Xanadu (film)

Xanadu is a 1980 film in which a muse inspires a down-and-out artist to form a partnership with a 1940s big band leader turned construction magnate in order to open up a roller-skating nightclub. The title of the film is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film.

• Ah, what the hell. Guys like me should not dream anyway.

• We've been painted by Michelangelo. Shakespeare's written sonnets about us. Beethoven's played music for us. We're not supposed to feel emotion or show any feelings. Muses are just supposed to inspire.

• Come take my hand, you should know me,
  I've always been in your mind
  You know I will be kind, I'll be guiding you
  Building your dream has to start now,
  There's no other road to take
  You won't make a mistake, I'll be guiding you.
  • "Magic" by John Farrar

• You have to believe we are magic, nothin' can stand in our way
  You have to believe we are magic, don't let your aim ever stray
  And if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive
  I'll bring all your dreams alive, for you
  • "Magic" by John Farrar

• From where I stand you are home free, the planets align so rare
  There's promise in the air, and I'm guiding you
  • "Magic" by John Farrar

• But how can our love succeed
  A miracle is what we need
  And so I appeal to you
  To keep me suspended in time with you
  Don't let this moment die
  I get a feeling when I'm with you
  None of the rules apply
  But I know for certain
  Goodbye is a crime
  So love if you need me
  Suspend me in time
  • "Suspended in Time" by John Farrar

• A place where nobody dared to go
  the love that we came to know
  They call it Xanadu
  And now, open your eyes and see
  what we have made is real
  We are in Xanadu
  A million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star
  An everlasting world and you're here with me, eternally
  Xanadu
  • "Xanadu" written by Jeff Lynne

• The love, the echoes of long ago
  you needed the world to know
  They are in Xanadu
  The dream that came through a million years
  That lived on through all the tears, it came to Xanadu
  • "Xanadu" written by Jeff Lynne

• You know, I used to be in the music business, but now I'm what you might call retired. It's a refined name for bum.

Sonny: Dreams die.

Danny: No. No, no, no. Not by themselves. We - we kill them!

---

Danny: Kid can you imagine it?

Sonny: Imagine what?

Danny: A bandstand. Right over there in that corner. And a big band, like in the 40's

Sonny: Nah, nah, nah. Bandstands went out with running boards. Over there. A great rock 'n' roll band. This is the 80's!

Danny: Real smooth dancers... wild trombone... the band decked out in tuxedos.

Sonny: Six guys wearing electric orange... synthesizer... heavy percussion... electric guitar.

Danny: Lots of glamour. Everybody dressed in elegance and style.

---

[Sonny is painting Kira's likeness on the Nine Sisters album cover. His boss Simpson is displeased]

Simpson: It is supposed to look exactly like the album cover I gave you! Is that too difficult?

Sonny: If you want me to work, I'll work. If you want stand there and argue, I can get into that, too.

Simpson: Don't be a wiseass, Malone. That painting should be done; what are you wasting all this time on the girl for?

Sonny: Because that's how she really looks.

Simpson: I don't give a damn how she really looks, just get it FINISHED! Now, when are you gonna have it done?

Sonny: Well, I'd say it probably will be done...when it's done, but that's only an approximate guess.

Simpson: Five minutes, my office. If it's six, keep walking.

---

Sonny: Hey I've been asking about you all day. You may not believe this but I'm painting an album cover and you're on it.

Kira: Why shouldn't I believe it?

Sonny: Because before today I never laid eyes on you. Now I've seen you 3 times in one day. That's a little too coincidental.

Kira: Sounds like you don't believe it.

---

Sonny: I want to know more about you.

Kira: You already know enough about me. Any more and you're going to get a headache.

Sonny: Are you living with someone?

Kira: Yes. I told you I live with my sisters.

Sonny: I know. In an apartment on the second floor. All right, then. What's your last name?

Kira: Same as my mother's and father's.

Sonny: And what's that?

Kira: Which one, my mother's or my father's?

Sonny: Either!

Kira: The same as mine!

Sonny: I get it. No questions.

Kira: No questions, no lies.

Sonny: No questions, no truth, either.

---

Kira: Have you ever heard the expression "kissed by a muse"? Well, that's what I am. I'm a muse.

Sonny: Well, I'm glad someone's having a good time.

Kira: Oh, don't make jokes; I'm serious.

---

Kira: Look up "muse" in the dictionary. Go on, page seven twenty-eight. Read it!

Sonny: Okay, all right. I'll read it. [reading] "Muse; any one of the nine sister..."

Kira: Like the album cover? Mm-hmm?

Sonny: [reading] "Any one of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology, presiding over song, and poetry, and the arts and do you believe me now, Sonny?" How'd you do that? What's going on?

---

Danny: Don't tell anyone, but I'm nervous.

Kira: What about?

Danny: I haven't had a club opening since... 1945. Wow.

Kira: Then just pretend it's 1945 all over again.

Danny: [looks fondly at Kira] I don't have to pretend. It is 1945 all over again.

---

Danny: Kira, I want you to promise me one thing.

Kira: Anything!

Danny: On opening night, I get the first dance.

Kira: Okay.

Sonny: You're gonna dance?

Danny: Oh, I've been known to twinkle a toe or two.

---

Sonny: I've come to take you out of here.

Kira: It can't be done. No one's ever taken anyone out of here. Not in the whole history of... the whole history!

Sonny: I'll make them let you go. Zeus! Zeus, you hear me?

Kira: Oh, God.

---

Mnemosyne: Maybe just one moment darling…

Zeus: …well maybe just one moment or forever, I keep getting them mixed up too.

• Xanadu quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Xanadu at Allmovie
• The Xanadu Remake at Mighty Tide of Justice
• Xanadu at Rotten Tomatoes
• Xanadu at Mojo