High Anxiety (1977)

Directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Ron Carey, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten, Ron Clark, Jack Riley, Charlie Callas, Rude De Luca. [PG]

Mel Brooks’ satirical tribute to Alfred Hitchcock thrillers is a mixed bag, but Hitch himself was reportedly a fan. Brooks plays a doctor suffering from “high anxiety” (acrophobia) who has just joined the staff at the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, but sinister affairs are afoot; the cast is rounded out by Kahn playing the archetypal “icy blonde,” a sadistic nurse played by Leachman, her fetishist cohort and lover Korman, and Carey’s bungling mug of a chauffeur. A tame and reverential homage with a lot of dry stretches and misfires, but enough hysterical moments to satisfy fans of both Mel and the Master; highlights include “Professor Li’l Old Man!” and the misguided camera zooms, but Brooks too often goes for the easy and obvious gags—it’s inevitable that the parody of The Birds is going to involve poop (and lots of it). The bellboy that attacks Brooks in the shower is none other than Barry Levinson (before he was a film director); also features a brief appearance from Albert Whitlock, who did special effects for several Hitchcock pictures.

59/100