![]() The Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker partnership (collectively, informally, often known as ZAZ) has since dismissed the film, but in the process, they aren’t acknowledging great bits, from the ridiculous opening Beach Boys parody “Skeet Surfing” (sung by Kilmer) to the climactic underwater bar fight. ![]() ![]() Val Kilmer, in his film debut, stars as Nick Rivers, an American teen-rock phenomenon accidentally summoned for a command performance before the scheming Nazis who were apparently running East Germany in the 1960s. Where Airplane! is a simple, easily grasped satire, both of a specific movie (1957’s Zero Hour!) and the disaster-movie genre, Top Secret! is a much more complicated simultaneous satire of teen surf movies, World War II action movies, spy films, Elvis musicals, The Blue Lagoon, and more. ![]() The film was the first box-office failure for director/screenwriter/producer partners Jim Abrahams and Jerry and David Zucker, after their breakout success of both their first feature, Airplane!, and their screenwriting debut, The Kentucky Fried Movie, directed by John Landis. In various venues, Yankovic has repeatedly cited Top Secret! as his favorite comedy movie. He followed up earlier in 2013 with My New Teacher And Me!, and he’s currently on a brief signing tour for the book, through the end of September. Musical career aside, in 2011, he became a bestselling author as well, with the children’s picture book When I Grow Up. And he’s never been given enough credit for his dozens of original tracks, designed as pitch-perfect mimicries of specific performers, rather than parodies of individual songs. He’s also built a reputation as a tireless, energetic live performer he’s only now winding down the tour for his latest album, 2011’s Alpocalypse. Over the course of more than three decades as a musical parodist, “Weird Al” Yankovic has become an inextricable part of music culture: From his humble origins as “the goofy guy who does novelty parodies of pop songs, and acts wacky on MTV,” he’s became a comedy staple, winning three Grammys, accumulating a pile of platinum-certified albums, and co-writing and starring in the 1989 cult comedy movie UHF. ![]()
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January 2023
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