harryk-65258 If you want to know a little bit about the sorry state of American society, please scroll through some of the reviews of this film...We are a humorless people that need to analyze and meta-critic everything...High Anxiety is classic Mel Brooks...is it as good as Young Frankenstein or Blazing Saddles? No, but its high culture compared to what stands for the contemporary Hollywood comedy, and Brooks demanded a little bit from the audience, especially in terms of intelligence...anyway, it's a great flick with a variety of hilarious performances, especially from Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn and Harvey Korman...well worth the time.

Red-Barracuda By 1977 Mel Brooks had already spoofed the western, Universal horror films and movies of the silent era, so with High Anxiety he decided to take an affectionate aim at the suspense films of Alfred Hitchcock. It would probably be fair to say that the results are quite mixed, although in fairness even Brooks at his best can be uneven. The humour is a mixture of the very broad to the somewhat subtle. There are a few dud moments sprinkled throughout but it is successfully funny on occasions too. But High Anxiety sort of gets away with the poorer moments more or less and is really quite enjoyable from the point of view of its Hitchcockian references alone. If you are a fan of the master of suspense you will probably get a kick out of this one to some extent. The story has a psychiatrist with a fear of heights appointed the head doctor at the Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, when there he discovers a web of crime.Many of the films in Hitchcock's filmography are targeted, such as Spellbound (1945), Dial M for Murder (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). I'm sure there must've been others too but, those ones I actually noticed. Some of the references are dealt with in very obvious ways such as the shower scene from Psycho and the climbing frame moment from The Birds. Those ones aren't especially clever really but they have some good things about them. At other times the spoofing is less directly obvious but it's fun spotting them in any case. I have to say though that I thought the funniest sequence in the film wasn't even connected in any way to the films of the master of suspense, it was an uproarious scene where Brooks and Madeline Kahn get through airport security by being loud and annoying. It's definitely true that Brooks in the main role isn't necessarily a good thing. He's not exactly bad but he's no Gene Wilder either. If a better comic actor had played this character it might have improved the film overall I reckon. A few regular actors from his other films return here to greater effect, like Madeline Kahn as the requisite Hitchcock ice blonde, while Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman give amusingly spirited performances as fellow doctors who are up to no good. In the final analysis, while High Anxiety isn't a total success, it's very likable and for this reason I find it very easy to get on board with it.

MissSimonetta Honestly, this movie isn't that great. Mel Brooks was never much of a leading man and the role of the nervous psychiatrist would have been better suited to Gene Wilder. The plot is too loose for its own good, the direction is dull, and some of the comedic routines are annoying rather than side-splitting.What saves this movie is the supporting cast, mainly Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman. I chuckled at most of the film, but laughed myself senseless whenever they came on the screen. The scene where she has him tied up in the closet had me and my sisters in stitches for several minutes afterward. Howard Morris is great too as Professor Lilloman, and I really wish he had been given more to do.The only weak spots in the supporting cast are Ron Carey as Brooks' sidekick and Madeline Kahn as the Hitchcock blonde character, Victoria. Carey is just unfunny, though I blame the writing more than the actor. Kahn is usually amazing, but she is wasted in a part that doesn't let her do anything outside of spouting exposition.Overall, you'll have more regard for the parts than the whole.

Scott LeBrun Mel Brooks's "High Anxiety" isn't on the level of his masterpieces "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" but still works nicely as an affectionate spoof of the films of suspense master Alfred Hitchcock. Working in references to "Vertigo", "Psycho", "The Birds", and "North by Northwest", among other classics, it stars Brooks himself as eminent doctor Richard Thorndyke, who's just been hired as the new director of the Psycho Neurotic Institute for the Very VERY Nervous. He eventually gets wind of a dastardly plot engineered by institute staff, including hideous Nurse Diesel (a priceless Cloris Leachman) and weaselly Dr. Charles Montague (Harvey Korman). Fortunately, he has loyal chauffeur / sidekick Brophy (Ron Carey) and lovely Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn, looking quite fetching in a long blonde wig) on his side, as he seeks to discover the fate of Victoria's father Arthur. "High Anxiety" is best described as the kind of movie that has moments; it does indeed have some great comedy set pieces, but others don't work quite as well. It's probably best appreciated by Hitchcock aficionados, who will delight in the references to Hitch's work. Mel, who co-wrote and produced as well, is fun to watch, with the supporting cast (also featuring Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten, Jack Riley, Charlie Callas, Murphy Dunne, and Robert Ridgely) truly getting into the spirit of the thing. Buffs will be pleased to note that that's legendary artist Albert J. Whitlock, who'd actually worked with Hitch, playing the role of Arthur Brisbane, and that future director Barry Levinson ("Diner", "Rain Man"), also one of the writers, plays the lazy, complaining hotel bellboy. Mel further entertains us by belting out the title ditty, which he also composed, and comes up with some genuinely laugh inducing gags. For one thing, we're always made well aware we're watching a movie, as cameras crash into windows and the characters on screen actually take notice of the music score. (Mel upon exiting an airport, at which point the score abruptly cuts off: "What a dramatic airport!") Mel and Madeline also make a wonderful pair and do a great routine at an another airport late in the film. Of all the spoofing done in the film, the jokes relating to "The Birds" are this viewers' personal favourite. Highly recommended to fans of both Hitch and Mel, this begins and ends brightly, and remains likable throughout. Seven out of 10.