After the success of 1980’s hit comedy Airplane!, its creators wouldn’t return to the movie screen until 1984’s Top Secret!. The team of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker (ZAZ) attempted a TV series called Police Squad, but it bombed.

And Secret! didn’t do much better, though it’s earned something of a cult following over the last 40-plus years. A spoof of spy movies, Secret! introduces us to American pop star Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer).

When Leonard Bernstein cancels, he travels to East Germany to play a cultural festival. The Krauts intend it as a diversion so they can execute a nefarious plan to unite Germany – and perhaps rule the world!

As the film evolves, Nick becomes an unwitting participant in various nefarious scenarios. We learn of a resistance that intends to thwart the actions of the East German authorities, and Nick gets to know a lovely local named Hillary (Lucy Gutteridge).

We learn that the East Germans abducted Hillary’s scientist father (Michael Gough) so he can develop a super weapon. Nick must make the leap from pop star to top spy so he can help save the day.

Looking back, I believe I saw Top Secret! before I ever watched Airplane! in its entirety. I know I saw bits and pieces of the former prior to 1984, but I don’t think I took in the whole thing until a later period.

On the other hand, I know I watched Secret! around the time of its release, and I’m pretty sure I rented it on VHS back in the day. I do know that it made little impact on me. I don’t think I actively disliked it, but I didn’t find it to be terribly entertaining.

More than four decades later and I can’t say my opinion has changed. I never much cared for Airplane!, and since Secret! follows that film’s template to a strong degree, it should come as no surprise that I think it also offers only minor pleasures.

Actually, I probably prefer it to Airplane!, if just because it seems a bit less scattershot. Both come from the “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” school of comedy, but Secret! nonetheless feels somewhat better focused. It seems more like an actual story and less like a collection of gags.

Not that this means one should expect a tight narrative here, as it remains clear that the filmmakers care much more about laughs than plot or logic. Of course, much of the illogic is intentional and played for yuks, so one shouldn’t criticize the flick due to its leaps of sanity.

For the most part, these don’t cause problems, but sometimes the pacing suffers. For instance, at one point Nick goes straight from a predicament to a stage performance.

The latter runs far too long just to milk some laughs. Sometimes less is more, though the ZAZ boys didn’t seem to understand that concept.

Like Airplane!, Secret! occasionally connects with funny material, but the hit to miss ratio seems too low for me. To some degree, Secret! feels like a ZAZ take on Hitchcock, though they factor in other genres as well.

World War II flicks like The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape become more dominant as the movie progresses. For better or for worse, Secret! doesn’t limit itself to one domain.

Whether or not that’s good depends on your point of view. Some may feel this diversity allows for a more dynamic comedy, while others could see the product as being random and loose.

I tend toward the latter category, as I think Secret works best when it feels more focused. It never becomes nearly as deft as High Anxiety, partially due to it scattershot nature. Anxiety wasn’t a tight classic, but it seemed better thought-out than this flick.

Clearly I can find some humor in the work of the ZAZ guys, as Ruthless People remains one of my all-time favorite comedies. Perhaps that’s because it’s more of a character project and less of a broad spoof.

Top Secret! tries enough gags that some of its bits amuse. However, it can’t keep the laughs coming for all – or most - of its 90 minutes.

End credits footnote: near the very finish, we get an additional musical performance from Kilmer. It’s not funny – or meant to be amusing – but it’s there. Fans may want to closely watch the text credits as well, as they include plenty of wacky citations.

Top Secret! appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The film brought an erratic presentation.

For the most part, sharpness looked good and occasionally better than that. However, some iffy shots appeared, and for less than logical reasons.

This meant scenes without obvious effects issues would seem like they came from subpar sources. Those would suffer from iffy delineation as well as too much grain and a general blandness.

Jagged edges and shimmering weren’t an issue, and I saw no edge haloes. Outside of the aforementioned anomalies, grain felt appropriate, and print flaws failed to manifest.

Like other elements, colors felt inconsistent but they usually seemed pretty good. Despite some dull shots, the hues generally appeared fairly vivid.

Blacks seemed dark and rich, while shadows came across as well-rendered outside of those occasional anomalies. The ups and downs made this a “C+“ image but I thought most of the film worked acceptably well.

In addition, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Top Secret! came with its own ups and downs. On the positive side of things, music worked well.

The songs and score showed fine stereo imaging as well as some reinforcement from the surrounds, and they also sounded quite good. Those elements demonstrated nice vivacity and range.

Effects seemed less consistent but usually worked fine given their vintage. Despite some distortion at times, these components showed reasonable fidelity.

Their use of the various channels also seemed erratic. Some good movement and integration occurred, but other aspects of the track showed less convincing placement.

For instance, a restaurant scene created distractions with its unnatural display of background chatter. Rather than involve us in the setting, these elements distracted us.

Speech was generally fine but not consistently so. The lines remained intelligible and lacked edginess, but they occasionally sounded dull and muddy.

Overall, I liked the positive presence of the music, but the other issues left inconsistencies. This meant the audio deserved no better than a “B-”.

How did the Blu-ray compare with the DVD version? Audio seemed a bit more robust and offered mild improvements but suffered from many of the same concerns.

As far as the visuals went, the Blu-ray offered a much cleaner print and also came with superior colors, blacks and delineation. Although the BD remained too inconsistent for my liking, it nonetheless delivered a substantial upgrade over the awful DVD.

In terms of the disc’s extras, we start with an audio commentary from directors/writers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, producers Jon Davison and Hunt Lowry and moderator Fred Rubin. All of them sit together for this running, screen-specific chat that looks at cast and performances, locations and sets, influences, references and aspects of various gags, music, technical elements, and various stories from the shoot.

With so many participants, you’d expect a wild, rollicking commentary. Alas, that doesn’t prove to be the case.

Oh, the guys do give us some funny remarks and interesting tales, but the track sags on too many occasions. There’s a fair amount of dead air, and the piece rarely threatens to develop any momentum.

If you dig the film, you’ll probably find enough here to make the commentary worth a listen. Nonetheless, it’s a lackluster chat.

Four Alternate Scenes fill a total of two minutes, 53 seconds. We find “One Little Apple” (0:33), “Fetch” (0:44), “Thirsty” (0:49) and “Burning Passion” (0:47).

Given the shortness of the clips, you shouldn’t expect anything substantial from them. They just offer some basic – and not particularly good - gags and nothing more.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get some storyboards. These accompany three scenes: “Skeet Surfing” (31 images), “The Nightclub” (32) and “Nick in Prison” (20).

Though not particularly well-drawn, the boards are fun to see. They offer a neat glimpse of the planning for these scenes.

Bookstore Backwards lasts one minute, 43 seconds and despite the title, it shows that scene in the correct order versus the reversed presentation in the final film. That makes it a fun curiosity.

While Airplane! and Top Secret! take on different genres, they offer similar comedic styles and construction. I think Secret! boasts a smattering of laughs, but the overall package doesn’t do a lot for me. The Blu-ray offers inconsistent but decent picture and audio as well as a smattering of supplements. This winds up as a passable release for a forgettable spoof.