High Anxiety (1977)

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writers:

Mel Brooks (written by) &
Ron Clark (written by) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1978 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

The Master of Comedy takes on The Master of Suspense!

Plot:

Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Directed By Star | Impostor | Hitchcock Spoof | Dominatrix

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes.

Cast

Mel Brooks	...	Richard H. Thorndyke
Madeline Kahn	...	Victoria Brisbane
Cloris Leachman	...	Nurse Diesel
Harvey Korman	...	Dr. Charles Montague
Ron Carey	...	Brophy
Howard Morris	...	Professor Lilloman
Dick Van Patten	...	Dr. Wentworth
Jack Riley	...	The Desk Clerk
Charlie Callas	...	Cocker Spaniel
Ron Clark	...	Zachary Cartwright
Rudy De Luca	...	Killer (as Rudy DeLuca)
Barry Levinson	...	Bellboy
Lee Delano	...	Norton
Richard Stahl	...	Dr. Baxter
Darrell Zwerling	...	Dr. Eckhardt

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:VM14 (original rating) | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Brazil:12 | Australia:M (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG (Approved No. 25032) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In yet another reference to Alfred Hitchcock, Dr. Thorndyke is told that a "Mr. MacGuffin" changed his room reservation. Hitchcock's MacGuffins were objects or devices which drove the plot but which were otherwise inconsequential and could be forgotten once they had served their purpose.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Brophy tries to lift the rock in the bathroom, the toilet tank lid is clearly ajar. When the scene switches to the two-shot, the lid is properly in place.

Quotes:

Nurse Diesel: Perhaps I've been a bit too haaaarsh...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Kate & Allie: High Anxiety (#3.18)" (1986)

Soundtrack:

High Anxiety

Dizzy parody is Brooks at his height.

Though often overlooked in favor of Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, I believe this to be the pick of Brooks' parodies. Whether you share this opinion would depend on your familiarity with all things Hitchcockian.

It is not only Vertigo, as the title suggests, that gets the Brooks treatment here, but The Birds, Spellbound and Psycho are all parodied to various degrees of subtlety. Many of these films key scenes are simply re-enacted with comic touches, whilst the Hitchcock formalae is very much in evidence. The style is particularly amusing in its parody. Highlights include a probing camera becoming all too literally intrusive when it crashes through a pane of glass in the window, and a dramatic sound composition turning out to be merely the didactic passing bus load of a touring philamonic orchestra.

Resisting the out and out farce of his earlier effort, Blazing Saddles, and managing not to evolve into simply being a one joke movie such as the tendency of his recent efforts, High Anxiety is Brooks at his most clever. The cast, mainly consisting of Brooks regulars, all display splendidly entertaining and aptly silly impersonations of recognisible Hitchcock stereotypes. It is Brooks' finest hour however, with not only directing, writing, and acting to his credit but singing as well!!!