Laughter is main secret
in spoof of classic movies
Yes, East Germany is at it
again. Those vile commies
have a plan to reunite Ger
many while the world’s eyes
are on a cultural festival. But
wait, who’s that representing
the United States? Elvis? No,
even better, it’s Nick Rivers,
America’s newest rock sensa
tion with his own trend of
music — skeet surf music!
Can Nick save the world
from East Germany’s dread
plan? Will skeet surfing music
be a hit with communist
teenagers? Will Nick win the
heart of the beautiful daughter
of an imprisoned brilliant
scientist, even though she still
loves the young boy she was
once long ago marooned with
on a desert island? Should
you take any of this seriously?
The answer, to the last ques
tion at least, is a most definite
no. In “Top Secret!” the
writer-director team of Jim
Abrahams, David Zucker and
Jerry Zucker, creators of the
original “Airplane!” and the
TV spoof “Police Squad,” just
want you to laugh, and in that
they have succeeded.
The ZAZ team (as they refer
to themselves) are lampoon
ing three film types in “Top
Secret!”—- the modern es
pionage film, the World War II
drama, and the Elvis rock and
roll film. Val Kilmar portrays
Elvis-type Nick Rivers, who
sings a Jan and Dean flavor of
music and likes to spon
taneously burst into song. He
meets Hillary Flammond
(Lucy Gutteridge), a beautiful
young counteragent trying to
rescue her father from the evil
East German plotters, who
look amazingly like classic
movie Nazis.
The ZAZ team put these two
and the supporting cast
through virtually every
adventure-drama-romance
cliche, with more than a few
chuckles. The creators follow
the machine gun theory of
comedy: get as many shots off
as possible and worry about
accuracy later.
The heart of “Top Secret!”
is the cliches, the bad puns,
the visual gags, and the just
plain silliness that abounds. A
priest reads the bible, throw
ing in Latin phrases like “E
Pluribus Unum” and “Veni,
vidi, vici.” The soldiers in a
French revolutionary outfit
have names like “Souffle,”
“Latrine,” and “Chocolate
Mousse.” A cuisinart sits on a
dingy shelf in Nick’s jail cell.
The little bits are as priceless
as the big gags and sometimes
even funnier.
“Top Secret!” is loaded
with inspired silliness.
Although it is a little rough in
spots and isn’t as tight or quite
as funny as the ZAZ team’s
previous “Airplane!” it is as
funny a film as you’ll find this
summer.
“Top Secret!” plays at
Valley River Twin.
By Sean Axmaker
V
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