Spy Spoofs, Bright Yellow VHS, and Wellie-Wearing Cows
Shhh! Top Secret! snuck onto home video this week back in 1984, after a lukewarm June 22nd theatrical release.
Top Secret may have lost the box office battle against other ’84 summer heavy weights like Gremlins and Ghostbusters, but Val Kilmer’s cool, calm and quotable ZAZ spy spoof became – how do you say – indispensable renting for the pre-teen crowd in my neck of the woods. Even if many of the references were squarely aimed at the Boomers in the room.
This was another early Parmamount fast-track from theater to tape. And thanks to the radioactive bright yellow VHS sitting on video store shelves, that wellie wearing cow was burned on the back of our generation’s collective retinas. -Pop