Top Secret!
Top Secret! film poster
Directed by	Jim Abrahams David Zucker Jerry Zucker
Produced by	Jon Davison Hunt Lowry
Written by	Jim Abrahams David Zucker Jerry Zucker Martyn Burke
Starring	Val Kilmer Lucy Gutteridge Omar Sharif Peter Cushing Michael Gough Jeremy Kemp
Music by	Maurice Jarre John Williams
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Editing by	Francoise Bonnot Bernard Gribble
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 22, 1984[1]
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Top Secret! is a 1984 comedy directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. It stars Val Kilmer in his first feature film, Lucy Gutteridge, Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Michael Gough and Jeremy Kemp. The film is a parody of World War II films and Elvis films. The original music score is composed by Maurice Jarre. The film is marketed with the tagline "Movie? What movie?" Image File history File links Topsecretposter. ... Jim Abrahams (born 10 May 1944 in Shorewood, Wisconsin) is an American movie director and writer. ... David Zucker (born October 16, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American film director. ... Jerry Zucker (born March 11, 1950 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American movie director best known for his role in directing comedy spoof films. ... Jon Davison is a film producer. ... Jim Abrahams (born 10 May 1944 in Shorewood, Wisconsin) is an American movie director and writer. ... David Zucker (born October 16, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American film director. ... Jerry Zucker (born March 11, 1950 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American movie director best known for his role in directing comedy spoof films. ... Martyn Burke (born 1947) is a journalist, screenwriter and novelist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Val Edward Kilmer[1] (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. ... Lucy Gutteridge (born November 28, 1956) is a British actress. ... For the Pakistani actor of the same name, see Umer Sharif. ... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... Michael Gough (born November 23, 1914) is an English character actor who has appeared in over 100 films. ... Jeremy Kemp (born 3 January 1935 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England is an actor. ... Maurice Jarre (born in Lyon, France, September 13, 1924) is a French composer of film scores, noted for his use of the Ondes Martenot, and for the scores of many films including a series of David Lean films, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryans Daughter (1970) and A... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Christopher Challis (born 18th March, 1919) is a distinguihsed British cinematographer who has worked on more than 70 feature films since starting in the industry in the 1940s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Information in this article or section has not been verified against sources and may not be reliable. ... is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... // Events The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name. ... Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (ZAZ) is a comedy filmmaking trio consisting of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. ... Val Edward Kilmer[1] (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. ... Lucy Gutteridge (born November 28, 1956) is a British actress. ... For the Pakistani actor of the same name, see Umer Sharif. ... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... Michael Gough (born November 23, 1914) is an English character actor who has appeared in over 100 films. ... Jeremy Kemp (born 3 January 1935 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England is an actor. ... Maurice Jarre (born in Lyon, France, September 13, 1924) is a French composer of film scores, noted for his use of the Ondes Martenot, and for the scores of many films including a series of David Lean films, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago (1965), Ryans Daughter (1970) and A...

Plot summary

The film tells the story of Nick Rivers (Kilmer), an American pop singer (whose songs sound suspiciously like those of Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys and Little Richard), who goes to East Germany to perform in a cultural festival. (Curiously, East Germany still seems to be controlled by Nazis and under attack by the French Resistance.) Whilst there, he becomes involved in a resistance movement and helps the beautiful Hillary Flammond (Gutteridge) rescue her father (Gough), a brilliant scientist being held by the Germans and forced to build the deadly Polaris Mine. Elvis Aron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), often known simply as Elvis and also called The King of Rock n Roll or simply The King, was an American singer, musician and actor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), better known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist, who began performing in the 1940s and recording from 1951. ... GDR redirects here. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

The film also features short performances by Omar Sharif as Agent Cedric, and Peter Cushing as a Swedish bookstore proprietor, in a scene filmed completely in reverse. For the Pakistani actor of the same name, see Umer Sharif. ... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ...

Notable gags

• At the beginning a German courier gets off his motorbike and he ties it up like a horse. Also, when he goes inside and takes off his helmet, the straps look like they were painted on his face.
• Nick spits in the face of General Streck during the interrogation scene. As an angry Streck storms out of the room, Colonel Von Horst says "Ich liebe dich, mein Schatz!" ("I love you, my sweetheart!")
• When Nick is on the train listening to the German teaching tape, he learns phrases like "There is sauerkraut in my lederhosen" and "I want a Schnauzer with my Wienerschnitzel". (Most of the 'German language' heard during this scene is actually Yiddish.)
• The East German guards' vehicle is forced to brake sharply upon seeing a car stopped ahead of it. It just touches the car – a Ford Pinto – which of course explodes violently.
• Nick and Nigel have an underwater fight scene, including an underwater Wild West Saloon.
• Hillary Flammond says she can help Nick as she knows "a little German" before pointing to a short Bavarian across the room.
• A magnetic mine attracting a submarine to its location.
• On receipt of a telegram informing him of the escape of a British spy, General Streck rubber-stamps on the telegram the order "Find him and kill him".
• Peter Cushing's character is shown with a magnifying glass up to his eye. When he lowers the glass, the eye remains the same size. Also everything in the book shop is going backwards, e.g. going up the firepole, and the dog walking backwards. (All of the 'backwards dialogue' heard in this scene is consistent with the subtitles, except for the book Hillary asks for, which she actually reads as 'Europe on Five Quaaludes A Day'.)
• The prison priest is heard reading excerpts from Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico and talking in Pig Latin as he makes his last walk. The Pig Latin phrase translates as "you're going to get fried in the chair".
• After Nick criticizes the Hillary-Nigel storyline and Hillary replies "This all sounds like a bad movie", they take a nervous glance at the audience, penetrating the fourth wall.
• Flying men are seen defecating on a statue of a pigeon, which itself defecates in turn.
• One of the villains dresses as the rear part of a cow costume and receives everything a normal cow would get to her rear parts - including a bull in heat.
• An East German guard is thrown from the ramparts of a castle and shatters when he hits the ground as if he were made of porcelain.
• Searching for a way to make Nick Rivers tell all he knows, his captors consider subjecting him to the art of LeRoy Neiman, but demure on the basis that it would breach the Geneva Conventions.
• Rivers tries to pretend he's actually Mel Tormé. After he performs a song, a disappointed Alfred Potato proclaims that "this is not Mel Tormé."
• A horse and cart are shown from a distance and we hear what is supposedly the driver singing. A close-up then shows us that it was in fact the horse singing, rather than the driver. After they arrive at their destination (Nick and Hillary are in the cart), the horse begins to cough. The driver notes that the horse has had a bad cold and "he's just a little hoarse ("horse")." The horse is indeed small. As they drive away the horse begins to sing A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles.

The Ford Pinto was an American subcompact car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company, first introduced in 1971, and built through the 1980 model year. ... Polish wz. ... Gaius Julius Caesar [1] (Latin pronunciation ; English pronunciation ; July 12 or July 13, 100 BC or 102 BC – March 15, 44 BC), was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. ... De Bello Gallico (literally On the Gallic Wars in Latin) is an account written by Julius Caesar about his nine years of war in Gaul. ... Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language game primarily used in English. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Pigeon redirects here. ... The estrous cycle (also oestrous cycle; originally derived from Latin oestrus) comprises the recurring physiologic changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian placental females. ... LeRoy Neiman (born June 8, 1921) is an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, semi-abstract paintings and screen prints of athletes, and sporting events. ... Original document. ... Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed The Velvet Fog, is best known as one of the great male jazz singers. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ...

Production notes

• Val Kilmer actually sings the songs in the movie [1] He would later perform the songs in The Doors
• Most of the "German" spoken in the film is not German, but Yiddish or just Mock German. Some of the "Latin" spoken is pig latin.
• This was Val Kilmer's first film role.
• Michael Gough later played Alfred the butler alongside Val Kilmer, who played Batman in Batman Forever
• The song the horse sings is "Du, Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen", a North German folk song of about 1820. It is also heard singing A Hard Day's Night as it exits.
• The East German National Anthem music is from the Zucker brothers high school alma mater.

This page is about the rock band. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Mock German is a constructed language which is formed by modifying English in ways which stereotypes various features and characteristics, both real and imagined, of the German language. ... Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language game primarily used in English. ... Alfred Pennyworth is a fictional supporting character in the DC Comics Batman series. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... Batman Forever is a 1995 superhero film. ... The melody of Du, du liegst mir im Herzen Du, du liegst mir im Herzen (You, you are in my heart) is a German folk song, believed to have originated in northern Germany around 1820. ... A Hard Days Night is a 1964 hit song written by John Lennon and credited (as were all their songs) to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by English band The Beatles and produced by George Martin. ...

See also

• Airplane!

Airplane! is an American comedy film, first released on 27 June 1980, produced, directed, and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. ...

References

External links

• Top Secret! at the Internet Movie Database
• Top Secret! at All Movie Guide
• Top Secret! at Rotten Tomatoes