High Anxiety (1977)

Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on. When he's framed for murder, Dr. ... See full summary »

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writers:

Mel Brooks, Ron Clark,

Stars:

Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on. When he's framed for murder, Dr. Thorndyke must confront his own psychiatric condition, "high anxiety," in order to clear his name. An homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock; contains many parodies of famous Hitchcock scenes from THE BIRDS, PSYCHO, and VERTIGO.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | parody | high anxiety | darkroom | acrophobia | 

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Taglines:

Danger, Intrigue, Romance... and a Touch of Kinkiness!

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Genres:

Comedy | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1978 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Alta Ansiedade

Filming Locations:

Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,400,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 5,632,505 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Crossbow Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mel Brooks once said of Alfred Hitchcock: "Anyone who has ever rolled a foot of film owes something to this man."

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Goofs

When the huge threatening note comes though the bathroom windows attached to a boulder, the lid of the toilet tank is knocked into a diagonal position. In close-up shots the tank lid is askew, but in long shots the tank lid is undisturbed.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

Opening dedication: This film is dedicated to the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock

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Connections

Referenced in Full House: High Anxiety (1993)

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Soundtracks

"High Anxiety"
(1977)
(title song)
Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks
Original music and lyrics copyright © 1977 Fox Fanfare Music, Inc.
Sung by Mel Brooks

User Reviews

Split approach to comedy is only mildly funny in this reverential spoof

High Anxiety is a continuation of director Mel Brooks' parodic takes on genres or individual works, this time narrowing down his source material to the collected films of Alfred Hitchcock.

The film actually uses a location from Hitchock's Vertigo, except it's now an Institute for the Very Very Nervous, where our protagonist, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) is taking over. Even on his way there, there's something clearly strange going on at the institute and when he gets there, he finds the psychiatrists strangely under the sway of the controlling Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman). Murder and foul play start to show up as people inquire into the charges of the institute and Dr. Thorndyke eventually finds himself having to face... his high anxiety!

The plot is rather simple and cobbles together bits and pieces of Vertigo, North By Northwest and other Hitchcock films to form a surprisingly coherent whole. Unfortunately, the story itself is less than compelling--definitely more on the level of Silent Movie over Brooks' best. The suspense itself is largely robbed, leaving the story as a series of by-the-numbers plot points. Strangely enough, this is the most serious seeming of all of Brooks' spoof films because of Brooks' fidelity to Hitchcock's style, which locks the film into a Hitchcockian mood. The comedy itself is even mostly low key and so, when Brooks provides his more distinctive gags (which he's been using since Blazing Saddles), it sort of stands out and feels mismatched against the more homage-like tone of the rest of the film. Which sort of leaves the whole thing not nearly as funny as it might have been.

But, even here, Brooks still has a strong eye for capturing the look and traits of his sources. There's so much Hitchcock in his staging, framing, camera use and music and foley and that's even on top of deliberate references to Hitchcock films. This is great in announcing itself as a parody of Hitchcock films, but unfortunately, most of the gags just use this as a playground, rather than drawing comedy from Hitchcock's films themselves (one such moment includes taking one of Hitchcock's slow zooms through a window and turning into camera movement, which results in the camera crew breaking the window). The acting is actually pretty good and manages to elicit what few laughs are to be had, although Brooks himself is uneven (although he does a great Sinatra-esquire number in the middle of the film).

However, the film is limited because Brooks' type of comedy comes less from imitation and more from riffing his own gags in the scenario. Sometimes, he does dig deep to actually find some material to parody and when he does, it usually works exceptionally, but High Anxiety is more homage than parody. To make an homage of Hitchcockian thrillers, but take out the suspense really deflates this film, but the Hitchcockian atmosphere actually also mutes Brooks' gag-centric comedy at the same time and lacking any strong parody-based comedic material, the whole thing just results in a merely mildly entertaining, although seemingly reverential film. Not a must watch. 6/10.