Top Secret! (1984)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 40,503
My Rating
Movie Info
The second of Zucker-Abraham-Zucker's theatrical-feature spoofs (Airplane was the first, discounting the patchwork Kentucky Fried Movie), Top Secret! lampoons practically every film genre. Specifically, however, this is a hybrid of an "Elvis" movie and a World War II "underground resistance" thriller. In his film debut, Val Kilmer plays Nick Rivers, a Presley-like American rock idol sent behind the Iron Curtain on a goodwill tour. Before long, he is involved in a complex espionage scheme thanks
Jun 8, 1984 Wide
Jul 16, 2002
Paramount Home Video
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Cast
-
Val Kilmer
Nick Rivers -
Lucy Gutteridge
Hillary -
Christopher Villiers
Nigel -
Omar Sharif
Cedric -
Peter Cushing
Bookstore Owner -
Jeremy Kemp
Gen. Streck -
Billy Mitchell
Martin -
Michael Gough
Dr. Flammond -
Harry Ditson
Du Quois -
Jim Carter
Deja Vu -
Nancy Abrahams
Pregnant Woman -
David Adams
Back-Up Singer -
Sydney Arnold
Albert Potato -
Susan Breslau
Cafe Diner -
John Carney
Klaus -
Warren Clarke
Col. Von Horst -
Daisy the Cow
Herself -
Andrew Hawkins
Pilot -
Tristram Jellinek
Maj. Crumpler -
Gertan Klauber
Mayor -
Vyvyan Lorrayne
Mme. Bergerone -
Richard Mayes
Biletnikov -
Mac McDonald
German Soldier -
Ian McNeice
Blind Man -
Marcus Powell
Little German -
John Sharp
Maitre D' -
Eddie Tagoe
Chocolate Mousse -
Major Wiley
Porter -
Burton Zucker
Chef -
Charlotte Zucker
Cafe Diner -
Richard Pescud
Priest -
Russell Sommers
Student -
Nicola Wright
Pizzahaus Girl -
Louise Yaffe
Cafe Diner -
Dimitri Andreas
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Top Secret! Trailer & Photos
All Critics (34) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (11) | DVD (17)
The plot combines the rock musical with the spy thriller (not to mention assorted other genres), and the comic invention is fairly constant.
Top CriticThis time, though, the creative group has neglected to build to the kind of giddy, everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink climax that made Airplane! such a memorable exercise in anarchy.
Secret! shares the same wonderful wacky attitude that allows just about any kind of gag to come flowing in and out of the picture at the strangest times.
Signs of desperation have begun to creep in some time before the end.
This movie will cheerfully go for a laugh wherever one is even remotely likely to be found.
Top Secret! comes nowhere near Airplane! but in its own cheerful, low-pressure way, it's about as amiable an entertainment as you will find this summer.
Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker present a narrative that is hopelessly convoluted, but that, of course, is exactly their intention as they pile joke upon joke, filling their film with inventive sight gags.
Featuring cows wearing boots, a scene involving skeet surfin' (filmed in Cornwall of all places), and French characters named 'Déjà Vu' and 'Avant Garde', this is an absurd comedy that hits far more times than it misses.
Jokes so stupid as to seem almost surreal, an amazing range of cultural referents and a smattering of genuinely witty conceits.
The story has almost no momentum and runs out of gas, ending abruptly, but how can you knock a movie with so many gut-busting jokes?
I found its spirited irreverence to be refreshing.
Extras on the disc are a bit more extensive than you'd usually get with a movie well over two decades old that's not generally viewed as a classic.
Memorable both for its spoofing of a wacky combination of Elvis movies, spy movies and Second World War intrigue films and for the fact that it's Val Kilmer's film debut.
I could never figure out why this comedy-packed gem bombed during its day until I saw it again and realized how juvenile it is. Nevertheless, my memories of it helped me enjoy it once again.
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Foreign Titles
- Top Secret (DE)
- Top Secret (1984) (UK)
