Retro Review: Top Secret

Weeks ago, when our local theater announced a film series called "Springtime Spoofs ‘N Goofs," my wife said she wanted to see one of the films on the slate, Top Secret, Val Kilmer’s first film, from 1984. Kilmer’s passing a few weeks later, of course, made seeing it even more poignant, which was acknowledged by the theater staff introducing the film.   

I found it amusing, if not a bit disconcerting and ironic, that in an early scene, to show how oppressive the (somewhat fictionalized) East German regime in the film was, a senior official demands over the phone that they “seal the borders and cancel all visas!” All they needed to add is "tariffs" to hit the trifecta. 

Coming off the heels of the success of Airplane, Top Secret is not really a great film—it's a mishmash parody of World War II and teen rock and roll films with not enough laughs to sustain a full-length movie though they try to maintain interest with a barebones story. But you do get to see a pre-Batman Michael Gough, a very pre-Downton Abbey Jim Carter, and Omar Sharif sending up his reputation as a gentleman with one indignity after another.