Top Secret!
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Movie Reviews of Top Secret!
Movie Review: A surreal masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Overshadowed by the success of Airplane! and The Naked Gun films, Top Secret! is in many ways the funniest and certainly the most inventive of the Zucker-Abrahms comedies. Unlike its more famous stablemates it doesn't have a single clearly defined genre to spoof, instead offering an inspired hybrid of World War Two movies, spy thrillers and Elvis and beach party movies (with potshots at The Blue Lagoon and Raiders of the Lost Ark en route) set in communist East Germany that provides a slew of targets, most of which it hits dead center. The jokes veer from crude and obvious to flights of amazing surrealism - the railway station scene has to be seen to be disbelieved while it even throws in an underwater barroom brawl in a Western saloon and a bookshop sequence played entirely in reverse - with plenty of remarkably clever visual gags along the way. There are perhaps fewer familiar faces this time round (Omar Sharif as an ill-fated spy, Peter Cushing as a bookseller, Jeremy Kemp as another German officer) but a lot of laughs, often in the worst possible taste, amounting to one of the most genuinely inspired movie spoofs ever made, and one well worth rediscovering.
The DVD isn't as impressive as Paramount's 'Don't Call Me Shirley' edition of Airplane! but has a decent selection of extras: audio commentary by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jon Davidson, Hunt Lowry and Fred Rubin, 4 alternate scenes, 3 storyboard sequences, and the theatrical trailer.
Movie Review: You'll laugh until you hurt!
Summary: 5 Stars
From the wacky Zucker brothers that brought you the Airplane and Naked Gun spoofs, we now have a total laugh fest with Top Secret. This movie sits right there at the top when it comes to sight gags, one-liners and a hilarious script.What do you get when you combine an American rock and roll star with totally inept Nazi's, resistance fighters named after French foods, a fight scene in a saloon under the water, and more comedy mayhem than you can handle? You've got a 3 ring circus of total insanity that never quits!
If you're a fan of any spoof film (Naked Gun, Hot Shots, Airplane, etc.), this is definitely the movie for you and it will not disappoint. Just make sure you pay attention during the movie because there is a lot of subtle but hilarious gags and props in the background while the main action is happening.
It's fantastic to see this movie finally make it to DVD. Some of the nice things on the disc are the the commentary by the directors, the 5.1 Surround sound track, alternate scenes, and storyboard compilations. Highly recommended and enjoyable!
Movie Review: Very amusing but dated humor
Summary: 5 Stars
For people that grew up with after the "Berlin Wall", this film may need some explaining.
American rock and roll singer, Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) has a gig in the now extinct East Berlin. There he meets Hillary (Lucy Gutteridge). Hillary is an old German word meaning "She whose bosoms defy gravity." And finds out her father is a scientist held against his will.
The film swiftly becomes a mock-WWII spy, miss-identity movie. As with all comedies the joke skirts impropriety and this particular movie may be a tad dated. But it was well put together and has some nice songs.
This is the film where I learned a little German (Marcus Powell ...Little German). And Val Kilmer is in top form. When they make the soundtrack hopefully there will be Little Richard's tune "Tutti Fruitti." I was surprised to find out who the traitor was. So I would not say that the film was predictive. And they used real French names for the underground members. So what is the top secret?
Movie Review: HUSH HUSH IT'S FUNNY
Summary: 5 Stars
Much of the humor in the Zucker/Abraham/Zucker movies is found in the background. While you may be focused on what's going on up front, look at some of the things going on in the background. One of my favorites in this one is in the pizzaria. Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge are having a serious confrontation while in the background, pizza eaters are having a hard time getting the pizza off because the cheese is sooo stringy! It's prime example of the off the wall humor.
While TOP SECRET is sluggish compared to the AIRPLANE and NAKED GUN series, it is nonetheless funny most of the time. For those of us who remember the exploding Pinto crisis, the scene in which the Germans ping the Pinto is priceless. Christopher Villiers as the Torch has a sly moment when masquerading as a cow, a bull sort of gooses him. There's lot of sight gags and some really silly production numbers, but Kilmer and the gang, including an uncredited Omar Sharif, seem to be having fun. It's fun to watch.
Movie Review: "Souvenirs...novelties...party tricks."
Summary: 5 Stars
"Airplane" spoofed airplane disaster flicks. "The Naked Gun" spoofed the Dragnet-type cop movie. "Top Secret!", lesser known, but just as funny, if not funnier, actually spoofs two genres--the Elvis musical and World War II movies. Somehow, in the absurd universe of Zucker/Abahams/Zucker, these two go hand in hand. The sight gags are nonstop and relentlessly ... hilarious. Val Kilmer has a great knack for the delivery this kind of comedy requires. He also does all his own singing on classics like "Straighten the Rug", "Skeet Surfin'", and the hauntingly romantic Macy's Semi-Annual Lincoln's Day Sale jingle, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Other highlights include the long-awaited clarification of the lyrics to the German national anthem, a dedicated band of French resistance fighters, Omar Sharif's brutal initiation into the world of physical comedy, and two of the Zucker Brothers' most inspired set-pieces--one in a Swedish bookstore and the other in an underwater saloon. Just watch.