High Anxiety

PG

Released Dec 25, 1977

1h 34m

Comedy

List

75%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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Rami A

This was one of Mel Brooks' weaker films.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/24

Full Review

StephenPaul C

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

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Right up there at the top with Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and HOTW Part I

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

LOL, the funniest 01 hour: and 34 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! Containg spoofs of Alfred Hitchcock movies!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This one of Mel Brooks's best films. This spoof of Alfred Hitchcock films is loaded with references to the Master of Suspense; however, even if you are not familiar with Hitchcock's work there is something there for you. It is very funny and visually entertaining. Hitchcock actually consulted on this one and it has aged well. The cast of Brooks misfits is always fun to be with. Chris Leachman is sidesplittingly funny every scene she is on camera.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Sometimes you just have to be in the right mood for a Mel Brooks film. Here he plays a psychiatrist with problems of his own, especially fear of heights, who begins work at an institution where the other doctors are just as insane as their patients. Some fun Hitchcock references are the highlight. Not my favourite Mel Brooks film.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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

Brophy

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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

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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
Screenwriter: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca, Barry Levinson
Distributor: 21st Century Film Corporation [us]
Production Co: 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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