The poster makes it seem stupid, which it is, in a good way.
Nazis are staging a cultural festival to distract attention from a secret attack on a submarine fleet using a new weapon designed by a captured scientist. Leonard Bernstein is unavailable to play at the festival, so rock god Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) is tapped to replace him. Before he knows it, Nick is trapped in an international incident, aiding the daughter of the scientist in the French Resistance!
This is one of those films that is basically a parody of a famous type of genre, think of it as the 80s Scary Movies, Disaster Movies, etc. But the thing with this one is that the jokes never stop.
The film does a nice job of combining both Elvis films with WWII era films and actually make a good story out of it, with plenty of jokes on the way. There are other parodies of films that are hard to come by the first time, and other you’ll notice right away.
What I love about this movie is the fact that it is so offbeat and silly. The jokes fly fast and furiously, and it might take several viewings to catch all of them. So many times I just found myself laughing at almost every single line and part of this film. There are times in this film when one thing is going and then the next thing could be so completely random and stupid, but that’s the point of these movies which is why its so funny. The non-stop gags, are what makes the film the because it comes by your eye so quick without becoming over-done.
Val Kilmer in his first role makes this film surely great, with a lot of his physical comedy, good looks (no homo), and great singing voice for a couple of songs, really shows that he was destined for glory. The others in the cast are good too, the only problem was that the film started to die down in the end and lose its balance, which caused it to come to an immediate halt. I wish the film actually went on longer instead of its short run-time of 86 minutes.
Consensus: Top Secret! is the most underrated comedy ever, but with its hilarious parodies, jokes mixed with sight gags, and a good performance from Kilmer, everything in this film works without being too stupid, or maybe that was the point.
9.5/10=Full Pricee!!!
Dude, this was such a stupid movie. But I dont mean that in a bad way. I was laughing the entire time, even the corny bits. Also I felt this was Kilmer’s best film, apart from Tombstone.
Gotta love the Zucker brothers.
Sadly, I think Kilmer peaked in the 80′s. With this, Real Genius and Top Gun, he was so good. He’s done some good stuff since, but more indie type stuff in terms of popularity.
This was pretty much the first Elvis movie made without Elvis.
Val Kilmer’s Nick Rivers is a direct lift from Elvis in Loving You being Deke Rivers, mixes a little bit of Harum Scarum – with Elvis being a famous actor who gets caught up in an intrigue in another country – or maybe Double Trouble.
Val Kilmer does an excellent Elvis.
This is basically the Airplane take on Elvis movies – and in a way, too bad that Elvis’ mid to late 60′s movies weren’t as clever as this one.
Elvis was stuck in the light musical comedy or light musical dramas – but the musical spoof would have let him shine a bit more.
Had Airplane not preceded it, this would have been my favourite comedy. As it is, it’s dam funny and it still cracks me up every time I see it. So many great lines.