bingo.

But they did tack in a romantic angle and distract the audience.

Neither tactic worked.

 

I think what Bobby is saying is that they needed a romantic angle that worked, meaning one with Olivia and a strong leading man with chemistry - not with Michael Beck.

 

Yes, that's what I meant. I don't think the Gene & Olivia angle would have worked for an entire movie. They needed a hot young guy to help give Olivia some pep. As big a star as she was back then, Xanadu highlighted her failings. She was a very pretty girl who could sing. But that's about it! There was no depth or strong personality to suggest she had anything to offer as a lead actress in a Hollywood movie.

 

But they were trying to sell her as a lead actress in a Hollywood movie. It was the next stepping stone for her career. She was selling records and already had a big hit movie under her belt. I can see why they thought she could potentially carry a picture.

 

Boy, did they get it wrong then! The reason Grease worked for Olivia was she never really had to say much, was surrounded by far better actors and burst into song when dialogue would have been tricky. Can you imagine her convincingly explaining her transformation into ' Sandy 2'? Yes, I know YTOTIW did that for her! But didn't you think it odd that she was given no dialogue after the change?

As for Xanadu, I believe it did irrepairable damage to her career. She was lucky enough to be able to change her look and have great success with the Physical album and singles a year later. But the only viable option, movie wise, was a reteaming with John Travolta. And look how that turned out!

 

They get it wrong a lot of times. Plus a lot of pop singers get a shot at a movie vehicle and most crash and burn. Some get lucky. Olivia did with Grease and its success got her a few more films but she didn't have the appeal or acting talent at the time to become a movie star.
Xanadu did damage her film career but helped her music career. Still, she's immortalized in a true movie classic as Sandy.

 

I don't think Xanadu damaged her film career....it didn't get rave reviews but the soundtrack lifted any bad press on the film and Gene Kelly helped prevent any damage I feel. Now the film that could have damaged her career was Two of a Kind. I would bet it did far worse than Xanadu...anyone know which grossed more sales? I also wonder which soundtrack grossed more sales Two of a Kind or Xanadu.

 

I'd be amazed if the soundtrack to Two of a Kind outsold Xanadu. And Xanadu did trip up her film career. Heck, look at all the sneers and jeers the film has gotten here in these threads. Both her and Travolta were having box office woes and Two of a Kind was a desperate attempt at recreating Grease magic. Didn't happen and Olivia's big screen film career stopped for the most part and Travolta struggled to get back on top, which he eventually did.

 

I've always wished there was a site that kept up to date on sales for soundtracks or albums by artist to see how many gross sales it made even if it was by year end we would have a certain idea.

Magic alone was played so much on the radio back then it did very well. I heard Twist of Fate a few time but not near as much as Magic. Still Twist of Fate got great review on best short video to the song and the song peaked in the US. Be interesting to know how these soundtracks compared.

It's a shame that Magic did not have an official video by Olivia, I don't mean the video from her special or tv specials but a true studio made one maybe even incorporated clips from the film.

 

I wish there was an official Magic video too. Videos were just starting to take hold at the time so they probably didn't see the value. A bad move for sure. Videos certainly helped Physical.

 

YES...who can forget the holding of hands at the end....it certainly left people talking.

 

Yes. The video certainly gave people a laugh and disarmed the sexuality of the song's topic in the process making it more commercial. Her Physical video album got a lot of buzz at the time and was even used as a TV special. Plus, I like the videos, I just wished they had made a unique video for Make a Move on Me instead of using the generic and fake stage performance set up that they used on several songs. But I'm sure they had a budget to keep and there was no guarantee it would work.

 

I'd say the Xanadu soundtrack surely outsold the TOAK one. The former reached #4 and produced 5 hit singles, while the latter peaked at #30 and spawned one and a half hits. They should have dumped the TOAK film and turned it into Olivia's next studio LP. Keeping David Foster on as writer/producer but including John Farrar for a few selections too. TOAK was a horrible film. I couldn't believe how bad it was when I saw it. I remember Travolta and Olivia saying they'd searched through scripts for years. What must the other films have been like?!

 

I remember reading the same thing and often wondered what the other films were. I also recall reading something about Travolta putting some pressure on her to do that film and that he wouldn't consider anything else. Not sure if that was true. Did you know that Gene Hackman is the voice of God in that film? Biggest problem for me with TOAK is it forgets to be a comedy in the second half. It took itself way too serious.

 

The worse part about TOAK for me was the dialog...even the scenes of Olivia her script just came across with not much emotion like she was reading her script on camera...like you knew what the next word was going to be before she even said it. The part where she was trying to be an actor and get into the scene (with John hiding in the audience) was sooo hard to watch, it just came across as being so fake, like they were trying too hard to make it work. The best part in the whole movie is when Twist of Fate plays....it's like a mini movie and if you saw that you saw the best part of the movie...no need to watch further.

My favorite part in the movie other than the main song is after the court room scene and Olivia starts to walk down the courthouse steps and tells John..."I told you I'd never break my word, it's just a shame that you could be tricked isn't it Zack" I love how she looks and the scene was so natural. I'm probably alone in that but I always loved that short scene.

The Twist of Fate official studio video was good...she looked hot, incorporated the best parts of the movie, I loved it.

 

I found 2 articles that I had never seen before:

USA today from 2005 about Michael Beck
Life after 'Xanadu': It ain't no disco, but who's complaining?
Looking back on Xanadu, was it a good experience?
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/columnist/popcandy/2005-01-18-pop-candy_x.htm



August 2011
A funny article about Xanadu. I didn't realize there were so many 8's in the release date: 8-08-1980
http://lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2011/08/xanadu-1980.html

Check out the photo of one of the discarded sketches that made it's way into the movie (Greek column).

 

I found this article really interesting about the animated sequence in Xanadu of Don Bluth. Be sure to read the section titled: BEHIND THE SCENES, some interesting information about this sequence and how ELO's track "Don't Walk Away" turned into this sequence.

http://www.cataroo.com/DBxana.html

 

Great links Song4u!

 

I saw this a long time ago and completely forgot about it.
I knew that John Farrar sang the song "Magic" but I forgot where I saw it and here it is....interesting that John Farrar is being shown as singing in the movie when Olivia is the artist who sang the song in the movie.

So where is John's version? I would love to have his full version on CD, even just to hear him sing his own song would be really cool to hear.

Oh and Olivia looks really hot in this video clip promoting Xanadu.