Rating: PG
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 09/05/2006
SubTitles: English/Espanol/French
Dubbed: English/Espanol/French
Sound: DD2/DD1
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Slapstick Violence
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
This is
Mel Brooks' spoof of over ten
Alfred Hitchcock classics, including
Psycho,
Vertigo, and
The Birds (
Brooks actually used the bird trainer from that classic suspense movie in making his film).
Brooks plays
Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, a renowned Harvard psychiatrist with a concealed fear of heights, or High Anxiety.
Thorndyke takes over as the newest director of the PsychoNeurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous after the last director dies under suspicious circumstances. He soon finds himself to be in the company of some very strange colleagues, including longtime
Brooks collaborators
Cloris Leachman and
Harvey Korman, with
Madeline Kahn as
Victoria Brisbane, the eccentric daughter of a patient at the institute and
Thorndyke's love interest.
Korman takes on the role of
Dr. Charles Montague, a psychiatrist with a closeted habit of his own.
Leachman plays
Charlotte Diesel, a charge nurse with a dark sneer and tendency towards domination. As
Thorndyke heads to a psychiatry conference, he is faced with saving the Institute, his reputation, and his own sanity. Although the film was not well-received by critics, it picked up a 1978 Golden Globe nomination for best picture (
musical or
comedy) and landed
Brooks a nomination for best actor. The movie has a number of cameos, from a young
Barry Levinson's spot as an unstable bellboy to a small part by
Hitchcock's right-hand special effects man,
Albert J. Whitlock, who plays
Kahn's father.
~ Rachel Koetje, All Movie Guide
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