There is no denying that the musical/fantasy Xanadu is a bad film. The main character has no real arc, scenes just sort of happen with advancing even its threadbare plot, and for the ending is incomprehensible.

With all that said it is an emotional favorite of mine. The movie is pure Romanticism, a celebration of love, and the heights that love can take us to personally and artistically. In addition to this the central theme of the film, and many films fail to even have a theme, is stated in the line ‘Dreams don’t die, no, not by themselves. We kill them.” is a principal I continue to live by.

So when a local organization, Filmout San Diego, hosted a presentation at a Landmark theater, well I just had to be there.

Filmout San Diego is an organization that uses film and films screenings to raise money and awareness for local LGBTQ issues and groups. The fact that money spent on the ticket would help these groups was an added benefits in my book.

The screening sold out but I got my ticket before that happened. It was quite interesting to see this movie again in a theater with an enthusiastic audience. While I own the movie on blu-ray, the shared experience of seeing a movie is quite different than the home viewing experience. There were fun trailers for equally campy films before the main event including Roller Boogie and The Apple. During the film people clapped in time with the songs performed by Olivia Newton John and the Electric Light Orchestra, bursting into applause at the end of each number.

While I noticed new flaws in the script, as I said it is not a good film and suffered from continual rewrite throughout the filming, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and basked in an evening of happy nostalgia.