Top Secret! (1984)

Parody of WWII spy movies in which an American rock and roll singer becomes involved in a Resistance plot to rescue a scientist imprisoned in East Germany.

Directors:

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker

Writers:

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker

Stars:

Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Peter Cushing

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Val Kilmer	...	Nick Rivers
Lucy Gutteridge	...	Hillary Flammond
Peter Cushing	...	Bookstore Proprietor
Jeremy Kemp	...	General Streck
Christopher Villiers	...	Nigel
Warren Clarke	...	Colonel von Horst
Michael Gough	...	Dr. Paul Flammond
Harry Ditson	...	Du Quois
Jim Carter	...	Déjà Vu
Eddie Tagoe	...	Chocolate Mousse
Nancy Abrahams	...	Pregnant Woman
Omar Sharif	...	Agent Cedric
Tristram Jellinek	...	Major Crumpler
Billy J. Mitchell	...	Martin
Major Wiley	...	Porter

Storyline

This time Zucker and Abrahams are spoofing, most notably, Elvis films and WWII spy movies. Val Kilmer stars as Nick Rivers, a handsome American 50s-style rock and roll singer. While performing in East Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful heroine and becomes involved with the French Resistance.

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Plot Keywords:

cow | reverse footage | spy | spoof | rock star | 

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Taglines:

Shhh!

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Genres:

Comedy | Music

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Hillary and Nick go into the Swedish bookstore was staged, shot and then run backwards to make the dialog sound "unique." If you record the scene and play it backwards, you will find all of the dialogue to be exactly what is shown in the subtitles except for the title of the book Hillary asks for. The title she actually asks for is "Europe On 5 Quaaludes A Day."

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Goofs

When Nick enters Dr. Flammond's cell and Dr. Flammond is seen emptying spoonfuls of dirt from under his cot, you can clearly see him scoop dirt from a different pile underneath the cot rather than the tunnel he was nearly completing.

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Quotes

Albert Potato, Resistance Member: [watching Nick perform in Der Pizza Haus] This is *not* Mel Torme!

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Crazy Credits

Halfway into the credits, Val Kilmer & the background singers literally stand up into the frame to continue singing the song playing to the credits.

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Alternate Versions

In the version of the film broadcast on Comedy Central, the ballet scene is edited to remove all shots of the enthusiastic male dancers, instead continually rerunning the opening shot of the female dancers repeatedly between the shots of Nick and Hillary in the audience. The male dancers can still be seen briefly in the background in the shot of the Police Officer being pushed over the balcony.

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Connections

Referenced in The Star Wars Show: Re-creating Tarkin & Leia in Rogue One, Plus Star Wars Trivia... On a Rollercoaster! (2017)

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Soundtracks

Theme from 'Jaws'
from Jaws (1975)
by John Williams
Arranged by Maurice Jarre (uncredited)

User Reviews

Spoof movie done right.

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.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German Yiddish

Release Date:

8 June 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Top Secret!

Filming Locations:

Osterley Park House, Isleworth, Middlesex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,406,205, 24 June 1984

Gross USA:

$20,458,340

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$20,458,340

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kingsmere Properties

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1