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.

Sonny Malone

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

Kira



 * 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

Danny McGuire

 * 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.

Dialogue

 * 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.