High Anxiety

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High Anxiety

PG

1977

1h 34m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

72%

Tomatometer

32 Reviews

67%

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10,000+ Ratings

Just after becoming the director of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke is greeted by a series of mysterious events. When his colleagues -- including the militaristic and mustachioed Nurse Diesel -- 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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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

10/23/2004

2.5/4

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.

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Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

5d

2.5/5

Mid-career Mel Brooks hit the skids with this supposed send-up of Alfred Hitchcock movies that's really more concerned with (ineptly) poking fun at pop culture psychology of the day.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

01/25/2024

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]

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

08/09/2023

6/10

The film isn’t continuously funny, nor is it consistently suspenseful, but it does do a spectacular job of sending up Hitchcock’s classics.

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Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

09/10/2021

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.

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Fernando Trueba

El Pais (Spain)

08/01/2019

More than an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, High Anxiety is a copycat. [Full Review in Spanish]

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lolblog T

@RT47829063 5d

unbeareable movie, the "jokes" are literally the most idiotic i ever seen 0 out of 10

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Keith B B

@Okbullard Jan 27

The 1st time I watched this was probably late 70s so 40 years later I gave it another look. Well I wasted my time it's definitely mediocre at best. I chuckled a couple times the whole film and feel I wasted my time again. Don't get me wrong Mel Brooks was innovative and hilarious, but not with this one. Check out his Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein for a couple of his best efforts.

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Olivia J

@RT02808372 Oct 15

its endless parade of campy Hitchcock gags makes us feel smart

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Jun 30

Funny in 1 hour and 34 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring actor and director Mel Brooks as Richard H. Thorndyke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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tim s

@TPSreport94 May 5

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.

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Andrew L

@RT39837635 02/23/2025

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.

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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

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Synopsis

Just after becoming the director of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke is greeted by a series of mysterious events. When his colleagues -- including the militaristic and mustachioed Nurse Diesel -- 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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