1980 movie oddity Xanadu showing on big screen in San Antonio this Tuesday

A legendary box office bomb and the inspiration for the first Golden Raspberry Awards, Gene Kelly’s last feature film Xanadu (1980), is a convoluted fantasy musical in which Olivia Newton-John plays a muse of Olympus sent to earth to help struggling artist Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) open a nightclub.

While initially met with derision and commercial failure, time has been kind, and it’s now considered a queer cult classic. Enough of one, in fact, that it's being presented on the big screen this Tuesday as part of Texas Public Radio's Cinema Tuesday series.

There’s catchy music by Electric Light Orchestra (including not just the title track but the classics “Magic” and “All Over the World”), a 1940s sensibility, colorful sets, voluminous amounts of fog, a wacky animated interlude and extensive roller skating.

The sweetness of the romance and the elegy of seeing the recently departed Newton-John in peak coiffed splendor hit especially hard during these grim times.

Suggested donation $12 (members), $17 (non-members), 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, Santikos Northwest, 7600 I-10, (877) 691-0734, santikos.com/san-antonio/northwest/theater-info.

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