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High Anxiety

Play trailer Poster for High Anxiety PG 1977 1h 34m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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74% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 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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High Anxiety

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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Critics Reviews

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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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review Fernando Trueba El Pais (Spain) More than an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, High Anxiety is a copycat. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 1, 2019 Full Review 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 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Olivia J its endless parade of campy Hitchcock gags makes us feel smart Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/15/25 Full Review Stephen C Funny in 1 hour and 34 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring actor and director Mel Brooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/30/25 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review Rami A This was one of Mel Brooks' weaker films. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/24 Full Review Read all reviews
High Anxiety

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Cast & Crew

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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

Brophy

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High Anxiety

High Anxiety (1977) High Anxiety (1977) View more photos

Movie Info

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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