Top Secret

There was a time when spoof movies were funny. They relied on visual gags. They relied on jokes. They relied on ridiculous situations, funny characters and subverting expectations. In short, they relied on comedy to sell the product. Then filmmakers got lazy. Really lazy. Instead of carefully crafting a joke or scene they went for pop culture references that immediately date the movie and make it unwatchable a few years later. But during the 80's we had a series of gems of the genre and this is possibly one of the funniest.

The story, if you can call it such, deals with a young man played by Val Kilmer who's the biggest rock star of his time. His big hit, "Skeet Surfing" where people take to the waves on their surfboards and try to hit their targets while wielding shotguns. Silly? Of course. That's what this movie is all about.

His adventures take him to Europe where he fights against the East Germans, falls in love and Pac Man shows up in one scene for no readily explained reason. The jokes and sight gags come at you very fast sometimes in the foreground, often times in the background and everywhere else. One example is he goes to a fancy restaurant for dinner but they won't let him in without a jacket. So instead of pulling some musty old jacket out of the closet, they bring in a tailor to make him a tuxedo which is ready in five minutes so he can have dinner. Some of the jokes land, some don't but they're all played straight and no attention it called to them. It's as if nothing is out of the ordinary which makes it much funnier.

This movie is in the style of classics such as Airplane, not whatever Selzter and Friedberg monstrosity has come out this year. It's funny. You should give it a watch.

Maybe some people just don't get it. This was made by the team of Zucker-Abraham-Zucker, responsible for "Airplane", "The Kentucky Fried Movie", and the "Naked Gun" series, so who cares if it doesn't accurately reflect society? It's not meant to be a satire, folks, it's a very broad parody!

I recently watched this again, and I caught something I had never caught before. In the dinner scene at the "Hotel Gay Schluffen", Nick Rivers (played by Val Kilmer, and this may be the best thing he's ever done), American rock star, is told that he needs a jacket to eat in the dining room, but the restaurant will provide one. In the next scene we can see him in the background having a jacket tailor-made! The reason it's hard to catch is that there's exposition going on in the foreground (a ZAZ trademark). It's funny, but the amazing thing is that I've seen this movie many times over a period of something like 20 years, and I'd never noticed that before.

I believe that this is one of the marks of a great spoof, that you can watch it many times and still pick up jokes you've never noticed before. Like ZAZ's other masterworks, this one is packed with hilarious one-liners and sight gags. Watch for the scene in the Swedish bookshop that's filmed backwards, the way the verses to the East German National Anthem keep getting longer and longer when translated into English, and the scene where an unfortunate agent is crushed inside a car (and what happens with him afterwards!). And this doesn't even scratch the surface. If "Top Secret!" isn't ZAZ's funniest movie it's only because it has such strong competition. The men were comedic geniuses when they were together.

Val Kilmer was hilarious as Nick Rivers, and the movie has a strong supporting cast, including Lucy Gutteridge as Nick's love interest Hillary (I wonder how Ms. Clinton would feel if she knew her name means "She whose bosoms defy gravity"?), Christopher Villiers as Nigel, her ex-boyfriend (they spent some time stranded on a deserted island together), and Jeremy Kemp as the evil General Streck. Also look out for Peter Cushing, Omar Sharif, and Ian McNiece (hilarious as a spy whose cover is selling souvenirs, novelties, and party tricks). And watch out for the French resistance (who knows what they're doing in East Germany?), each one of whose names is a pun on a French word or phrase (Chocolate Mousse, Deja Vu, etc.)

The plot? Does it matter? Something about the East Germans planning to take over the world while everybody's paying attention to an international cultural show they're putting on (Nick is the American representative), and the spies who are trying to stop it. But that's not the point, the point is the comedy, and I could go on and on about the many hilarious jokes but I'm not going to; let me just say without ruining anything that the funniest scenes in the movie involve a cow.

It's usually overlooked, curiously enough, when talking about the great comedies, but there's no doubt about it, "Top Secret!" IS one of the great comedies of our time.

It's so stupid it's hilarious. My husband and I were laughing nearly the entire movie and I found myself repeating, "What is even happening?!" over and over. But yet...it's somehow incredibly entertaining.

Top Secret! is a very funny movie that mixes Elvis style singing with a Nazi backdrop and some spoofs of famous films of the past. Blue Lagoon and Cloak and Dagger and The Dirty Dozen to name a few. Val looks young and great in this 1984 film.His dancing and sing are excellent. The jokes never stop coming at you with a brilliant cast and top notch directing. This is on a par with Airplane!, Naked Gun and Hot Shots! It would be a good choice for movie night for almost any age group.

In East Germany, the American rock and roll singer Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) meets Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge) in a fancy restaurant. Hillary is a member from the resistance and her hope is to rescue her father, the scientist Dr. Paul Flammond (Michael Gough), who is imprisoned by the Germans to develop a powerful weapon. Nick is arrested and sent to prison for helping Hillary and he meets Dr. Flammond in his laboratory. Hillary helps him to escape during a show and when he tells that he has met Dr. Flammond in the prison to Hillary, they decide to seek out the resistance leader. When they meet him, they discover that Nigel (Christopher Villiers) was Hillary's first lover. Further, they learn that there is a traitor in the resistance. Who might be the traitor?

"Top Secret" is a very funny comedy by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker. The plot is a parody to World Was II movies with the French resistance and it is impossible not laughing along the adventures of Nick Rivers in the East Germany. Val Kilmer steals the movie wit ha magnificent performance and singing most of the songs. In the end, time is cruel to everyone. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Top Secret – Super Confidencial" ("Top Secret – Super Confidential")

Note: On 24 Sep 2017, I saw this film again.