Top Secret!

Plot synopsis:
Nick Rivers, a highly successful United States rock star ("Skeet Surfing"), travels to East Germany to perform at a cultural festival, which secretly serves the East German government as a diversion for an illegal military operation with the intent of reuniting Germany under their rule. At a dinner, Nick encounters Hillary Flammond, a member of the local resistance movement, attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti Frutti") mistakenly thinking that he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the crowd but to the annoyance of General Streck, the mastermind of the "reunification" plot.
Nick later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she is trying to meet with a resistance contact, but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret lab of Dr. Paul Flammond, a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet as part of the government's plot; the Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution.
The East Germans decide that Nick must perform to avoid an international incident, and he does so to the rapturous joy of the local girls ("How Silly Can You Get"/"Spend This Night with Me"). He is rescued by Hillary at the end of his performance, after which they spend the night in the loft of a Swedish bookstore. Nick plays for her ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?") and they make love. The next morning, they are moved to the "Potato Farm" where they meet members of the French Resistance, led by Nigel "The Torch", who was a lover of Hillary from when they were stranded on an island as youths. Nick is upset by Hillary's residual love for Nigel, but accepts that they must work together for the cause. After fighting off an attack by the Germans, who were tipped off by the secret traitor, they move to a pizza restaurant, where Nick proves that he's not the traitor by performing for the locals ("Straighten Out the Rug").
The resistance group stages a rescue of Dr. Flammond, where Nigel and Du Quois, a resistance leader, dress up in a fake cow outfit to disable the prison's defenses. While the other members successfully infiltrate the prison, Nigel reveals himself as the traitor. Dr. Flammond is rescued, but Nigel makes off with Hillary, and Nick is forced to rescue her in an underwater bar room fight. With their flight about to leave, Hillary chooses to go with Nick and her father to America.

Tags: plot twist, comedy, entertaining

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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..
Featuring a young Val Kilmer, I think Top Secret is the best of all spoof films (Spaceballs is a close second).
Also, Val Kilmer does a great acting for his first movie!This movie may not be the best comedy ever made but it still is among the top of its genre and a great movie to watch even and specially if you're not in a good mood.If you found "Airplane!" funny then watching this one is highly recommended.
In his first leading role, Val Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, an Elvis like pop star sent to Germany on a good will tour as a fill in for Leonard Bernstein.
Lucy Gutteridge is his German lover.An often overlooked - maybe even misunderstood - film from the Zucker/Abrams/Zucker team (who gave us "Airplane!") the film takes pot shots at "The Man Who Knew Too Much", pintos, rock 'n roll, Nazis, and other various spy movies with more gags than you can shake a stick at.
This movie is unbelievable funny and makes no sense.Why are there Nazis in East-Germany capturing Scientists and why do they want to let a Rock'n'Roll singer play his music!?
Following the popular success of "Airplane!" and its less acclaimed sequel, the ZAZ trio was back to what I believe to be the funniest comedy ever: "Top Secret!" a hilarious parody of the WWII spy films and the 50-60's rock-themed movies.
Speaking of rock'n'roll, one of the most defining songs of the film performed by Val Kilmer aka Nick Rivers is titled "How Silly Can you Get?" which sounds like a self-reflexive motto."Top Secret!" probably features the highest laughs-out-loud-per-minute ratio from any movie, as there is not one single moment where the action isn't punctuated by a gag, and that this very gag doesn't work.
You may say that this is the very principle of a comedy, what's more a spoof movie, but it seems like "Top Secret!" has been specially concocted for pure and genuine amusement, and while the much more respected "Airplane!" has its slower moments, especially during the flash-back parts, "Top Secret!" was hilarious from A like Abrahams to Z like Zucker brothers.There are two kinds of gags in "Top Secret!", the direct and the indirect one.
Anyway, whether it's an offensive national anthem, a singing horse, a little German, an over-hilarious moment when Nick is about to be executed and an old lady slowly approaches to pick up the phone, any attempt to list the audio-visual gags of the film is as ludicrous as trying to define which is the funniest.
The indirect gag is the elaborated one, already funny by itself but leading to a much more delightful punch-line.The first one involves a weird shot illustrating the road taken by Nick Rivers and his manager, the map looks more and more familiar until Pac-Man makes his appearance, the very gag that sets the tone of the film.
The gag works even more because we expect it, like when Nick is introduced to the French Resistance, what would you expect from a man named "Déjà Vu" apart from "Have we not met before?" It could have concluded here yet the French sounding names punch-line was with the black guy named 'Chocolate Mousse", which says a lot about an era where anything was acceptable in the name of pure comedy.I don't mean to be too analytical, but my regard for "Top Secret!" is due to one of the two funniest and creative gags from any film, starting with the Swedish bookstore sequence, a cinematic achievement that would have made Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin proud.
During that part, there is a gradual suspicion that we're not watching a normal scene, even for a spoof movie, there is something weird in the walking and the talking that gets funnier as it is more noticeable, the scene becomes hilarious when we get the point and yet it goes on and on, a book getting in the right place immediately, dust from ear to mouth, and finally Nick and Hillary 'sliding up' a pole.
The rest of the gags are as good as it gets, and features many fourth-wall breaking, like when Nick and Hillary feels that the romance "makes it's like a bad movie" and then they look at us, and many film references are made, notably one hilarious climax in a sub-aquatic Western bar, and a clever farewell a la "Wizard of Oz"."Top Secret!" is made in such a way, that we either enjoy a gag or wait for one to come, so there's no time break.
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.
This time with "Top Secret!", which is a very underrated movie that, in my humble opinion, is just as good as "Airplane!" (which of course is considered their best work).
In between their most successful films  Airplane, Naked Gun and Hot Shots  the ZAZ team modestly spoofed the espionage and conspiracy theory thrillers in Top Secret!
The film involves American teen idol Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer in his first big screen role) attending a culture festival in Nazified East Germany.
Top Secret isn't Abraham's and the Zucker brother's best work, but it's still great entertainment and the quality balances somewhere between 'The Kentucky Fried Movie' and 'Airplane'..
It's just not in the class of the best Abrahams and Zucker's, especially the fore- mentioned Airplane, hence my four stars.Sent off to cold-war East Germany and playing rock'n'roll to an audience not yet immersed in such, at a concert that aims to unite west and east Berlin, Nick Rivers (Kilmer) encounters an array of mishaps, from the outset.
There's Omar Sharif as you've never seen, or ever thought you'd see him and a turn from Peter Cushing, too.Venturing into a parody of WWII films, including The Great Escape, it ends up with a herd of cows wearing wellington boots...What happens between is fast and funny and whilst Top Secret isn't the funniest thing you'll see, it's good and worthy of including in the 'ones to see'..
Fast-moving and fun loose, it's one of those films where you're waiting to see what the next gag will be.Everyone plays their roles with a straight poker face, particularly VAL KILMER in the lead as Nick Rivers, a rip-off of Elvis Presley.
TOP SECRETDirectorsJim AbrahamsDavid and Jerry Zucker Cast IncVal KilmerPeter Cushing I was booked for a couple of days to play a straight faced German and a very good actor (Warren Clarke) was to be my boss.
I don't know if this was Val Kilmer's first leading role but he certainly went to the top in his later films..The scene I'm in goes something like this.
For casting , Val Kilmer really knows how to make people laugh by just looking at his face , though , his acting in serious scenes were great (if there's one serious scene).The jokes were again , unmatched till today , everything can make you laugh in this film , from names to looking at how they walk ...
"Top Secret!" is a comedy that parodies spy films from the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team that created "Airplane!" (1980) and later the "Naked Gun" films.
I just saw this movie for the first time in the original English version, and it's silly, but VERY entertaining fun.Indeed, from "There's Sauerkraut in my Lederhosen" to the moving train station to Dèja Vu ("Haven't we met before?") to Rivers placing his head into a gas oven (an overt parody of the murder scene in "Torn Curtain", I think) to the Blue Lagoon spoof, this has to be counted as a classic.It may not reach the heights of some French film comedies (like "Oscar" or "The Great Blonde"), but it's a very well done parody in its own right.Some personal remarks: My appreciation for Val Kilmer has grown immensely after watching this film; this fellow is a gifted dancer and an achieved singer.
I don't think spoof movies are even funny; usually I actually get a bit embarrassed for watching them.Top Secret!, though, is hilarious!
It is not as good as 'Airplane!' or the first 'Naked Gun' but it comes close.Val Kilmer is Nick Rivers, an American rock n' roll singer, who comes to East-Germany.
In my opinion a great movie, a classic comedy film of all times,absolutely recommended.
I do, I loved 'Airplane' and I continue to hail it as the finest slap-stick comedy ever.Coming to, 'Top Secret!', This flick is amongst the stupidest films of its time, that manages a set of good laughs in the meantime.
They are perhaps, the least bothered writer-directors of all-time.'Top Secret!' tells the story of an American pop singer, played awesomely by Val Kilmer, who goes to East Germany to perform at a cultural festival.
Even when not laughing, you will always find yourself smiling - that's worth about everything in these grim times.Needs a second and a third look - never stops.(Side note: Val Kilmer's first film - and he does his own singing!).
The three absurdist comic savants, produced one other spoof after airplane but before "The Naked Gun" with "Top Secret!".An America...(read more) n pop star, is invited to sing in East Germany, but the evil "west" Germans???, are conspiring to use the concert to take over both sides of the country, and only Val Kilmer and his constant Elvis songs and imitations can save the day?
Well the Zaz guys were never big on plot, if you've seen the type of film they are spoofing you should be well aware of the conventions, which is maybe why this film is as little remembered as it's peers, it's attempting to spoof multiple "genres" at once.I've never really seen any of the old Elvis musicals, so a lot of the humor in the musical moments falls flat, and confuses, when your waiting for more spy and espionage gags.Not quite as good as their other more well known films, but good viewing for those interested in the mile a minute, absurdist visual gags and slapstick and vernacular jokes that only these guys could do, after Woody Allen and Mel Brooks the comic torch for the 80's passed through the hands of the trio Zaz, where it continued on past Kevin Smith and the Wayans to Judd Apatow and co, and beyond.Oh and it was funny too..
Nick then suddenly finds himself caught in this conflict and goes out of the way to help Hillary and the French Resistance free her father.Well, I simply adore this broad and terribly ridiculous skit-riddled spoof by the comedy team Jerry & David Zucker and Jim Abraham.
Spoof movies, which parody some existing film or genre, have a long history (several of the British "Carry On" series fall into this category), but they were particularly popular in the seventies and eighties, the period which saw some of Mel Brooks' finest work such as "Blazing Saddles" (which parodies the Western) and "High Anxiety" (the films of Alfred Hitchcock) as well as the likes of "Naked Gun" (cop thrillers), "Airplane!" (disaster movies) and "The Big Bus" (ditto)."Top Secret!" is another film of this type.
Jim Abrahams and David Zucker, the creators of Airplane!, bring more madcap humour to the big screen with Top Secret!, which stars Val Kilmer as rock and roll singer Nick Rivers, who becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue a scientist being held captive in East Germany.Kilmer, in his debut, is surprisingly good, handling acting, comedy and singing duties with aplomb, proving without a doubt that he is a major star in the making; Kilmer is joined by a wonderful supporting cast which includes more established faces such as Peter Cushing, Omar Sharif, Ian McNiece and Michael Gough.Unfortunately, as talented as the cast are, the scattershot humour is far too random and wildly inconsistent to be a total success: for every laugh-out-loud moment (my favourites: a very silly dance routine, the novelty dog poop gag, the brilliantly executed Swedish book store scene, and the singing horse), there are dozens of others that will fail to tickle the funny bone..
There are funnier spoof movies today, but "Top Secret!" is still worth watching.If you are familiar with Abrahams and Zucker movies then you know what you are in for here; a movie full of really odd comedy spoofs and gags.The core essence of the story is about an American rock and roll singer named Nick who is on a promotional tour to East Germany during World War II.
Here he becomes entangled in a conflict between the Nazis and the French resistance.There was actually a fairly good ensemble of talents in the movie, including Omar Sharif, Val Kilmer and Jeremy Kemp."Top Secret!" does have some funny moments and does bring about a good laugh here and there.If you enjoy movies such as "Hot Shots", "Airplane!" and the like, then you will also like "Top Secret!"..
Val Kilmer plays a singer (making fun of Elvis) who is trying to help save the scientist.It is funny like all spoof movies and made by the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker crew.
This is a comedy-spoof from Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, featuring Val Kilmer in his film debut.
It is an outrageously funny parody of World War II spy movies in which American rock singer Nick Rivers (Kilmer) visits East Germany to perform, but ended up getting caught in the middle of a communist German plot aimed at forcing scientist Dr. Paul Flammond (Michael Gough) in making ultimate super-weapon, the Polaris Mine.
Rivers and Flammond's daughter Hillary (Lucy Gutteridge) join the French Resistance, whose members have the most clever and hilarious sounding names you've ever heard, to rescue the doctor and foil the plot.At only 90 minutes long, this movie is stuffed with non-stop laughs and outrageous gags one after the other, from the Resistance members doing the tap dance right in the middle of a gun fight, to the underwater fight in a saloon between Nick and the main villain.
From start to finish, this spoof that will send tears to your eyes and have you horse laughing from all the surprise gags, film and cultural parodies and funny dialog.With all the jokes and comedy in abundance, you wouldn't want to treat this movie seriously.
Kilmer did a great job in his first motion picture acting performance, as well as the host of other actors, providing us a thoroughly entertaining movie with comedy that just flows naturally, for a spoof, rather than force, slapstick nonsensical stuff.Overall, it's some of Abraham and the Zuckers' best work.
The movie team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker chose to film "Top Secret!" instead of making a sequel to their previous hit "Airplane!".
If you enjoy Airplane and the like, then you'll love this.Look out for the background gags - the duty free carrier when parachuting into Occupied France, Peter Cushing and the terrific 2 minute long scene - filmed backwards, the musical parody of "lonesome tonight", noughts and crosses with machine guns and pistols, the worlds biggest escape tunnel ...
Even if you don't see them initially, I assure you that they are there, especially if you speak either German or Yiddish or if you've seen more spy movies, film noir, Elvis musicals, war movies or westerns than is healthy.Val Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, an American singer on his way to East Germany to perform at the government's request.
I think that this is the best of the Abrahams/Zucker Airplane!-genre spoofs, probably because I prefer the genre of films being spoofed here, which are spy thrillers and Elvis movies.
Now, "Airplane!" started it all, and the "Naked Gun" movies had their moments, but the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team really hit their stride with "Top Secret!"  It rivals the great "Duck Soup" as one of the funniest, most off-the-wall comedies of all time."Top Secret!" takes no prisoners.
Where else can you see a dead-on satire on World War II spy thrillers, Elvis rock musicals, "The Blue Lagoon," "The Great Escape" and "The Wizard of Oz?"  Val Kilmer even does a very credible young Elvis impression -- it's obvious he's having fun, and so we have fun, too.This is one of those movies that you need to watch a couple of times to get all the jokes.
In this movie the characters appear to be saying 'Look how silly and funny we are' It kills the humour for me.I'm off to watch the Naked Gun films for the hundredth time and get some real laughs..