High Anxiety (1977)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

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 | 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 another Alfred Hitchcock reference, the location where Dr. Thorndyke is attacked in the phone booth beneath the Golden Gate Bridge is Fort Point, where the crucial water rescue scene takes place in Vertigo (1958).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the S&M scene, one of Dr. Charles Montague's handcuffs is not properly closed.

Quotes:

Victoria Brisbane: Another one? Listen, Richard, you have got to get a grip on yourself.

Movie Connections:

References The Cobweb (1955)

Soundtrack:

High Anxiety

Fast and furious gags in monumental spoof tribute to Hitchcock...

HIGH ANXIETY suffers only by comparison to Mel's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, but it stands by itself as a frisky, very funny screwball spoof of the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

I do agree with others who complain that Mel should have given the Dr. Thorndyke role to someone like Gene Wilder since Brooks does lack the charisma needed to carry this sort of thing. But the other pros in the cast more than made up for this handicap--especially HARVEY KORMAN, CLORIS LEACHMAN, MADELINE KAHN and HOWARD MORRIS.

Cloris Leachman is hilarious as Nurse Diesel (practically repeating her formidable character in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN) and Madeline Kahn is equally funny as the blonde femme fatale who finds herself in one ditzy situation after another as she tries to reach her father inside the asylum--here called "Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous." Nothing subtle here. The gags are touch and go, some funny, some painfully unfunny--so it's strictly a mixed bag.

But if you know MEL BROOKS and his kind of satire, this has enough gags to keep you satisfied. Just don't expect anything on the level of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.