Watched: 12/31/2023
Format: TCM
Viewing: Unknown
Director: ZAZ
For New Year's Eve, we had a small family dinner at Steanso's place and then set off those fire-free noise makers you can get at Target or the grocery store. But his kids have elementary school kid bedtimes, so we mercifully departed around 8:00. Minutes after walking in the door, Jamie had foregone my plan to watch whatever countdown trash was on TV and found Top Secret! (1984) on TCM. And, dammit people, when Top Secret! is on, you watch it. I think Gen X will largely agree with me on this.
Somehow Top Secret! doesn't have the same level of fame as Airplane or The Naked Gun, and that's a shame, because it's easily just as funny (I won't say funnier). And it's just as quotable as the other films. Heck, when I'm talking to colleagues from other lands, in reference to the US, I *always* drop "You'd really like America. We've got the Liberty Bell, Disneyland on both coasts. It's happening!" . To blank stares. But I do it.
Anyway, maybe The Kids(tm) wouldn't like it because they didn't grow up on WWII movies, but I don't think it's necessary. You basically get what they're doing. And nothing beats a cow in rubber boots.
Like all good comedies, it's the absolute straight-faced delivery that saves it, and Val Kilmer's sincerity in the role is amazing. But so is everyone. Including Omar Sharif, Peter Cushing, Christopher Villiers, and countless familiar faces from the era. I really like Lucy Gutteridge in this movie, but lady decided to hang it up around 1990 and that was it.
Minute-for-minute, it's delivering amazing gags in every scene. Visual, conceptual, sound bits... it's absolutely nuts. If nothing else, you have to appreciate the jokes-per-second ratio.
Anyway, everyone has their favorite bits. I like the confession of love as they're parachuting and the wee singing horse. But there's no right answer.
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