We Got Netflix Covered: High Anxiety, Clueless Teens And The Power Of The Schwartz…

Classic Pick: High Anxiety (1977)

Mel Brooks’ comic parody High Anxiety is a classic movie twofer: it’s both a lesser-known classic in its own right, and a parody of some of the most recognizable classic films in the pantheon. High Anxiety takes on the daunting task of parodying Alfred Hitchcock’s works in a manner that can be appreciated both by casual fans of Brooks’s parodic genius, and those (like myself) obsessed with Hitchcock.

Brooks plays Dr. Richard Thorndyke, a psychiatrist who has recently taken on the administration of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous. Arriving at the Institute, he encounters his new staff, including Brooks regulars Harvey Corman as Dr. Montague and Cloris Leachman as the terrifying Nurse Diesel. Thorndyke suffers from a disease called High Anxiety (read: vertigo), which will of course come into play later in the film. Following some diabolical machinations by Montague and Diesel, Thorndyke is later implicated in a murder at a hotel, and meets Hitchcock blonde Madeleine Kahn, the daughter of one of his patients.

Like many of Brooks’ best films, High Anxiety works well as pure comedy on a narrative level, but the viewer’s enjoyment increases manifold if one is well acquainted with Hitchcock’s works. It hits the predictable parodic elements of the shower scene in Psycho, the birds in The Birds, and some notable scenes and camera tricks from Vertigo. But the entire setting of the Institute is a parody of Spellbound; there are scenes evoking British classics like The Lady Vanishes, Frenzy, and even Under Capricorn, and of course plenty of references to North by Northwest. Thorndyke is implicated in the murder via a hotel room change brought about by a Mr. MacGuffin – the Hitchcockian term used for an unimportant element pursued by the protagonist that nevertheless drives the plot. The whole thing is buoyed by a strong cast led by Brooks himself (effectively a parody of Hitchcock’s tendency to appear briefly in his own films) and augmented by the presence of some very good comedians working in tandem with each other.

Good parody usually depends on a familiarity and affection for the works parodied. Brooks and his cast obviously adore Hitchcock, and High Anxiety is the perfect film for anyone who feels the same.