High Anxiety
Promotional poster for High Anxiety.
Directed by	Mel Brooks
Produced by	Mel Brooks
Written by	Mel Brooks Ron Clark Rudy De Luca Barry Levinson
Starring	Mel Brooks Madeline Kahn Cloris Leachman Harvey Korman Dick Van Patten Howard Morris
Music by	John Morris
Cinematography	Paul Lohmann
Editing by	John C. Howard
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 25, 1977
Running time	94 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3,400,000 USD (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

High Anxiety is a 1977 comedy film produced and directed by and starring Mel Brooks. Veteran Brooks ensemble members Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn are also featured. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is an Academy Award-winning American director, writer, comedian, actor and producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and comedy parodies. ... This article is about the American teacher. ... Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks. ... Barry Levinson Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a Jewish-American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. ... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an Academy Award-, nine-time Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning American actress of stage, film and television. ... Actor Harvey Korman in the 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles. ... Dick Van Patten (born December 9, 1928 in New York City, New York) is an American actor. ... Howard Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American comic actor and director. ... John Morris could refer to: // John Morris (historian), English historian John Morris (composer), film composer often employed by Mel Brooks James Reeves (1909–1978), pseudonym of John Morris, British poet and writer John Morris (actor), actor most famous for voice roles in the Toy Story films Johnny Morris (1916–1999... Paul Lohmann is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... USD redirects here. ... The year 1977 in film involved some significant events. ... Comedy film is genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humor. ... Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is an Academy Award-winning American director, writer, comedian, actor and producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and comedy parodies. ... Actor Harvey Korman in the 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles. ... Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an Academy Award-, nine-time Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning American actress of stage, film and television. ... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ...

The film is a parody of and a tribute to the suspense film genre, most obviously the films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo in particular. A parody (pronounced ), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, by means of humorous or satiric imitation. ... Russian prince Taking Tribute, by Nicholas Roerich, 1908 (Moscow). ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (August 13, 1899 â€“ April 29, 1980) was an iconic and highly influential British-born film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Vertigo (1958) is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. ...

Synopsis

Brooks' character, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on. When he's framed for murder, Dr. Thorndyke must confront his own anxiety disorder, "high anxiety," in order to clear his name. Anxiety disorder is a blanket term covering several different forms of abnormal, pathological anxiety, fears, phobias. ... Vertigo, a specific type of dizziness, is a major symptom of a balance disorder. ...

Plot

The story begins at Los Angeles airport, where Thorndyke encounters several odd occurrences. He then leaves for the institute with his driver, Brophy. Upon his arrival, he is greeted by the staff. He has dinner with the staff, and when he goes to his room, a large rock is thrown through the window, saying "welcome, from the violent ward." Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ...

He then hears strange noises coming from Nurse Diesel's room, when he and Brophy go to investigate, she claims it is the TV. However, it was a passionate session of BDSM with Dr. Montague. The next morning, he is alerted by a light shining through his window. It is coming from the violent ward. When he goes to investigate, it is Arthur Brisbane, a millionaire who now thinks he is a cocker spaniel. Collars are a commonly used symbol of BDSM and can be ornamental or functional. ... Cocker Spaniel refers to two different breeds of dogs, both of which are commonly called simply Cocker Spaniel in their countries of origin: American Cocker Spaniel English Cocker Spaniel Categories: | ...

Later, Nurse Diesel is talking with Dr. Wentworth. He wants to leave, but she won't let him. However, after some arguing, she says she'll let him go. When Wentworth is driving home that night, his radio blasts music loudly and will not shut off. He is trapped in his car, and he dies from an ear hemorrhage.

After this, Thorndyke goes to the grand hotel, where he gets a room on the top floor. He aggravates the bellboy about getting the newspaper, wanting to look in the obituary for Dr. Wentworth. He then takes a shower, however the bellboy comes and in a frenzy screams "Here's your paper! Take it! Take it! Happy now?! Happy!" (see Psycho (1960 film))^[clarify]. This article is about lodging. ... Obituary for World War I death An obituary is a notice of the death of a person, usually published in a newspaper, written or commissioned by the newspaper, and usually including a short biography. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano about a psychotic killer. ...

After his shower, a woman bursts through the door, her name Victoria Brisbane. The daughter of Arthur Brisbane. She wants help regarding her father. He agrees to the terms, however then finds out Nurse Diesel's plot. The "cocker" is not the real Arthur Brisbane.

To stop him, Diesel and Montague have a killer, "Braces" impersonate Thorndyke and shoot a man in the lobby. Now with the police after him, he must prove his innocence. He contacts Brophy, and realizes he took a picture of the shooting. The real Thorndyke was in the elevator at the time, so he should be in the picture.

He orders Brophy to enlarge the picture. When he goes to call, "Braces" tries to strangle him, however Thorndyke is able to kill him. Brophy enlarges the photo, and Thorndyke is visible in the picture. However, Nurse Diesel and Montague capture Brophy and take him to the North Wing. They also take the real Arthur Brisbane to a tower to kill him.

As Thorndyke runs up the tower to save him, he is able to kill Nurse Diesel and save Brisbane. After this, he and Victoria Brisbane marry.

Characters

• Dr. Richard H Thorndyke (Mel Brooks): The new head administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. He suffers from high anxiety and is trying to find out more about the shady dealings going on inside the Institute.
• Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn): Victoria is the concerned daughter of Arthur Brisbane, an industrialist who was entered into the Institute months ago for a nervous breakdown. She starts a relationship with Dr. Thorndyke at the end. She is often referred to as "The Cocker's Daughter".
• Brophy (Ron Carey): Brophy is Dr. Thorndyke's sidekick. He works as his chauffeur and is a bit of shutterbug. He also has trouble lifting very large objects.
• Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman): Nurse Diesel is the controlling and domineering nurse of the Institute, but is quite a psychopath herself. She is in a BDSM relationship with Dr. Montague, and is the puppet master behind the scenes.
• Dr. Montague (Harvey Korman): Charles Montague was set to take over the Institute before Dr. Thorndyke arrived, and has trouble hiding his jealousy. He is in a BDSM relationship with Nurse Diesel, who treats him like a dog.
• Professor Lilloman (Howard Morris): Often called Professor "Little Old Man", Lilloman was Dr. Thorndyke's teacher from school and currently works as a consultant at the Institute. He has the unfortunate tendency to appear dead while asleep, a quirk that "scares the hell out of everyone." He is helping Dr. Thorndyke with his high anxiety.
• Arthur Brisbane: A very rich industrialist and Victoria's father. He was entered into the Institute nearly a year ago, yet Nurse Diesel and Dr. Montague have been keeping him there because of how much money Victoria is paying them. Currently, they replaced him with a man who thinks that he's a dog. Because he was replaced by a man who thought he was a dog, other characters have called his daughter Victoria "The Cocker's Daughter".
• Braces: The man with the braces was hired to frame Thorndyke and later to kill him. He killed Dr. Ashley and Dr. Wentworth. He has a very high love of killing and lets people know it.
• Dr. Wentworth (Dick Van Patten): Wentworth knew about what was going on at the Institute, and this weighed down on his conscience so much he left, but Nursel Diesel worried that he might talk, so she had Braces kill him. Braces rigged his car radio to play a very loud and annoying song that wouldn't shut off, and the strain it caused on Dr. Wentworth's body trying to make it stop caused a cerebral hemorrhage.
• Dennis: A rather tightly-wounded bellhop who was constantly reminded to get Dr. Thorndyke his newspaper to the point of him attacking the doctor in the shower with the aforementioned paper.
• Dr. Ashley: Dr. Thorndyke's predecessor at the Institute was killed before he had a chance to make some "big changes".

Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is an Academy Award-winning American director, writer, comedian, actor and producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and comedy parodies. ... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Ron Carey (Born December 11, 1935 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film and television actor. ... Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an Academy Award-, nine-time Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning American actress of stage, film and television. ... Collars are a commonly used symbol of BDSM and can be ornamental or functional. ... Actor Harvey Korman in the 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles. ... Collars are a commonly used symbol of BDSM and can be ornamental or functional. ... Howard Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American comic actor and director. ... Dick Van Patten (born December 9, 1928 in New York City, New York) is an American actor. ...

List of referenced films

These films are spoofed or parodied in the movie:

Hitchcock films

• Spellbound — Hitchcock's film about an insane asylum, the basic source of the plot. The High Anxiety joke in which the main characters find Professor Lilloman apparently dead in a chair, only to have him wake up, is a take on a similar situation in Spellbound.
• Vertigo — same San Francisco Bay setting at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, same bell tower location, similar movie poster graphics, and gives the main character his condition, Victoria Brisbane wears a gray suit similar to the one Madeleine Elster wears.
• Psycho — shot-by-shot parody of the famous shower scene; the closing shot - a zoom out from a hotel room - is a reverse of Psycho's opening shot; also the suspenseful soundtrack is similar. The bellhop's high-pitched screams of "Here! Here! Here!" mimic the screeching violins of Hitchcock's shower-murder scene.
• The Birds — also partially set in San Francisco, the jungle-gym scene is parodied.
• North by Northwest — main character's name is a take-off of Roger O. Thornhill, but unlike Thorndyke, Thornhill never reveals his middle name; at one point Thorndyke tells Victoria to meet him in the North by Northwest corner of a park.
• The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• Torn Curtain — The Professor Lilloman is similar to Professor Gustav Lindt, the German scientist.
• The Ring — In fighting for his high anxiety under hypnosis Thorndyke and Lilloman engage in a boxing fight.
• The Thirty-Nine Steps — When Victoria comes in the hotel room, she asks to move from the door and window, and close the drapes; She then kisses him when someone comes in, similar to the train situation.
• Suspicion — Prior to Wentworth's death the lattice work of the window throws a shadow like a spider's web behind him.
• Notorious.
• Under Capricorn.
• Dial M for Murder — the struggle in the phone booth is similar to the struggle Grace Kelly has in "Dial M": She is nearly strangled and all the opposite end can hear are the fighting noises. Also, the character causing the struggle gets stabbed in both cases through the back (or in the back). The pictures on the wall of Professor Lilloman's office are another allusion.
• The Wrong Man.
• Frenzy — Thorndyke hides in the park and calls from the payphone.
• Family Plot — Car sabotage by radio being played too loud.
• Rebecca — Stern countenanced Nurse Diesel in long black dress is reminiscent of Rebecca's Mrs. Danvers.
• The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog — A scene with Nurse Diesel and Montague where the camera is below a glass table, and they keep putting tea items down on the table in the camera's way parodies the glass floor/ceiling technique Hitchcock used to show Novello's "Lodger" pacing back and forth.

Montague uses the alias of "Mr. McGuffin" to switch Thorndyke's room at the hotel from the 2nd to the 17th. A MacGuffin is a plot device that advances the story but has little other significance. The term was popularized by Hitchcock. Spellbound is a 1945 psychological thriller and mystery film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... Vertigo (1958) is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. ... San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the Golden Gate San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. ... The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano about a psychotic killer. ... The Birds is a 1963 horror film by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the short story The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. ... This article is about the film. ... The Man Who Knew Too Much DVD cover The Man Who Knew Too Much is the name of two suspense films, one released in 1934 and the other in 1956, and both directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... Torn Curtain DVD cover Torn Curtain is a 1966 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring his trademark characters and camera techniques. ... The Ring is a 1927 British, silent, black and white film directed and written by Alfred Hitchcock. ... For other uses, see The 39 Steps. ... Suspicion DVD cover Suspicion (1941) is a film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. ... Notorious is a 1946 thriller directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as two people whose lives become intimately entangled during an espionage operation. ... Under Capricorn is a 1949 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel by Helen Simpson. ... Dial M for Murder is a 1954 Warner Brothers film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland as a married couple. ... For the Mika song, see Grace Kelly (song). ... The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. ... For other uses, see Frenzy (disambiguation). ... Family Plot is a 1976 Universal motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris and William Devane, with Cathleen Nesbitt. ... Rebecca is a 1940 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project. ... The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog often just called The Lodger was a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ... This article is about the plot device. ...

Other films

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest — Nurse Diesel's name and bosom are in reference to Nurse Ratched.
• The Wizard of Oz — when Nurse Diesel falls to her death she is holding a broom and cackles like the Wicked Witch.
• The Spy Who Loved Me — the assassin with metal braces on his teeth.
• Blowup - Brophy's multiple enlargements of the crime scene photo spoof the repeated blowups produced by Thomas in Antonioni's film.
• The Cobweb — setting, references to changing the drapes

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a 1975 film directed by Miloš Forman. ... The Wizard of Oz (film) redirects here. ... The Spy Who Loved Me, released in 1977, is the 10th film in the James Bond series and the third to star Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond. ... For blowups in algebraic geometry, see blowing up. ... Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29, 1912 - July 30, 2007) was an Italian modernist film director whose films are widely considered as some of the most influential in film aesthetics. ... The Cobweb is a 1955 MGM film with an elite cast, revolving around the disturbing psyches of inmates and staff members at a posh psychiatric clinic. ...

Quotes

Brophy: (said frequently when ever he attempts to pick up a heavy object) I got it... I got it...I got it... (drops object) I ain't got it.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (August 2007)

• Three of the film's writers appear in comical supporting roles: Ron Clark as the deranged patient Zachary Cartwright, Rudy De Luca as the killer "Braces," and Rain Man-director Barry Levinson as the tightly-wound bellhop, "Dennis."

• This movie was dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock, who loved this film enormously and went as far as to send Brooks a bottle of champagne ^[1].

• In The Birds scene, spinach dip was flung at Mel Brooks, as the pigeons could not be made to defecate on command.

• The character Brophy is played by Ron Carey as an impression of character actor Edward Brophy, who specialized in playing comic sidekicks.

• One of Brooks' comic schticks was an impression of Frank Sinatra, whom he employed to sing the film's theme song.

• One scene is set in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco, in the uniquely configured 22-story-high triangular atrium of the hotel.

• This is Brooks' first film as a producer and first "speaking" lead role (his first lead role was in Silent Movie).

• In Mel Brooks' film Robin Hood: Men In Tights where we first see Maid Marion, she is singing in the bathtub. She is suddenly interrupted by a camera breaking through a the bathroom window, which was positioned outside the castle. The zooming camera, meant to set up a beautiful scene of a beautiful Maid Marion, does not stop zooming and breaks the window. The camera then slowly backs away, obviously realising it went too far into the window. This is a homage to the final scene in the Hotel room in High Anxiety, where the camera is zooming away from the happily married couple, only to smash through the wall that was 'apparently' behind it.

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article is about the American teacher. ... Rudy De Luca is an American screenwriter and actor best known for his work with filmmaker Mel Brooks. ... Rain Man is a 1988 film which tells the story of a selfish yuppie who discovers that his father has left all of his estate to the autistic brother he never knew he had. ... Barry Levinson Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a Jewish-American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (August 13, 1899 â€“ April 29, 1980) was an iconic and highly influential British-born film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Defecation or feceation (known colloquially as pooping or shitting) is the act of eliminating solid or semisolid waste material from the digestive tract. ... Edward Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960), is a character actor known for portraying gangsters, and is the voice of Timothy Mouse from Dumbo. ... Sinatra redirects here. ... Hyatt Regency Hotel from the front. ... Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Building. ... This article is about the comedy film. ... Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1993) is a film parody of the story of Robin Hood, particularly parodying Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. ...

References

1. ^ High Anxiety Trivia at Imdb

External links

• High Anxiety at the Internet Movie Database.
• A write-up on High Anxiety references.

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