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. Let's face it: lines like "I got it! in 1972. This looks like a failed TV pilot. High Anxiety gets its comic energy largely from the actors, some of whom have multiple Brooks films among their credits: Leachman as the sadistic Nurse Diesel, Korman as the evil Dr. Montague, and Dick Van Patten as the semi-sympathetic Dr. Wentworth, who gets murdered by loud rock'n'roll that makes his ears bleed. Competence, played by Dena Dietrich, helped her make her selection. Thorndyke's reaction? She wants him to take a closer look at her father's case. Internet Service Terms In the sketch the president was played by Dan Aykroyd, who debated with White House portraits whether to resign. As a kid, Madeline liked to perform, but not in front of people. Gene Wilder was originally considered for the part of Dr. Richard Thorndyke, but scheduling forced Wilder to turn the role down. Kahn starred in her own TV series Madeline, which was based on the British series Pig in the Middle. When he cracks the mic chord like a whip while singing the title song, she reacts in a spasm of sadomasochistic ecstasy and when she mistakes Thorndykes labored breathing during a murder attempt as the heavy breathing of an obscene phone caller she responds How did you get my room number? She insinuates interior and ulterior motives behind double and triple entendre. 1977 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The film also starred Louise Fletcher, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, Marsha Mason, Sid Caesar, John Houseman, Dom DeLuise, the ever-youthful Abe Vigoda, James Coco, Phil Silvers, Scatman Crothers and Dr. Zaius lookalike Paul Williams. Cloris Leachman as Nurse Diesel plays out her nasty grimaces and drawls as far as she can, and also puts on an outlandish performance in the spanking scene. Mel Brooks takes on Hitchcock movies like "Vertigo" and "Spellbound "with a dash of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" thrown in. Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn at the airport, trying to get past airport security by being loud and annoying. There's nothing to send up, really. A professional black widow, Mrs. White had already buried two husbands. Both of them are a riot. 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. High Anxiety is Mel Brooks' renowned spoof of over ten Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds. Cinematographer: Paul Lohmann Brooks: If you make something that makes sense, that is basically truthful about the human condition, it works it stays alive. Mel plays it straight which makes him even funnier. She made bad movies good, good movies great and great movies classics. It's a comedy to go crazy over! Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. Alfred Hitchcock gets the Mel Brooks treatment here with rapid fire parodies of films like "Psycho", "The Birds", "North by Northwest" and "Vertigo", so if you're a Hitchcock fan there's some amusing stuff here. Showing Editorial results for madeline kahn. Almost none of the rest of the jokes work, either. Danny Kaye tread water as Noah, but had an accident onstage three months into the run. Last time I read a book, I was raped. The 1983 swashbuckling comedy starred Graham Chapman along with Cheech and Chong, Peters Cook and Boyle, Eric Idle, James Mason and John Cleese. Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman. Her characters had some of the best names in film: Empress Nympho, Lili Von Schtupp, Trixie Delight. Surprisingly, however, Brooks' doctor is pretty restrained except for his anxiety shakes. Kahn wears a blue pin-striped suit with a bowler hat, because she couldnt get away with the tuxedo. 1 watched in the last 24 hours. Youre wearing jeans? Cloris Leachman and Harvy Korman are fellow doctors at the asylum, and watch over the institute when Mel must attend a conference. How will Dr. Thorndyke handle this loony gang? It was crazy. . Mel Brooks, if nothing else, is spectacular at collecting up the clichs, 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). The humour is a mixture of the very broad to the somewhat subtle. His films, even at their most terrifying and most suspenseful, are full of jokes shared with the audience. I am a massive Hitchcock fan, and when I heard of High Anxiety, I was intrigued. 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. Opening dedication: This film is dedicated to the Master of Suspense. It is an Affectionate Parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. An homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock; contains many parodies of famous Hitchcock scenes from THE BIRDS, PSYCHO, and VERTIGO. . None of those parodies work. It's not his best work, but you can tell the players are having fun. It was a film by Gary Weis and also featured Larraine Newman, James Coco, Paul Sand, Jack Gilford, Dom DeLuise, John Houseman, David Lander and John Ritter. He then takes a shower, during which the bellboy enters and, in a frenzy, mimics stabbing Thorndyke with the paper while screaming, "Here's your paper! Kahn is the Hitchcock blonde whose father is in the asylum. "[11] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker shared the same objection, writing that "Brooks seems to be under the impression that he's adding a satirical point of view, but it's a child's idea of satire; imitation, with a funny hat and a leer. Director: Mel Brooks High Anxiety is a 1977 comedy film directed by (and starring) Mel Brooks. on April 28, 2020, 1977-12-25 Movie - High Anxiety - Madeline Kahn.jpg. Here is no exception, as he tackles squarely the unmistakable catalog of Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Like all his pictures, it's a hit-or-miss affair, sometimes reaching high hilarity, other times plummeting like the proverbial lead balloon. Kahn played Alice Gold, her husband is a school principal who has a fling with a schoolteacher. With some terrific actors we also recognize from Mel's best film ever, Young Frankenstein, you can tell the cast really enjoyed themselves and had fun with this movie. And I know I have Madeline Kahn. How long is a scene? After a Harvard psychiatrist (Brooks) takes over the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, he realizes his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances. Brooks: I had no idea the farting scene in Blazing Saddles would be that hysterical. THR: What do you think of the state of comedy today? When he's framed for murder, Dr. Thorndyke must confront his own psychiatric condition, "high anxiety," in order to clear his name. Dr Richard Thorndyke is a psychiatrist who, despite himself having a fear of heights, is on his way to become the new chief administrator for the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very Very Nervous. comes up again during the final chase up the stairs. This is true Mel Brooks humor! 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. Kahn was playful and sexy and sad and in a hurry. In High Anxiety, Mel Brooks comic tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, Kahn plays Victoria Brisbane, the daughter of one of the patients (who thinks hes a cocker spaniel) at the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Kahn repeatedly said in interviews that she never thought of herself as a funny person, that it was hard work to be funny, but some of the best judges of funny in show business clamored to cast her. He does so and discovers that his patient may not be the actual Brisbane. And did I mention that Thorndyke's middle name is Harpo? Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on. Preparing to address the psychiatric association, afflicted Dr. Thorndyke (writer-director Mel Brooks) is interrupted by the first appearance of Madeline Kahn as Victoria Brisbane, daughter of a wealthy patient, in Brooks' Hitchcock send-up, Mel Brooks must come to terms with his own. Madeline Kahn is never doing just one thing onscreen. For High Anxiety, it was 'What is a Hitchcock film? He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. In 1994, Kahn played Mrs. Munchnick in the holiday farce Mixed Nuts, which was based on the 1982 French comedy, Le Pre Nol est une ordure and directed by Nora Ephron. High Anxiety (1977) - Turner Classic Movies High Anxiety Brief Synopsis A man must come to terms with his own "high anxiety" in this loving parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman co-star in this hilarious parody. Kahn took a Brooks breaks to impersonate Bessie Bellwood, a music hall singer whos been dead for twelve and a half years alongside Gene Wilder in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother in 1975. Kahn continued to take direction from Mel Brooks in High Anxiety in 1977 and in 1981 with History of the World, Part I. High Anxiety is Mel Brooks' renowned spoof of over ten Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds. It was love at first woof, as she streaked her hair to settles down with the man with the knobs to become Mrs. Zipperneck, freeing Dr. Frankenstein to marry Inga, the assistant with fabulous knockers, played by Teri Garr. A goofy nod to The Wizard of Oz (1939) sneaks into the vertiginous climax. Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman. 11 of 49. On arrival, Thorndyke immediately notices that in some ways his staff are not totally different from his patients but it is not long before he cannot help but noticed a myriad of suspicious and unusual occurrences around him and his new workplace. The pacing is slack and lazy; an early Woody Allen comedy, like "Play It Again, Sam" or "Bananas", is about ten times faster - and funnier. Mel Brooks (playing Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke) does a great job as the protagonist and Madeline Kahn (playing Victoria Brisbane) does well also. The Institute apparently could use the money from the Brisbane family, and keeps the real Arthur prisoner. When Wentworth is driving home that night, his radio blasts rock music loudly and will not shut off. They come along. Happy?" Here's your paper! 5,865 IMDb 6.8 1 h 32 min 1981 is less interested in curing its rich clientele than in keeping them indefinitely and thus getting more of their money, Braces broke that glass himself trying to kill Thorndyke, UsefulNotes/Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy Film, UsefulNotes/Parental Guidance Suggested Rating. This is an excuse to get the whole Brooks' gang dealing with mental institutions and mental illness. Lets face it; everything below the waist is kaput. She was bushed.) If it was tired or cliched, she let me know in no uncertain terms. Madeline Kahn gave a deeply nuanced performance in the brief role of Martha Mitchell in Oliver Stones Nixon from 1995. [5] It also contains parodies of Michelangelo Antonionis Blowup, and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, in the camera tracking through walls, and even James Bond films with an assassin who shares a similarity with the Bond villain Jaws, played by Richard Kiel. CookiePolicy THR: Youre famous for working with the same actors, including Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman. Kahn first demurred because she thought that was a tasteless title and, because she was just getting known on Broadway, she thought she wasnt yet ready to do a bad movie. 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. The patients have nothing on the doctors when it comes to outrageous behavior. She lost her first Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination to her 10-year-old co-star, who was really the lead but was nominated in the supporting category because she was so young. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. 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. My favorite scene would definitely have to be the imitation of the famous shower scene from Psycho, I almost died laughing at the bell boy and his high pitched voice. We werent even supposed to be rooting for her in Whats Up Doc? As others have noted, Mel Brooks himself might not have been the best choice for Thorndyke, and the parodies are mostly way over the top (The Bird droppings are particularly gross), but it's what you've come to expect from the comic director. "[16], This article is about the film. Diesel decides to get rid of her boss. Groans galoreand what happened to Brooks' style? Singing For Hes a Jolly Good Fellow, Kahn also proved she could pull laughs with musical counterpoint. But Ive never been saluted as a film director. He is suffering from a sense of vertigo but finds his room located at the top floor. People Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn. This film was directed by Mel Brooks.High. Mentions of new drapes at the institute remind me of The Cobweb, a 1955 Vincente Minnelli picture also set in a mental-health clinic. Her first husband had disappeared, but she explains that because he was an illusionist, that was his job. Brophy's trouble with heavy objects ("I got it! Production Design: Peter Wooley I hope Hitchcock never actually saw this. Search the history of over 806 billion TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It was a caricature of Marlene Dietrichs vampy part in the 1939 classic western, Destry Rides Again. Neil Simon, Peter Bogdanovich, Carol Burnett and Bill Cosby all found channels for her comic genius. Madeline Kahn married her long-time companion, John Hansbury, in October 1999. Kahn was cast as Goldie, a Golden Girl from the Temple of the Golden Ram, in the Richard Rodgers musical Two by Two, about Noah and his ark. "[9], Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "One of the problems with Mel Brooks' 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. It would probably be fair to say that the results are quite mixed, although in fairness even Brooks at his best can be uneven. And, oh yes, there's an outrageous bit by Charlie Callas as a guy you might find at the local dog shelter. 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. When does he bring things to a boil?' Brooks thinks he is so cute, both women AND men want him! 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. Cast & Crew Read More Mel Brooks Director Deborah Dawes Henry Kaiser Mel Brooks Al Hopson Albert J Whitlock Photos & Videos View All She imbues the most innocent lines with innuendo. Meanwhile, Barry Levinson has a funny bit as a bellboy with a screeching sound and homicidal urges. I haven't got it!" Thorndyke pesters the bellboy with repeated requests for a newspaper, wanting to look in the obituaries for information about Wentworth's demise. VIDEO: Comedy Legend Mel Brooks Looks Back and Laughs. 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. It's only four years after Young Frankenstein, for instance, which is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. 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The climax of High Anxiety is the climax of Vertigo as it would look in a funhouse mirror. Kahn appeared as George C. Scotts sister-in-law for one season on Mister President in 1987 and played a gossip columnist on the TV series New York News. It is an Affectionate Parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Happy now?! Veteran Brooks ensemble members Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, and Madeline Kahn are also featured. He was my favorite comedy talent. 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!"). There are also minor allusions to films not directed by Hitchcock, such as The Pink Panther and The Spy Who Loved Me, with characters resembling Jacques Clouseau and Jaws. While there are numerous allusions to almost every Hitchcock film, the main plot and setting are taken from Spellbound and Vertigo. Producer: Mel Brooks There are a couple of funny moments in this movie, all provided by Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman. If youre just doing things for laughs and not paying attention to human truths, its not gonna last. 960 Madeline Kahn Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 960 madeline kahn photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. Hitchcock's suspense melodramas are sparked by his perverse wit; they're satirical to start with. They start with Byron and Shelley and jump on your belly and bust your balloon. Here's your lousy, stinking paper! Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. - by a Mr. MacGuffin, named after Hitchcock's word for a plot device that has no purpose except to keep the characters hopping through the story. Thorndyke also reunites with Professor Vicktor Lillolman, a past mentor now employed by the institute. She advises her studious son, If theres one thing Ive learned in life is that learning things never taught me nothing and books is the worst. She throws cold water on an obscene phone caller by admitting Im simply crushed. Im writing High Anxiety before its a movie its just an idea. He brought production to a standstill when he didnt show up, was almost replaced by Cleavon Little, but finally arrived to balk at playing a scene with a lion by his throne. Search instead in Creative? Basil E. Frankweiler, a childrens film based on E. L. Konigsburgs novel about a sister and brother who run away from home to live in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and find what looks like lost treasure. Montague takes Thorndyke to the light's source, the room of patient Arthur Brisbane, who thinks he is a Cocker Spaniel. She agrees after an argument. So give your brain a night off, brush up on your Hitchcock, and settle in for a potpourri of laughs, groans, dull spots, and inspired spots. Bogdanovich quickly cast her again in Paper Moon in 1973 as Trixie Delight, who nobody started to call mademoiselle until she was 17 and started to get some bone structure. She only had fifteen minutes of screen time, but she got to sit up front with her big tits. That line wasnt in the script, but young Tatum ONeill encouraged Kahn to go with it. As Estie Del Ruth, she walked Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood in 1976. After a Harvard psychiatrist (Brooks) takes over the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, he realizes his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances. [8] After viewing the film himself, Alfred Hitchcock sent Brooks a case of six magnums of 1961 Chteau Haut-Brion wine with a note that read, "A small token of my pleasure, have no anxiety about this. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. She spent two years at the nightclub The Upstairs at the Downstairs in a comic ensemble that included Fannie Flagg and Lily Tomlin acting and singing in reviews and skits like Dial-a-Deviant. Madeline debuted on stage as a chorus girl in a Kiss Me, Kate revival. 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. By what name was High Anxiety (1977) officially released in India in English? [The AFI] is the first that said, Youre a movie director.. Copyright 2023 He also wrote, however, that too much of the film "is piddled away with juvenile sex jokes" that "are simply beneath a comic mind as fertile as the one that belongs to Mel Brooks. "[10] Vincent Canby of The New York Times agreed, writing that the film "is as witty and as disciplined as Young Frankenstein, though it has one built-in problem: Hitchcock himself is a very funny man. High Anxiety is definitely lesser Brooks and wildly uneven, but partisans will embrace it wholeheartedly. Happy now?" In 1973, Madeline Kahn played a schoolteacher in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Film Editing: John C. Howard High Anxiety (1977) In Mel Brooks' hilarious comedy - a satirical parody of famous moments and scenes from various Hitchcock films - and his . There are no reviews yet. I never do political comedy because they keep changing the presidents, so you cant have fun with them. The movie obviously does not paid psychology very positively as it shows it as sexist and a way to keep patients at the institute beyond their will. THR: Do you leave space in your direction for presumed laughs? We were supposed to be rooting for Barbara Streisand, but how could we not love Madeline. 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. He wrote, directed, and stared in this hilarious film "High Anxiety" that is based on most of Alfred Hitchcock's films. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and left with a full blown case of "High Anxiety." We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us! He never reappeared because he wasnt a very good illusionist. The second husband was a stupidly optimistic man. In 1978, she starred as Lily Garland in On the Twentieth Century, but either quit or was fired from the show early in the run, depending on who you ask. Both of them are a riot. Thorndyke, for instance, is similar to names used in both, And Thorndyke meets up with someone at the ", Braces is a takeoff on Jaws from then-recent, Another non-Hitchcock reference is when Brophy enlarges one of his photographs to find proof of Thorndyke's innocence, taken straight from, Nurse Diesel riding her broomstick out the window to her death while cackling is another non-Hitchcock reference, to. which proves useful in clearing Dr. Thorndyke's name. High Anxiety is a 1977 comedy film directed by (and starring) Mel Brooks. But real comedy has a lot to say about the human condition and said so beautifully over the years. Brooks is an equal-opportunity satirist, so non-Hitchcock movies also get dragooned into High Anxiety. Nurse Diesel. Brooks is fine in the lead role; as usual, there's both a "distance" and an excess to his performance that keep him from being as good as he should be. Support. THR: A lot of the jokes in Blazing Saddles now would be perceived as politically incorrect. Spellbound and Vertigo aren't the only Hitchcock films to get blitzed by Brooks's satire. It lampoons many of Hitchcock's standard plot devices and directorial techniques, but not in a mean-spirited way. If you are a fan of the master of suspense you will probably get a kick out of this one to some extent. Dr. Wentworth, - In person, she looks like a 103-year-old chorus girl, but in the movie she looks thirty-five.) This freed Kahn to become legendary herself. In 1993 she won a Tony Award for her role as Dr. Gorgeous in the play The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein. Released with the gimmick of having three alternate endings that played in different theaters, Roger Ebert said it didnt matter which ending you saw, they all pretty much sucked. Very very funny Hitchcock spoof with some adult humor. 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. 2023 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Kahn ends her reminiscences by writing Never. Madeline Kahn 11 of 49. . A killer disguised as Thorndyke is exposed when Brophy enlarges a photo negative, as in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 Blow-Up, and the killer's metal-covered teeth must have been suggested by Jaws, the James Bond character who first appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me, released a few months months before High Anxiety. And satire works best when its target is self-important. Screenplay: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy DeLuca, Barry Levinson Color-94m. Kahn played a witch in the 1980 Bible spoof, Wholly Moses! Campy Available to rent or buy Rent HD $3.99 Buy HD $9.99 More purchase options High Anxiety (R4 DVD 1977) Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn AS NEW FREE POST. I find the airport scene strenuously unfunny, but you may laugh until, well, your ears bleed. 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. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and left with a full blown case of "High Anxiety." Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman co-star in this hilarious parody. As an homage, it is both knowing and reverential. With more than a nod and a wink to Monty Pythons Life of Brian, Dudley Moore slurred the part of Herschel, who makes idols during Old Testament times. Mel Brooks gagged his crew when shooting her scenes to protect the takes from laughter, a trick hed learned when filming Zero Mostel in The Producers. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and left with a full blown case of "High Anxiety." As a Hitchcock parody, it includes some excellent visual touches, such as skewed camera angles, use of "caged" shadow motifs, Madeline Kahn's icy blond wig, and especially the Psycho shower scene, here staged with Brooks the victim of a crazed bellhop with a newspaper. Madeline Kahn 12 of 49 Mel Brooks , Madeline Kahn , Ron Carey , and Howard Morris in High Anxiety (1977) People Mel Brooks , Madeline Kahn , Ron Carey , Howard Morris aren't particularly funny the first time you hear them, and get rather irritating the fourth or fifth time. on the Internet. Victoria barely represses her sexual longings as she gets closer to Brooks Dr. Thorndyke. All Rights Reserved. Brooks: I loved it. This story first appeared in the June 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Diesel claims it was the TV, but it was actually a passionate session of BDSM with Montague. High Anxiety is a 1977 American satirical comedy film produced and directed by Mel Brooks, who also plays the lead. Kahn is the Hitchcock blonde whose father is in the asylum. Why do you think it still seems fresh? I know how crazy I can go, and shes gonna nail it. also featuring Kahn, . Being so self-aware, Hitchcock's films deny an easy purchase to the parodist, especially one who admires his subject the way Mr. Brooks does. Later in a cocktail lounge, he snaps a microphone cord like a whip and makes Madeline Kahn hyperventilate with passion. I thought Louise Fletcher was pretty intense as Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", but Diesel would have given her a run for the money. After High Anxiety, Brooks went into something of a commercial decline as his style of humor fell out of favor with audiences.
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