Top Secret!
After the blockbuster success of 1980âs Airplane!, the legendary movie comedy writing / directing trio known as ZAZ (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker) were immediately besieged with offers to come up with a sequel almost right away, something which they declined on the not so unreasonable basis that there were other projects which they wished to pursue. Unfortunately, the sequel was made anyway by other filmmakers as a carbon copy knockoff which used most of the main cast of the original, something which irritated ZAZ so much that they broke ties with those original cast members and continued marching forward with their new projects which included the TV series Police Squad and then this 1984 release, a combination of the old time spy / espionage thrillers and the goofy teen comedy musical singalongs which Elvis had specialized in but had really hit their peak with Grease. An iffy genre mix for sure to apply their peerless spoof comedy skills to, but also one which (having flushed down the toilet most of their working relationships in Hollywood thus far) required them to go with a completely unknown, untested newcomer for their lead, albeit one who had just graduated from Julliard with the highest accolades: Val Kilmer might not have yet become the legendary star that he would, but to star in such a highly regarded Hollywood project for his first time in front of the camera potentially could have been career suicide for both him and ZAZ. Itâs notable that the promotion for the film centered entirely on ZAZâs involvement (âfrom the makers of Airplane!â) and on none of the actors themselves which besides Kilmer consisted mostly of an assortment of character actors and two bona fide legends in Omar Sharif and Peter Cushing (who appears in one of the most historically bizarre scenes in movie history where he plays out an entire interaction with Kilmer while everything was actually filmed in reverse). The film even starts as a slow burn in and of itself, being played almost straight in the opening minutes as it depicts a British agent (Sharif) fighting for his life before escaping from the East German military (whom are portrayed here as almost being born again Nazis planning to once again rise up in the world). The strait laced style thankfully changes once Kilmer enters the scene as Nick Rivers, an American rock star who has been invited to an East German Cultural Festival which is really a distraction for a (never quite well explained) pseudo terrorist plot against NATO allies, and as his hit single âSkeet Surfinâ (an obvious goof on The Beach Boys) is played over the opening credits, we finally meet Kilmer himself in his first screen appearance, EXTREMELY young and while not yet totally in possession of the swagger nor confidence that would come to the fore in his roles like Jim Morrison or Doc Holliday, he still projects a lighthearted, easygoing persona which suits him well even if more of a wiseass, defiant attitude would have been even funnier. The film also smartly (and fascinatingly) manages to portray the Nick Rivers character as not just being an âElvis cloneâ but also incorporates bits and pieces of other artist homages (although not Morrison) into the random and goofy musical numbers throughout the film. The spy / espionage portion of the film kicks in when Kilmer hooks up with a mysterious girl (Lucy Gutteridge) at a fancy dinner who is being pursued by the high military and after killing one in self defense, he quickly surrenders since he is a guest of the country and also a worldwide known rock star. But he is still subjected to torture and beatings, only being released to perform his promoted concert where he finds the opportunity to escape and winds up allying himself with the Resistance / Underground, a motley bunch whose antics take up much of the second half of the film, most famously a bit where two members attempt to stage an infiltration by disguising themselves in a cow outfit (with a real cow used in these scenes) only to run into issues with calfs wanting to nurse and a bull wanting to mate. But this example alone is enough to show the inventive ingenuity that ZAZ was wanting to achieve with their comedy, no longer merely and brilliantly clothslining gags onto people sitting in an airplane, but now trying to expand the heights of comic surrealism into levels that only a very few (such as Mel Brooks or Monty Python) have ever managed to pull off successfully. It also appears that the gags are not only constant but also happen to be well placed complete with background bits where a cheese pizza virtually takes over an entire pizza parlor while Kilmer and another character have a completely mundane conversation in the foreground and bad taste aplenty including a ballet featuring several overly excited male dancers and another bit where a character actually talks about being sexually abused as a boy and when given a symphathetic hug itâs implied by the sly smile on his face that he had actually ENJOYED it. These certainly rank pretty high on the list of most daring and / or controversial moments ever seen in a ZAZ / Brooks anything goes style of comedy and perhaps it also projects a sense of maturity as well (if you can call it that) for ZAZ that the whole lets see what sticks on the wall mentality (masterpiece that it is, Airplane still had a lot of bits that did NOT work) was being replaced by a more methodical, nuanced approach where the comedy might not get in the way of the story but the story was still going to be allowed to see itself through (itâs interesting to take note here of the number of actors who are playing it relatively straight despite the lunacy of the writing) and then when we get to the final showdown between Kilmer and the main villain (who is also a traitor to The Resistance), ZAZ has them go over a bridge into the water where they settle their score at an underwater Western saloon complete with a bartender, gamblers and showgirls, albeit of course all underwater and audaciously with no explanation for what theyâre all even doing down there! ZAZ would move on from here to launch The Naked Gun series and then contribute their most cohesive comedy effort in the equally masterful Ruthless People, a film where most of the laughs were derived from the absurdity of the characters and situations as opposed to random, out of left field bits before they would go their separate ways while still making spoofs and the occasional Best Picture Oscar nominee like Jerry Zucker did with Ghost. As for Kilmer, immortality would still await him in his Hall Of Fame career, but put here on the spot as a shallow, generic pretty boy singer who can break into a spontaneous musical number at the drop of a hat before being sucked into a ridiculous spy espionage plot with all of the trimmings that come with it, he acquits himself remarkably well considering that it was his first ever film role and also proves his versatility by conveying a rock star demeanor that doesnât even have a hint of Jim Morrison to itâŚ
9/10