An American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resi... Read allAn American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist.An American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe songs that Val Kilmer sings in the film are actually performed by him and were featured on the film's soundtrack released in 1984 under Kilmer's character's name Nick Rivers.
- GoofsNick puts the 20th tally on the jail cell wall representing his 20th minute in jail. In the next shot, the wall doesn't show any tally marks.
- Quotes
General Streck, German High Command: [talking on the phone] What is the condition of Sergeant Kruger?
[pause]
General Streck, German High Command: Very well, let me know if there is any change in his condition.
[Hangs up]
General Streck, German High Command: He's dead.
- Crazy creditsEnd credits contain an empty title card that reads: "This Space For Rent."
- Alternate versionsSeveral scenes are in the television version that are not in the video release version:
- A two scene subplot involving Commandant van Horst's dog.
- When Nick (Kilmer) spits at General Streck (Kemp) the projectile ricochets off of two walls.
- In the park, Nick offers Hillary (Gutteridge) a cart of beverages.
- When Nick and Hillary kiss, breaking the guitar, much of the scene is edited. They roll in front of two buildings and a window overlooking a burning building.
- Near the end, Cedric (Sharif) crushes Streck in a car as he had been.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Paul Behragam Talk Show: Balto 3 R&T Part 3 (2015)
- SoundtracksSkeet Surfing
Parody medley based on:
"Surfin' U.S.A." by Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry
"Fun, Fun, Fun" by Brian Wilson and Mike Love (as Michael Love)
"Little Honda" by Brian Wilson and Mike Love (as Michael Love)
"California Girls" by Brian Wilson
"Hawaii" by Brian Wilson
Produced by Mike Moran
Performed by Val Kilmer
I recently watched this again, and I caught something I had never caught before. 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. In the next scene we can see him in the background having a jacket tailor-made! The reason it's hard to catch is that there's exposition going on in the foreground (a ZAZ trademark). 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. Like ZAZ's other masterworks, this one is packed with hilarious one-liners and sight gags. Watch for the scene in the Swedish bookshop that's filmed backwards, the way the verses to the East German National Anthem keep getting longer and longer when translated into English, and the scene where an unfortunate agent is crushed inside a car (and what happens with him afterwards!). And this doesn't even scratch the surface. If "Top Secret!" isn't ZAZ's funniest movie it's only because it has such strong competition. 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. Also look out for Peter Cushing, Omar Sharif, and Ian McNiece (hilarious as a spy whose cover is selling souvenirs, novelties, and party tricks). And watch out for the French resistance (who knows what they're doing in East Germany?), each one of whose names is a pun on a French word or phrase (Chocolate Mousse, Deja Vu, etc.)
The plot? Does it matter? Something about the East Germans planning to take over the world while everybody's paying attention to an international cultural show they're putting on (Nick is the American representative), and the spies who are trying to stop it. 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.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- ¡Super Secreto!
- Filming locations
- Holywell Bay, Newquay, Cornwall, England, UK(surfing scenes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $9,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $20,458,340
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,406,205
- Jun 24, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $20,458,340
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1