Film Review: High Anxiety (1977)

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the greatest and, arguably, the most popular grand cinema master of all time. At least this is the impression that might be made after seeing countless film makers who paid homage to Hitchcock in their respective works. But few went that far in honouring the Master of Suspense as the Master of Parody. Mel Brooks gave Hitchcock what could be seen as the ultimate homage in his 1977 comedy film High Anxiety.

Brooks in this film appears in his first starring role, playing psychiatrist Dr. Richard Thorndyke, recently hired by mental hospital as a replacement for his predecessor who died under mysterious circumstances. Thorndyke finds many unusual details about the institution and its patients, and all this is the work of Dr. Charles Montague (played by Harvey Korman) and Nurse Diesel (played by Cloris Leachman) who conspired to have healthy patients made insane in order to charge hospital bills to their wealthy families. While attending psychiatric convention in San Francisco Thorndyke is contacted by Victoria Brisbane (played by Madeline Kahn), daughter of a man committed in hospital, convinces him that the patient shown to him isn’t her father. Thorndyke decides to investigate, but his investigation when Montague and Diesel send assassin after him and manage to frame him for murder. Thorndyke must fight not only him but his own psychiatric condition that manifests itself in irrational fear of heights.

Subtitled “A Tribute to Alfred Hitchcock” and made with the explicit blessing of Hitchcock himself, High Anxiety can be seen less than a film per se and more as cinema’s equivalent of monument. Brooks nevertheless did his homework by carefully studying Hitchcock’s most iconic thrillers and choosing which ones to use as a basis for the actual plot - Spellbound and Vertigo serving as the most obvious templates – and which to cover in single gags. Like in many Brooks’ films, quality of humour varies and Brooks at times actually loses inspiration and decides to spoof non-Hitchock films like Antonioni’s Blow'Up or even contemporary James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and its character of unstoppable assassin Jaws. Despite some jokes not working, others do, and even those that have little to with Hitchcock, including delightful musical number in which Brooks spoofs Sinatra and other legendary lounge singers. Brooks nevertheless delivers strong performance, in which he is aided by his old associates like Kahn, Korman and Leachman whose talents create unforgettable characters out of otherwise one-dimensional parodic cliches.

Being so connected with Hitchcock is both the strength and the weakness of this film. Although well-received by critics and, to a degree, by audience, High Anxiety failed to repeat Brooks’ parodic triumphs of Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. This could easily be explained by the limited focus of the parody – unlike previous films that spoof entire genres well-engrained in popular culture, High Anxiety spoofs a single author. So, in order to understand all the jokes and all the references, the viewer must be familiar with at least dozen or so of Hitchock’s most important films. In late 1970s it was much easier to find such audience than it is now, when even the Master of Suspense can find faithful audience only among the most hardcore or all cinephiles. On the other hand, any viewer who invests time in Hitchcock will be rewarded by series of great films and High Anxiety, although not being Hitchcockian in the strictest of sense, might serve as a very good bonus.

RATING: 7/10 (++)

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