User reviews

Mel Brooks is a very funny man, and though sometimes I think his comedy is a little on the low side, "High Anxiety" has some truly hilarious moments. Mel riffs on Hitchcock, right down to Madeline Kahn's gray suit a la Kim Novak in Vertigo. He combines scenes from "Spellbound," "Vertigo," "Foreign Correspondent," "The Birds," "Psycho," "Dial M for Murder," and "North by Northwest" in this story of a man taking over as the head of a mental sanitarium, replacing a man who is murd - uh, dead. Kahn is the Hitchcock blonde whose father is in the asylum. 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. Both of them are a riot. Mel plays it straight which makes him even funnier.

I have two favorite scenes - the first is Mel, doing a perfect imitation of Sinatra's style, singing "High Anxiety" to Kahn. He's fabulous, and the look on Kahn's face is delicious. My other favorite scene is when Brooks and Kahn disguise themselves as elderly people to get through airport security. Psychiatric expert Brooks thinks the more noise you make, the less people notice you. The two of them do a fabulous skit which is priceless.

We really lost a treasure when we lost Madeline Kahn, one of the all-time great talents. It's wonderful to see this and remember her. I do believe that because of the humor, the film can be enjoyed without having seen the Hitchcock films spoofed, but of course, it's all the better if you have. A delightful film.

HIGH ANXIETY suffers only by comparison to Mel's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, but it stands by itself as a frisky, very funny screwball spoof of the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

I do agree with others who complain that Mel should have given the Dr. Thorndyke role to someone like Gene Wilder since Brooks does lack the charisma needed to carry this sort of thing. But the other pros in the cast more than made up for this handicap--especially HARVEY KORMAN, CLORIS LEACHMAN, MADELINE KAHN and HOWARD MORRIS.

Cloris Leachman is hilarious as Nurse Diesel (practically repeating her formidable character in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN) and Madeline Kahn is equally funny as the blonde femme fatale who finds herself in one ditzy situation after another as she tries to reach her father inside the asylum--here called "Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous." Nothing subtle here. The gags are touch and go, some funny, some painfully unfunny--so it's strictly a mixed bag.

But if you know MEL BROOKS and his kind of satire, this has enough gags to keep you satisfied. Just don't expect anything on the level of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

Mel Brooks takes on Hitchcock movies like "Vertigo" and "Spellbound "with a dash of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" thrown in. This is an excuse to get the whole Brooks' gang dealing with mental institutions and mental illness. Of course, it is utter zaniness as Brooks as the hospital director is in a madhouse (no pun intended). The patients have nothing on the doctors when it comes to outrageous behavior. The problem here is that Brooks never knows when to quit. With really well done comedies like "Young Frankenstein" and "The Producers" we see his genius with good scripting and characters filling out the fabric of the film. Here it's almost anything for a joke, including a casual reference to Jack Benny and highly dramatic music in one scene which turns out to be a concert band going by in a bus. These are fun, but some of the stuff isn't and draws attention outward.

Mel as a psychiatrist? That's crazy!

But it's funny.

And so is "High Anxiety", a spoof of everything Hitchcock, with a few touches of Mel's own creativity dashed here and there.

As head psychiatrist for the Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous, Mel finds strange goings-on involving kidnapping, murder, double-crossing and Harvery Korman in leather.

Nearly every big Hitchcock scene is clobbered as the story progresses: the shower scene in "Psycho", the jungle gym scene in "The Birds", the shooting in "North by Northwest", the climax of "Vertigo".... The list goes on and on.

Mel does too, God bless him. Laugh after laugh after laugh is produced, and Mel and his writers seem to have an inexhaustable supply of sight gags, one-liners and word plays. And they all work.

Suffice it to say, this isn't as funny as "Blazing Saddles", but it's prime Mel and if you're like me, almost any Mel is good Mel.

Eight stars. And he has a lovely singing voice, too.

This movie was better the first time I saw it but that said, it is worth watching for several good comedy bits and the lovely performance of Madeline Kahn.

Kahn rescues the film when she enters halfway through.

Brooks also comes up with a brilliant twist towards the end which I think on its own turns this from an average to disappointing movie to a good to very good one.

I was torn between giving this a 6 or a 7 but went with a 6 since there is a lot of subpar points in the film you need to get through.

That said, Brooks is great, Cloris Leachman is amazing and nearly steals the show.

Harvey Korman is splendid.

Sad that Kahn died so young, she was a treasure as you see here.

By 1977 Mel Brooks had already spoofed the western, Universal horror films and movies of the silent era, so with High Anxiety he decided to take an affectionate aim at the suspense films of Alfred Hitchcock. It would probably be fair to say that the results are quite mixed, although in fairness even Brooks at his best can be uneven. The humour is a mixture of the very broad to the somewhat subtle. There are a few dud moments sprinkled throughout but it is successfully funny on occasions too. But High Anxiety sort of gets away with the poorer moments more or less and is really quite enjoyable from the point of view of its Hitchcockian references alone. If you are a fan of the master of suspense you will probably get a kick out of this one to some extent. The story has a psychiatrist with a fear of heights appointed the head doctor at the Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, when there he discovers a web of crime.

Many of the films in Hitchcock's filmography are targeted, such as Spellbound (1945), Dial M for Murder (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). I'm sure there must've been others too but, those ones I actually noticed. Some of the references are dealt with in very obvious ways such as the shower scene from Psycho and the climbing frame moment from The Birds. Those ones aren't especially clever really but they have some good things about them. At other times the spoofing is less directly obvious but it's fun spotting them in any case. I have to say though that I thought the funniest sequence in the film wasn't even connected in any way to the films of the master of suspense, it was an uproarious scene where Brooks and Madeline Kahn get through airport security by being loud and annoying. It's definitely true that Brooks in the main role isn't necessarily a good thing. He's not exactly bad but he's no Gene Wilder either. If a better comic actor had played this character it might have improved the film overall I reckon. A few regular actors from his other films return here to greater effect, like Madeline Kahn as the requisite Hitchcock ice blonde, while Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman give amusingly spirited performances as fellow doctors who are up to no good. In the final analysis, while High Anxiety isn't a total success, it's very likable and for this reason I find it very easy to get on board with it.

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. While Gene Wilder would've been perfect casting as acrophobic psychiatrist Dr. Richard H(arpo). Thorndyke, Brooks is nevertheless as irresistable as he is irrepressible, with Madeline Kahn a fine match for him as the flakiest mysterious blonde this side of Kim Novak. Brooks' stock company of Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, and Howard Morris (as Professor Little-Old-Man, er, Lillolman) are in fine form. Like all of Brooks' best movies, the plot would work just fine as a straight thriller, and the spoofing is as affectionate as it is hilarious. It's a comedy to go crazy over!

At the beginning of "High Anxiety", Mel Brooks arrives at Los Angeles Airport and is lead into the men's restroom by a man who turns out to be a lisping flasher (an excruciating moment). Later in a cocktail lounge, he snaps a microphone cord like a whip and makes Madeline Kahn hyperventilate with passion. Brooks thinks he is so cute, both women AND men want him! It's this kind of egomania that drives "Anxiety" into the ground. The picture might have worked (it's a wacky spoof of Hitchcock moments), but not with this cornball script--nor with Brooks in the lead as a vertigo-prone psychiatrist. He flashes his overbite, mugs like a rubber man, and as the lead writer manages to give himself the final word on everything ("What a dramatic airport!"). The film is offensive visually and verbally--what happened to the style he gave pictures like "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles"? This looks like a failed TV pilot. ** from ****

Mel Brooks, if nothing else, is spectacular at collecting up the clichés, the stereotypes, the conventions, the seriousness, and at the same time the joy and entertainment that comes in the different works he has made fun of over his career (countless westerns with Blazing Saddles, historical epics with History of the World part 1, the sci-fi boom of Star Wars/Trek with Spaceballs, silent films with Silent Movie). Here is no exception, as he tackles squarely the unmistakable catalog of Sir Alfred Hitchcock. All of the hits are here, and transfused into a story that is kooky, predictable, but all the while giving some very good belly laughs. Even if it doesn't always strike where the iron is unexpectedly hot like with Saddles or the Producers, it still makes its mark with uncanny ability in making the film watchable while being often unrelenting (whether everything works gag-wise or not) with the spoofs.

Mel Brooks stars as Dr. Richard Thorndyke, a psychiatrist with his own problem- a fear of heights (Vertigo, anyone). In the midst of this a murder takes place (it's an usual one, by the way, involving a scene in a car that's unsettling while hilarious). The major set-pieces take place at a hotel Dr. Thorndyke stays at for a conference, where the plot seems to thicken even tighter. At times one wonders if the film maybe should take itself a little more seriously to work, like with Young Frankenstein. But by also not letting up with the silliness and over-the-top gags, there are at least a few that stand-out in the overall Brooks oeuvre. One or two are just plain dumb funny, like a wolf-man imitation ala Harvey Korman to a patient afraid of werewolves during a session with Brooks. More often than not in the film, the gags are very expected, getting right to the point as it were.

The chief examples lie in two scenes that work great, and one that works OK. The first involves a particular bellhop not too fond of getting order for a newspaper (played by a young Barry Levinson), which leads to an all too obvious but shamelessly funny Psycho spoof. Or, of course, the scene in the park with the birds of THE Birds, which remains a truly disgusting scene in some respects (even if the laughs wear down towards the end, its a brilliantly constructed set-up). One that doesn't quite go up to snuff is a near-murder scene by a telephone booth. Madeline Kahn's character is on the other end, and the scene is maybe a little too familiar, even as a Hitchcock parody. Towards the end its funny, but only after the fact. It's not totally that the timing is off, maybe just something else that's hard to say. It might be funnier to others.

Still, its the glee thats put forth in the performances, and the little running gags (i.e. "I'll get it, I'll get it...I don't get it"), to make it a notable entry in Brooks' body of work. If you've seen Hitchcock's films and not Brooks' I'd still recommend it at least once, if only out of curiosity, as just from a film buff stand-point its kind of fascinating how a satirist like Brooks takes on Hitchcock's style, which often had its own morbid sense of humor (Psycho, in some ways, is more of a pitch-black comedy than a horror film). For me, the merging worked well, if not for a great overall comedy. And, at the least, there's another catchy title song by Brooks himself, leading to a sweet nightclub scene.

Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on.

I feel like there was a shortage of jokes at times, but that is Brooks' style. He is more about the scene and less about the jokes. A constant atmosphere of humor, of fun.

Picking Hitchcock to lampoon was a great choice, too. I was able to catch a handful of references but probably missed many, too. That would only add to the film's humor, I suppose. I recommend the film for any Brooks fan, though I would say it is neither his best or worst.

Mel Brooks has had his stinkers, some much worse than this (Dracula: Dead and Loving it being by far his lowest point), but this came at the end of an era of great comedic successes for him. It's only four years after Young Frankenstein, for instance, which is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. And the concept of this film, a spoof of Hitchcock films, seems like gold. There's more than a dozen well known films and a hundred well known sequences that Brooks could have parodied. For some reason, he forgets to do it through a good 75% of the film, only parodying Vertigo, Psycho, the Birds, and Marnie with one or two throw-aways to North by Northwest. They are all from late Hitchcock, and the only one I may be missing is the Jimmy Stewart version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, probably the only major Hitch film I haven't seen. But these films are only mentioned a little, besides Vertigo, which is, more or less, the basis for 90% of all the parody. There's a take off of Psycho's shower scene, some pigeons poo on Brooks, and there is a flashback near the end that seems to be parodying Marnie. None of those parodies work. Almost none of the rest of the jokes work, either. Cloris Leachman is the only person on screen who ever gets a single laugh, as Nurse Diesel, the wack-job, manly, conniving, dominatrix, but she's trying so hard that she only managed to make me laugh a couple of times. I don't even know what Madelaine Kahn is doing here, although the phone booth/obscene phone call scene was one of the couple of scenes that made me laugh. I hope Hitchcock never actually saw this. I wouldn't be so mean as to call it an insult to his films, but it certainly stands as a major embarrassment to Mel Brooks who can't even demonstrate in his direction that he understands WHY Alfred Hitchcock is "the master of suspense," as he calls him in the kindly dedication. 5/10.

Though often overlooked in favor of Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, I believe this to be the pick of Brooks' parodies. Whether you share this opinion would depend on your familiarity with all things Hitchcockian.

It is not only Vertigo, as the title suggests, that gets the Brooks treatment here, but The Birds, Spellbound and Psycho are all parodied to various degrees of subtlety. Many of these films key scenes are simply re-enacted with comic touches, whilst the Hitchcock formalae is very much in evidence. The style is particularly amusing in its parody. Highlights include a probing camera becoming all too literally intrusive when it crashes through a pane of glass in the window, and a dramatic sound composition turning out to be merely the didactic passing bus load of a touring philamonic orchestra.

Resisting the out and out farce of his earlier effort, Blazing Saddles, and managing not to evolve into simply being a one joke movie such as the tendency of his recent efforts, High Anxiety is Brooks at his most clever. The cast, mainly consisting of Brooks regulars, all display splendidly entertaining and aptly silly impersonations of recognisible Hitchcock stereotypes. It is Brooks' finest hour however, with not only directing, writing, and acting to his credit but singing as well!!!

Forget Spielberg or Lucas: In 1977, the most eagerly anticipated film in the house I grew up in was the latest from Mel Brooks. This was the guy who transformed neighing horses and baked beans into comedy gold. Now he was taking on Hitchcock. So what if that silent thing he did the year before went nowhere? This was going to be good.

And "High Anxiety" is good, sort of, sometimes. A Nobel laureate psychiatrist, one Richard Harpo Thorndyke, shows up at a mental hospital "for the very, VERY nervous" and soon realizes Nurse Diesel's rigid fruit-cup policy is the least of his staff's issues. Attending a convention in San Francisco, he finds himself wanted for a brutal killing, and with the help of a strange woman who doesn't believe her father is a cocker spaniel, he goes back to the hospital, and his own childhood, to conquer his lifelong fear of heights.

There's a lot of Hitchcock references in "High Anxiety," beginning with an unnecessary dedication to "the master of suspense." The takeoff on "The Birds," a pigeon attack where Thorndyke gets the newly-washed-car treatment, works best, though most of the Hitchcock bits have a kind of inert, pasted-on quality that detract from the movie.

The real challenge Brooks gave himself, and was seriously hobbled by, was in his choice of lead actor: Himself. Brooks is very funny in films when he has some small part, like "The Gov" in "Blazing Saddles." But here you are stuck with him walking through hallways, getting in and out of cars, talking to other characters, i.e. advancing the plot, and it's a great demonstration for anyone who thinks screen presence comes easy. Brooks can mug, but he can't act, and his joke-free scenes (of which there are too many here) have the same awkward quality of watching your nine-year-old nephew's violin recital.

At least he calls on some of his old friends, like Cloris Leachman as Diesel and Harvey Korman as her boy-toy, both of whom are sure laugh-getters. No one makes answering the phone as funny as Madeline Kahn, whose entrance parodying Lucie Mannheim's in "The 39 Steps" is one of Brooks' most effective and subtle nods at Hitchcock's direction.

"High Anxiety" works best when it's not referencing Hitchcock, like when Thorndyke finds himself called on to sing a song at a hotel bar and turns into Sinatra. That's an influential scene in its own right, referenced in "Anchorman," and it is not only funny but showcases a cool title song. Brooks uses his microphone chord as a whip and counsels his audience in mid-chorus to "be good to your parents, they've been good to you."

"High Anxiety" is funny like that off and on, sometimes for five whole minutes at a stretch. But there's too many awkward pauses and some key missteps, like when Brooks and Kahn jump out of character to do an old Jewish couple bit or when Dick Van Patten as one of the hospital staff dies from a serious attack of AM radio. The film also feels like a comedown in the way its shot, which is not with that visually dramatic style Hitchcock perfected but more like a "Love Boat" episode. Given how right Brooks gets tone in his earlier directorial efforts, you really miss it here.

Back in 1977, my father and I walked out of the theater agreeing "High Anxiety" was okay, but nothing special. That still sounds about right. Brooks could have done better; unfortunately, as he soon proved, he could also do worse.

The satirical comedy is a real hit or miss genre, more so miss in recent years. When the humor is constant and a mix of ridiculous and witty, we can end up with something brilliant like Airplane! However, some of the modern satirical films that spoof popular films can crash and burn easily because of not having anything funny or original to offer. I have seen most of Mel Brooks' films and knew that I had to see this for number of reasons. I loved Young Frankenstein; it was a brilliant humorous take on the classic Frankenstein film and Gene Wilder is phenomenal in it. I mostly enjoyed other films like Silent Movie and The History of the World Part 1 but there are lapses in comedy in both films. As a matter of fact I'd say Brook's brand of humor isn't always consistent (and somewhat dated) but there are enough laughs to make for a good time.

Another reason I had to check out High Anxiety is because Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite filmmakers ever and I had to see Brooks' take on some of Hitchcock's most famous work. I definitely enjoyed being able to spot some of the references to Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and of course, Vertigo. Some of the film's humor may have been funny for an earlier generation. I think the best comedic moments come when Brooks pays his tribute to Hitchcock. The most memorable scene in the film is when the lobby boy 'stabs' Brooks with the newspaper in the shower and the smudged ink of the paper circles the drain (akin to the blood in the shower scene in Psycho). Some of the Hitchcockian references are smart, others feel tacked on. None of it really takes away from experience though.

I did enjoy some of the characters and their outrageous natures in the film. Lilloman is a fun character and the moments he and Brooks spend together on the scene bring for a delightful patient-doctor experience. I'd say the best is stiff and pale Nurse Diesel. She plays a memorable villain in her own right, despite the villain being spoofed off of a previous incarnation of something Hitchcock devised. Much like Silent Movie and History of the World Part 1, there are passages in the film that just kind of pass through without really eliciting a response. I guess its dependent on the viewer and their brand of humor, as I'd expect people would react differently to the comedic situations.

I'm not the biggest Mel Brooks fan but I have no problem admitting he's an icon in the satirical comedy genre. I don't think this film touches something like Young Frankenstein or The Producers but its a fun little ode to the master of suspenseful cinema. Its dated but enjoyable. Honestly I didn't expect anything more from this film so I am satisfied with what I saw.

6.5/10

Mel Brooks arrives at the "Institute" to find suspicious goings on, and tries to find out what's going on and who is behind it. Cloris Leachman and Harvy Korman are fellow doctors at the asylum, and watch over the institute when Mel must attend a conference. Watch for Barry Levinson (writer, director, producer) as he plays the bellboy. Ron Carey from Barny Miller plays the chauffeur who tries to help Mel when he runs into trouble with the always funny Madeline Kahn. The references to all of Hitchcocks films are many and great, and Mel even sings a song in the movie. His speech given for fellow doctors at the conference goes on a little long, but can be forgiven as it is offset by the quick action for most of the movie. Cloris Leachman is hilarious as Nurse Diesel, and her manner is a funny as her costume. Half the jokes in this movie are things as simple as camera angles, facial expressions, and what people are wearing.

Dr. Richard Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) suffers from 'High Anxiety' and is the new administrator of the Psycho Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous after the former head dies. Devious Dr. Charles Montague (Harvey Korman) thought that he was going to take over. Charolette Diesel (Cloris Leachman) is the strict disciplinarian head nurse. Dr. Wentworth (Dick Van Patten) thinks there are questionable things going on. Thorndyke discovers some patients are staying too long and paying too much. Wentworth is murdered. While at the American Psychiatric Convention, he is confronted by Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn) who wants to rescue her father who is a patient at the Institute.

This is a nice parody of Hitchcock movies. It has a lot of fun satire that Mel Brooks is known for. He's not as wild and crazy of someone like Gene Wilder. However he does give a straighter performance which the others can play off of. Although having Gene Wilder act afraid would have been hilarious but obviously he was busy with his own movie. Brooks is more deadpan. This is definitely in line with the other Mel Brooks parodies. It starts very well taking a page out of Airplane. The movie does fade in the second half. The premise probably wore a little thin for me by then.

I think i might have liked this movie when i was 8 years old but I don't think it really stands the test of time. To be fair I have grown to dislike Mel Brooks movies more and more as I get older while my love for Hitchcock has gone in the opposite direction. High Anxiety is so toe curlingly bad it sits well with the rest of the Brooks cannon. While there are plenty of nods to classic Hitchcock from the Birds to North By Northwest through to Vertigo there is little in this film to raise it above the utterly appalling. A stupid screwball script with annoyingly delivered performances and a touch of woody allen neurosis this was a dirge from start to finish. There is no finesse in the style of Brooks and if he had stopped making films after this one the world would have been a better place. I have read that Hitchcock saw this movie at a private screening and said nothing (although later sending Brooks a case of wine) ...although partial to pranks I feel he must have been feeling generous at a time when his work was finally being reassessed. Total Dross.

I am a massive Hitchcock fan, and when I heard of High Anxiety, I was intrigued. A spoof comedy taking on the masterpieces of Hitchcock. Then I saw the cast, Mel Brooks, Madeleine Kahn and Cloris Leachman, and I was like this is going to be a riot. I will admit I was hesitant of seeing this though. While I have seen some hilarious spoofs like Loaded Weapon 1, I have also seen some dreadful ones like Disaster Movie and Epic Movie. So before I watched this, I was like is this going to work.

And you know what? On the most part it does. High Anxiety is a hugely enjoyable spoof, that is actually one of the better ones I have seen. Sure, it has its flaws, but I will say it was much better than expected. I loved the references to Hitch's masterpieces Psycho, North By Northwest, Notorious and Vertigo scattered throughout the film. There are some great scenes, particularly the part when Thorndyke and Victoria disguise themselves in order to get through the security booth; that was priceless. However, there were others that came across as rather over-familiar, such as when Thorndyke is almost murdered in a phone box, though the phone call itself was hilarious. If you forgive the daft plot, it is very daft at times, but at other times it helps add to the fun.

The script has its hits and misses, mostly hits. There are some truly hilarious moments. I also thought the ending was great. The cinematography and scenery are fine too. And the performances are stellar. Mel Brooks has been better, but he still turned in a very entertaining performance. The late great Madeleine Kahn, looked absolutely stunning, quite possibly at her loveliest, and as Victoria, she was superb. And I mustn't forget the hilarious turn of Cloris Leachman as Nurse Charlotte Diesel, what a genius she is.

All in all, a very good movie. Look out for it. It has its flaws, but it is fun to watch, and a true treat for fans of Hitchcock. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Just three years after his twin peaks of "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" (probably his comic apex), Mel Brooks made this fitfully funny send-up of Hitchcock's suspense classics. The most detrimental change here is that he lost the wonderfully manic Gene Wilder as his leading man and chose to make himself the star. Brooks is unfortunately miscast as Dr. Richard Thorndyke lacking the enigmatic leading-man charisma so central to most of Hitchcock's classics. To some degree, he knows his limitations since he inserts several irrelevant bits of business that have little to do with the character, like his sudden piano-bar crooning of the title tune or his Catskills-level disguise as the old Jewish man at the airport. However, in catering to his own persona, he compromises what there is of a suspenseful element to the movie.

The plot centers on Thorndyke as he becomes the new Chief of Staff at The Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Suffering from an actual condition called "high anxiety", he cannot stand heights but perseveres in trying to run the medical facility despite the connivances of the scarifying Nurse Diesel and the weak, bondage-loving Dr. Montague. Thorndyke is then shuttled off to a medical convention at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco - the ideal setting to challenge his acrophobia - where he meets a mysterious blonde named Victoria and gets framed for murder. It all works toward a climax that plays like a riff on "Vertigo".

Brooks produces some genuine laughs along the way - the camera smashing through glass doors in zooming upon a dinner scene, the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra providing atmospheric thrill music on a passing bus, and basically anything related to the wonderful Madeline Kahn as Victoria. Looking resplendent in a blonde wig, she comes awfully late into the film but makes her moments count, especially her stimulated reaction to what she thinks is an obscene phone call. Alas, there are a lot of bits that aren't that funny - comedian Charlie Callas as an inmate who thinks he is a cocker spaniel, the self-inflicted censorship after Thorndyke's speech and the Jewish couple charade at the airport.

The film also takes quite a while to establish itself and only increases momentum when the action moves to San Francisco. Future director Barry Levinson, one of the movie's four writers, has a hilarious bit as a high-strung bellboy resistant to getting Thorndyke a newspaper. This leads to a funny take-off of the "Psycho" shower scene, though I could have done without seeing Brooks in the buff. There is another funny take-off on the schoolyard scene from "The Birds" though it honestly feels wedged in for no narrative purpose. There are also references to non-Hitchcock films like "Call Northside 777" (the photo enlargement plot turn) and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

Cloris Leachman deserves a medal for looking so horrendous as Nurse Diesel, though she plays the role quite similarly to her Frau Blucher in "Young Frankenstein". Harvey Korman has always been more a sketch comic and proves that again as Montague, as do Howard Morris as kindly Professor Lilloman (Little-Old-Man) and Ron Carey as double-speak sidekick Brophy. John Morris's music score is a fitting tribute to Hitchcock, though Paul Lohmann's cinematography seems particularly washed out in the print transfer on the DVD. There are no extras other than the original trailers for four other Brooks films.

There are a couple of funny moments in this movie, all provided by Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman. Rest of it is hit-and-miss, as Brooks trots out the toilet jokes, the gay jokes, the human anatomy jokes, etc etc, that have populated most of his lesser efforts.

The tributes to Hitchcock are obvious and forced, especially "The Birds" and "Psycho."

Does not hold up well at all. See "Young Frankenstein" for vintage Mel Brooks.

4/10