With masterful lampoons and farces under his belt, Brooks took on the thornier and more restricted foil of Alfred Hitchcock films. Mel Brooks on Comedy Legends Madeline Kahn and Gene Wilder If you are a fan of the master of suspense you will probably get a kick out of this one to some extent. To give you an idea of this place where the lunatics have definitely taken over - Cloris Leachman plays a nurse who's into S&M with Harvey Korman. But Ive never been saluted as a film director. You could almost take it seriously, except that Brooks is no Jimmy Stewart, and his hysterical comic acting doesn't let you forget this for an instant. And the concept of this film, a spoof of Hitchcock films, seems like gold. Half the jokes in this movie are things as simple as camera angles, facial expressions, and what people are wearing. Wentworth wants to leave the institute but Diesel refuses to let him. A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep. Kahn started in musical theater. Mel Brooks (playing Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke) does a great job as the protagonist and Madeline Kahn (playing Victoria Brisbane) does well also. The script is plot-heavy, yet it fails to contrive an amusing plot from Hitchcock sources. Cast & Crew Read More Mel Brooks Director Deborah Dawes Henry Kaiser Mel Brooks Al Hopson Albert J Whitlock Photos & Videos View All Kahn didnt have to star in a movie to be the most memorable thing in it. Remove Ads Cast Crew Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. Thorndyke knocks Norton the orderly out a tower window, saving Brisbane. Acting on Thorndyke's behalf, Victoria contacts Brophy to have him enlarge the photograph. Mel Brooks' delirious comedy/thriller is a delight even if you're not already an Alfred Hitchcock fan--but if you *are,* you'll love it even more as you peg specific spoofs/references to such Hitch classics as SPELLBOUND, VERTIGO, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH '56 (Brooks' piano bar rendition of the title song is the movie's highlight) and THE BIRDS. When does he bring things to a boil?' Brooks takes on Alfred Hitchcock in "High Anxiety," which casts him as a. Can he kick his aversion to high places, overturn the hospital's bad reputation, and bring the baddies to justice. Kahn was playful and sexy and sad and in a hurry. Movie High Anxiety (1977 Movie) 8x10 Advertising Still featuring As a kid, Madeline liked to perform, but not in front of people. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Music: John Morris Sarah Silverman is genuinely talented and funny. Mel Brooks (Actor, Director, Producer, Writer), Madeline Kahn (Actor) Rated: PG Format: DVD 2,048 ratings IMDb 6.6/10.0 $2798 Prime Video $3.99 $9.99 Blu-ray $69.97 DVD $27.98 Multi-Format from $10.61 VHS Tape $19.75 Additional DVD options Edition Discs Price New from Used from DVD 1 $13.51 $13.51 DVD September 5, 2006 1 $26.00 $27.00 $6.21 Like all his pictures, it's a hit-or-miss affair, sometimes reaching high hilarity, other times plummeting like the proverbial lead balloon. The name Richard Thorndyke recalls Roger Thornhill of North by Northwest (1959), and a slaying staged in a crowded lobby resembles that thriller's amazing United Nations murder. It lampoons many of Hitchcock's standard plot devices and directorial techniques, but not in a mean-spirited way. "[15] In addition to parodying Hitchcock films, High Anxiety became noteworthy for frequently mocking popular psychoanalysis theories at the time, with New Statesman journalist Ryan Gilbey stating that "viewers were familiar enough with the babble and buzzwords of psychoanalysis to respond instinctively to the films wittiest sequence, when Brooks speech at a psychiatric conference has to be spontaneously modified so as not to impinge upon the innocence of two young children who have joined the audience. It would probably be fair to say that the results are quite mixed, although in fairness even Brooks at his best can be uneven. It was crazy. Dr. Wentworth, - With more than a nod and a wink to Monty Pythons Life of Brian, Dudley Moore slurred the part of Herschel, who makes idols during Old Testament times. in 1972. The film also starred Louise Fletcher, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, Marsha Mason, Sid Caesar, John Houseman, Dom DeLuise, the ever-youthful Abe Vigoda, James Coco, Phil Silvers, Scatman Crothers and Dr. Zaius lookalike Paul Williams. Discovering the patient he met was not the real Arthur Brisbane, Thorndyke realizes that Dr. Ashley found out what Diesel and Montague were doing and was killed before he had a chance to fire them; he agrees to help. After working with Kahn, Brooks always kept a box of handkerchiefs on hand to stuff in the crews mouths. High Anxiety | Apple TV When he cracks the mic chord like a whip while singing the title song, she reacts in a spasm of sadomasochistic ecstasy and when she mistakes Thorndykes labored breathing during a murder attempt as the heavy breathing of an obscene phone caller she responds How did you get my room number? I couldn't recommend High Anxiety enough for those who enjoy Mel films and / or admire Hitchcock films. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. After she lets him go, he drives home, but the radio is rigged to blast deafening rock music. Kahn played Alice Gold, her husband is a school principal who has a fling with a schoolteacher. The Psycho shower scene parody uses the shrill cries of an angry bellhop in place of the strings: "Here! How does he light them? "That boy gets no tip.". High Anxiety by Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman | DVD A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep. Despite its occasional bright ideas, the movie lacks a unifying bright idea about how to exploit the cast in a sustained, organically conceived parody of Hitchcock. She was asked to audition for a part in Candide at Lincoln Center while at a birthday party for Leonard Bernstein. Diesel is extremely domineering and is soon revealed to be in a BDSM relationship with the submissive Montague. He does so and discovers that his patient may not be the actual Brisbane. By using this site, you agree to our updated, Writer, director and star Mel Brooks establishes from the start that his film is meant as a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, then gets busy on the airplane, then accosted after landing at LAX by a guy in a trenchcoat (Bob Ridgely), in, More waves of Hitchcock from writer-director Mel Brooks, as rattled shrink Thorndyke, arriving at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco with Brophy (Ron Carey), dealing with Jack Riley at the desk, co-writer Barry Levinson carrying bags, and an agorophobic episode, in the comic tribute. And I know I have Madeline Kahn. The following day, Thorndyke books a room in the vertigo-inducing Hyatt Regency (hotel of) San Francisco. I mean, Im afraid it came as a great shock to him when he died, but, he was found dead at home. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. I thought Louise Fletcher was pretty intense as Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", but Diesel would have given her a run for the money. It's a Worthy Venture--Doesn't Quite Work--But That's Mel Brooks Anyway. She imbues the most innocent lines with innuendo. High Anxiety is Mel Brooks' renowned spoof of over ten Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds. Kahn is just as funny singing a joke as she is telling it. Victoria is reunited with her father, marries Thorndyke, and they embark on their honeymoon. Im writing High Anxiety before its a movie its just an idea. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and left with a full blown case of "High Anxiety." Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman co-star in this hilarious parody. They werent asked back again. The best Brooks can do is to place himself in the shower with a fuming bellhop outside the curtain, or scamper through the park with a throng of rancorous birds defecating on his suit. The show aired on ABC from September 27, 1983 to March 13, 1984. She throws cold water on an obscene phone caller by admitting Im simply crushed. I love him; I really admire his bravery. Despite what his driver thinks, Thorndyke's predecessor died of a sudden heart attack leaving the position to be filled. They start with Byron and Shelley and jump on your belly and bust your balloon. Both of them are a riot. Rent $3.99 Mel Brooks' brand of humor -- over-the-top, non-stop, often outrageous -- tends to be a matter of taste, although when he's in top form (e.g., The Producers, Young Frankenstein) he's appreciated by almost everyone. Madeline Kahn was a comic legend who could do anything with her voice. The bird droppings were actually mayonnaise and chopped spinach. A killer disguised as Thorndyke is exposed when Brophy enlarges a photo negative, as in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 Blow-Up, and the killer's metal-covered teeth must have been suggested by Jaws, the James Bond character who first appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me, released a few months months before High Anxiety. Brooks: I loved it. Harvey Korman as Doctor Montague. A spoof comedy taking on the masterpieces of Hitchcock. Montague takes Thorndyke to the light's source, the room of patient Arthur Brisbane, who thinks he is a Cocker Spaniel. Thorndyke and Victoria head back to LA where they rescue Brophy and see Montague and Diesel taking the real Arthur Brisbane to a tower to kill him. There's more than a dozen well known films and a hundred well known sequences that Brooks could have parodied. Happy?" Where was she when I had Madeline Kahn, the greatest comedienne that ever lived? Hitchcock's suspense melodramas are sparked by his perverse wit; they're satirical to start with. Special honors go to Morris, a longtime Brooks associate who puts every muscle of his face and body into his portrayal of Professor Lilloman, who does not like his name pronounced "little-old-man" even though he is a little old man. Nurse Diesel: Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup. In another 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). 1977 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. She took the care to milk the moments between the words to ooze whatever devastation they might bring and always did it with impeccable comic timing.
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