Mel Brooks Höhenkoller (1977)

Mel Brooks Höhenkoller: Directed by Mel Brooks. With Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman. A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.

“Mel Brooks is a very funny man, and though sometimes I think his comedy is a little on the low side, u0026quot;High Anxietyu0026quot; has some truly hilarious moments. Mel riffs on Hitchcock, right down to Madeline Kahnu0026#39;s gray suit a la Kim Novak in Vertigo. He combines scenes from u0026quot;Spellbound,u0026quot; u0026quot;Vertigo,u0026quot; u0026quot;Foreign Correspondent,u0026quot; u0026quot;The Birds,u0026quot; u0026quot;Psycho,u0026quot; u0026quot;Dial M for Murder,u0026quot; and u0026quot;North by Northwestu0026quot; in this story of a man taking over as the head of a mental sanitarium, replacing a man who is murd – uh, dead. Kahn is the Hitchcock blonde whose father is in the asylum. To give you an idea of this place where the lunatics have definitely taken over – Cloris Leachman plays a nurse whou0026#39;s into Su0026amp;M with Harvey Korman. Both of them are a riot. Mel plays it straight which makes him even funnier.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI have two favorite scenes – the first is Mel, doing a perfect imitation of Sinatrau0026#39;s style, singing u0026quot;High Anxietyu0026quot; to Kahn. Heu0026#39;s fabulous, and the look on Kahnu0026#39;s face is delicious. My other favorite scene is when Brooks and Kahn disguise themselves as elderly people to get through airport security. Psychiatric expert Brooks thinks the more noise you make, the less people notice you. The two of them do a fabulous skit which is priceless.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWe really lost a treasure when we lost Madeline Kahn, one of the all-time great talents. Itu0026#39;s wonderful to see this and remember her. I do believe that because of the humor, the film can be enjoyed without having seen the Hitchcock films spoofed, but of course, itu0026#39;s all the better if you have. A delightful film.”