High Anxiety

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High Anxiety

PG

Released Dec 25, 1977

1h 34m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

74%

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31 Reviews

67%

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10,000+ Ratings

Just after becoming the director of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) is greeted by a series of mysterious events. When his colleagues -- including the militaristic and mustachioed Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) -- become leery of his questions, they accuse him of murder. Thorndyke's own mental health comes into question as he struggles to clear his name in the midst of a crippling bout of a condition known as high anxiety.

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Critics Consensus

Uneven but hilarious when it hits, this spoof of Hitchcock movies is a minor classic in the Mel Brooks canon.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

One of the problems with Mel Brooks's High Anxiety is that it picks a tricky target: It's a spoof of the work of Alfred Hitchcock, but Hitchcock's films are often funny themselves.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 23, 2004

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

This is the film that is parasitic for excellence, because it feeds on almost every scene of something that Hitchcock previously previewed. [Full review in Spanish]

Jan 25, 2024

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

The film isn’t continuously funny, nor is it consistently suspenseful, but it does do a spectacular job of sending up Hitchcock’s classics.

Rated: 6/10

Aug 9, 2023

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Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

Mel Brooks, during his peak years, never met a genre he couldn't wrestle to the ground. And High Anxiety, his 1977 tribute to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, is a masterpiece of characterization, design and execution.

Sep 10, 2021

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Fernando Trueba

El Pais (Spain)

More than an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, High Anxiety is a copycat. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aug 1, 2019

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

[VIDEO ESSAY] Mel Brooks's flair for comic riffing against a stylized background of plot devices draws on a long tradition of spoof movies that date back to the first days of sound cinema.

Rated: A

Jun 12, 2012

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Stephen C

Funny in 1 hour and 34 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring actor and director Mel Brooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/30/25

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tim s

Another comedic jewel from Mel Brooks. High Anxiety is an excellent spoof of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Cloris Leachman's Nurse Diesel, a Nurse Ratched-like character, is sublimely crotchety and shifty in the funniest way.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/05/25

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Andrew L

Mel Brooks's humorous homage to the Hitchcock films doesn't have much of a story but does deliver some quick laughs like his take on the famous shower scene from PSYCHO and the part where the birds are all dropping their droppings.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/23/25

Full Review

thiago s

Filme bacana, o roteiro é bacaninha, esse filmes tem cenas engraçadas e ainda algumas paródias como vertigo 1958, rocky 1976, psicose 1960, essa paródia do psicose foi a melhor do filme, o filme também quebra um pouco a 4 parede, fizeram paródia até de os passaros 1963, no final ela casa com sua mulher e a câmera vai embora quebra um parte da sua casa, quebrando de novo a 4 parede e acaba o filme, E as paródias salvaram esse filme, por isso que eu recomendo. bacana, o roteiro é bacaninha, esse filmes tem cenas engraçadas e ainda algumas paródias como vertigo 1958, rocky 1976, psicose 1960, essa paródia do psicose foi a melhor do filme, o filme também quebra um pouco a 4 parede, fizeram paródia até de os passaros 1963

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/13/25

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Rami A

This was one of Mel Brooks' weaker films.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/24

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StephenPaul C

LOL, the funniest 01 hour: and 34 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/11/23

Full Review

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Mel Brooks

Director

Mel Brooks

Richard H. Thorndyke

Madeline Kahn

Victoria Brisbane

Cloris Leachman

Nurse Diesel

Harvey Korman

Dr. Charles Montague

Ron Carey

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Synopsis

Just after becoming the director of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) is greeted by a series of mysterious events. When his colleagues -- including the militaristic and mustachioed Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) -- become leery of his questions, they accuse him of murder. Thorndyke's own mental health comes into question as he struggles to clear his name in the midst of a crippling bout of a condition known as high anxiety.

Director: Mel Brooks
Producer: Mel Brooks
Screenwriter: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca, Barry Levinson
Distributor: 21st Century Film Corporation [us]
Production Co: Crossbow Productions, Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1977, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 34m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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