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turrcert; Kell v: By David Baker Fim Critic "Gene Kelly is a living legend. He is famed as an actor, dancer, choreographer, arid also has earned great distinction as a producer and director for motion pictures, television and the Broadway stage." That description comes from a studio biography, but there simply is no better way to describe a man who is undeniably one of the most beloved figures in the history of the entertainment industry. Now in his late sixties, Kelly is making a return to the silver screen in the musical-fantasy Xanadu, with Olivia Newton-John. Xanadu is Kelly's second comeback try in the past few years. His first attempt, Viva Knievel, bombed when it was released in 1977. "I believe that the reason for Viva Knievel's not doing well was the fact that everybody knew he wasn't going to get hurt," Kelly explained. "When people saw him live, they didn't know whether he was going to make the jump or crash. But in the movie, they knew he was going to be all right. Just his riding a motorcycle tifocn'f onnncfh " Motorcycles, however, were what convinced Kelly to appear In the movie. "My youngest son, who was 15 at the time, was crazy about motorcycles. So after I turned the picture down, my llSt ^MIK| ?L.-i *&** Vi *** : f \ V it* > . * ' ' ^r" Olivia Newton ainmern : an ol< son told me 'No?don't do that. Iftyou're in it, I'll get a chance to ride a motorcycle.' And he did ride one during the rehearsals." While Kelly first rejected Viva Knievel, he was interested in Xanadu from the first time he read the script. "I hadn't done a musical for many years," he said, "and the thing that intrigued me about Xanadu was that here were some young people doing a fantasy, trying to do li in tne same Kind ot style that we used in the old, olcl days beyond recall." Kelly admitted, however, that the picture "is geared to the younger generation, with the kind of music that the younger generation seems to be buying. The fact that I'm in it," he added, "doesn't mean that we're going back IU UCI OUW til. The producers did go back to the 1940s, though, to get the name of the character Kelly plays. He's called Danny McGuire, which is the same name Kelly had in Cover Girl, with Rita Hayworth in 1944. Xanadu's producers also managed to include a salute Ann rvf 1/ nllir'c LU UIIC KJk i\Clljr o inuoi famous films, Singing in the Rain. In Xanadu, NewtonJohn and Michael Beck go into a studio and dance in the midst of a machine-made rainshower, just as Kelly and Debbie Reynolds did in the 1952 classic. Soon after Kelly completed Singing in the Rain, : '' : ' 0? X t ''' i .fe! - Pf fl ! : iMMBk i . : $* ;' ^ Jfek John in 'Xanadu'. 1 _____________ tlMB rl U^r^i Jk 11VJFUJ he undertook a pet project called Invitation to the Dance, which was released in 1956. It was an experimental picture demonstrating different types of dance and Kelly not only starred in it, but directed and choreographed the musical numbers. Invitation to the Dance, Kelly said, "was an experiment. Then when MGM saw the first ballet, they wanted to release it as a great big musical. I disagreed and I lost. They put it out on that basis and it was not a success. Of course, they held it up for four years, so that may have had something to do with it." Kelly said he would like to do another film along the same lines as Invitation, but doubts he'll get that chance. "I like to do those kinds of things," he said. "Those are the fun parts of show business, as opposed to the strictly commercial things. But fun doesn't always pay the rent and making movies is a costly venture." The misjudgment about Invitation was mild, though, when compared to the misjudgment in Kelly's career when he agreed to make That's Entertainment, a compilation film featuring clips from the great old MGM musicals, in 1974. That misjudgment turned out to be a pleasant surprise. "We thought it would appeal to everyone over 40 who had seen the films while Olivia IS but neti By Davl Film ( Robert Greenwald's Xanadi albeit very silly, musical fanta the summer season's highlight misdirected. Briefly, the film deals wit! Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly) Beck), meet and discover the> The girl. Kira (Olivia Newton of the nine muses from Greek i to earth, along with her eight s various aspects of the arts and Why Kira would inspire I discotheque is anyone's guess does. The discotheque, of cours taken from Samuel Coleridge fond of quoting from time to tir Integrated into this less-th; dozen songs, all of them exce performed by the Electric Ligl (either alone or in tandem wi Tubes). Greenwald, who previously 1 n rtrl f/\t* f nlnififtinn linn f n A auu iui icicvidiuu, uao 11 icu ou into something special that hi: abilities that he simply could He directs with undeniable evidently became so big he cou Take, for example, the seer effort to make them appear c effect), Greenwald had the Ui surround them with ribbons ol as that used to create the ligh Empire Strikes Back. A slight glow around the mi life (they spring forth from Angeles) might have been mediately, but Greenwald ke they're onscreen, thus detracti sets, the music and the muses t The sole exception to this hu CMie s m su many scenes mai would have cost a fortune, so s (though why she glows at tin never explained). (ireenwald similarly botclu number by giving the audienc would like to see After repeat ultimate pleasure palace, \v entertainment its bill of-far WBSBSmHHHn erdancei . got fl^L" -i"' 9s i_ ' :> >y^/ ^w'i^P PL j[ 4 y^jBi CZann Ka//i/ a c Dstnnw Mnt growing up," Kelly ex- as not, hadn't se< plained. "But the repeat all. It wasn't n< buyers and the most in- them?it was a terested ones were in their perience and they teens and pre-teens. They Teens and pre-t had never seen the films on said, now have th the big screen and, as often make or break a lewton-John > movie fizzle I Baker gleaming porticos No one in their rig is an occasionally inventive, much less an enti __ a.I i ! t. r 1 _ it ' 1 a. -1 y uiai migni nave oeen one 01 aoes noining dui si ; had it not been so thoroughly over and over, but is the closest mere the story of how two men, But the biggest and Sonny Malone (Michael Greenwald is his n 're in love with the same girl, dazzling beauty < John), just happens to be one flawless smile am lythology and she's been sent of the film. isters, to inspire people in the Likewise, almos ciences. sensitive way with anny and Sonny to build a for the film, four i , but that's exactly what she as background mu g, is called "Xanadu," a name The powerhouse s Kubla Kahn, which Kira is band music and le. sings with the Tub n-enthralling scenario are a looking females e jtionally pleasant to listen to, cing Newton-John t Orchestra and Newton-John the movie to shov :h Kelly, Cliff Richard or the cepts of Xanadu c it would be only r las directed only for the stage both men, appear laratomaKenisieatureaeDui i^esi you gei in ideas got so far ahead of his however, let me lot capture them on celluloid, are absolutely s| enthusiasm, but the project You're Away Frc dn't handle it. dance routine witl 2s involving the muses. In an a five-minute anil jlestial (or something to that Away." iversal special effects people The animation ! light, using the same process and Beck, both of sabres in Star Wars and The into birds - is the Had it been releai ses just as they're coming to in a feature, it c< a mural in downtown Los something that n< nice had it dissipated im- worry about. ?ps them glowing as long as KelLy, who hasr lg from the choreography, the knows how to hoo lemselves. chance to demon nan fireworks display is Kira. even less to wort to make a lighthouse of her picture to rest ( le glows onlv at certain times miscast se times and not at others is Heck's dramati his talenis in mu s .the film's final production entire course ot the exact opposite of what it scorns even mor< idly describing Xanadu as the John is supposed i th singing dancing and live Put me in a sil ), we're taken inside it's smile off my face y u^uiii I iHHi ggg gg . m Hi S ........ Quire in 'Xanadu'. i jn them at boxoffice. He estimated that I Dstalgia to 70 percent of today's new ex- moviegoers are youngsters loved it." and that fact makes it difeens, Kelly ficult for producers to choose i le ahilitv to film at the See Hoofer, page 12 t shines 'SOUt to find an instant replay of Roller Boogie. J ht mind would want to spend five minutes, re evening, in a joint where the clientele ; Icate in a circle while chanting "Xan-a-du" Greenwald apparently thinks such a place humans will ever get to heaven. - the one unforgivable - mistake made by nisuse of Newton-John. There is not a more >n this earth, yet Greenwald keeps her 1 i sparkling eyes hidden away during most it no one can match Newton-John's sweet, i a cnno Rut nf thp piffht snnPs shp rwnrripd ! . M O- ""O" o - \ (including the hit, "Magic") are used only isic. t "Dancin"' number, a mixture of 1940s big 1980 theatrical rock, which Newton-John es, features three of the most unwholesome ver to disgrace the silver screen, lip syns's vocal parts. The number is included in v how Danny s and bonny s aitiering conan be meshed into one and, in that context, latural to have Kira, since she is loved by in their daydreams. e impression that Xanadu is a total loss, explain that it contains two sequences that pellbinding. The first is the "Whenever >m Me" number, which features a lovely 1 Newton-John and Kelly, and the second is mated sequence set to ELO's "Don't Walk here -- a love dance between Newton-John whom are transformed first into fish, then best non-Disney animation I've ever seen, sed as a short subject rather than included juld easily have won an Oscar next year, [>ne of the cast members have anything to 1't starred in a musical in two decades, still if, but the material here doesn't give him a istrate his acting skills. Newton-John has i with, leaving the dramatic weight of the >11 the shoulders of Heck, who is totally it* talents are limited, to the least, but sical comedy arc non-existent lHa ng she X<iruj<iij, Bock never stnilt >. a lad which ? bi/.arre when you consider that Newton to be in love w ith him. nation like that and you couldn't wipe the with a brick.