Top Secret! (film): Difference between revisions

Line 2:

[[File:top_secret_poster_170.jpg|frame]]

''Top Secret!'' (1984) is the second feature-length comedy by the Zucker Abrahams Zucker team (third, if one counts ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''), and stars [[Val Kilmer]] in his first theatrical role, as [[The Hero|Nick Rivers]], an Elvis-like rock idol sent into [[Crapsack World|East Germany]] for a goodwill tour. Once there, he is swept into a spy plot by [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Hillary Flammond]], whose [[Mad Scientist|father]] is held captive by [[Those Wacky Nazis|the Communists]]. Hillary takes Nick to the [[La Résistance|French Resistance]] (yes, in East Germany), the charismatic leader of which is her former lover, and who seizes on the opportunity to use Nick's knowledge of the prison to break Dr. Flammond out.

''Top Secret!'' (1984) is the second feature-length comedy by the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team (third, if one counts ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''), and stars [[Val Kilmer]] in his first theatrical role, as [[The Hero|Nick Rivers]], an Elvis-like rock idol sent into [[Crapsack World|East Germany]] for a goodwill tour. Once there, he is swept into a spy plot by [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Hillary Flammond]], whose [[Mad Scientist|father]] is held captive by [[Those Wacky Nazis|the Communists]]. Hillary takes Nick to the [[La Résistance|French Resistance]] (yes, in East Germany), the charismatic leader of which is her former lover, and who seizes on the opportunity to use Nick's knowledge of the prison to break Dr. Flammond out.

That's the plot, but the movie is perhaps better appreciated for its farcical, even savage zaniness. It [[Parody Satire Pastiche|parodies]] ''everything'', from rock idols to forced perspective shots to [[Professional Wrestling]] to goose-stepping Nazis to, well, cow disguises, with the ZAZ team's trademark [[Rapid-Fire Comedy]]. [[The Wizard of Oz (film)|"And I'll miss you most of all, Scarecrow!"]]

----

=== This movie contains examples of: ===

* [[Affectionate Parody]]: WWII espionage films, and to a lesser extent, Elvis movies.

* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: Parodied. It takes him a couple tries to find the right one, but there seem to be several more than strictly necessary. One of them inexplicably leads to the toilet.