Thursday, November 11, 2021

Great Lost Singles of the Eighties (An Occasional Series): Special "Hush Hush!" Edition

From the 1984 film Top Secret! please enjoy Val Kilmer (as teen idol Nick Rivers) driving the little East German girls wild with his rendition of the delightful neo-rockabilly "How Silly Can You Get".

As you probably know, Top Secret! was the second feature by the guys who made Airplane!, and for my money it's even funnier. Also, it's basic premise -- a Cold War thriller crossed with a cheesy Elvis Presley musical -- is nothing short of genius. (As is the joke where one of the teenyboppers in the audience holds up a sign that says "Velcome, Neek!") BTW, the above song was written for the film by Phil Pickett, who's better known for co-writing Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon."

I should add that the minute I saw Kilmer's rock star impression, I knew he was gonna make a great Jim Morrison in the (then) future Doors movie.

1 comment:

Alzo said...

I rank Top Secret as THE best ZAZ film. C'mon, it starts with 'Skeet Surfin' and takes off from there. The East German national anthem, the underwater saloon fight, and Downtown Abbey's Carson as Deja Vu! Now that you mention it, I'll watch it again tonight.