High Anxiety
Dr. Richard Thorndyke arrives as new administrator of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous to discover some suspicious goings-on..
- Director: Mel Brooks
- Genre:Comedy / Thriller
- Runtime:90 minutes
Cast
Mel Brooks : Richard H. Thorndyke
Madeline Kahn : Victoria Brisbane
Cloris Leachman : Nurse Diesel
Harvey Korman : Dr. Charles Montague
Ron Carey : Brophy
The story begins at Los Angeles airport, where Thorndyke encounters several odd occurrences. He then leaves for the institute with his driver, Brophy. Upon his arrival, he is greeted by the staff, Dr. Montague, Dr. Wentworth and Nurse Diesel. When he goes to his room, a large rock is thrown through the window, with a message of welcome from the Violent Ward.
Thorndyke then hears strange noises coming from Nurse Diesel’s room and when he and Brophy go to investigate, Diesel claims it was the TV. However, it was a passionate session of BDSM with Dr. Montague. The next morning, he is alerted by a light shining through his window. It is coming from the violent ward. When he goes to investigate, it is Arthur Brisbane, a millionaire who now thinks he is a cocker spaniel.
Later, Nurse Diesel is talking with Dr. Wentworth. He wants to leave, but she won’t let him. However, after some arguing, she says she’ll let him go. When Wentworth is driving home that night, his radio blasts rock music loudly and will not shut off. He is trapped in his car, and he dies from an ear hemorrhage.
After this, Thorndyke goes to the grand hotel – the broad-atriumed, vertigo-inducing Hyatt Regency San Francisco, where much to his dismay he is relegated to a room on the top floor, due to a reservation mix-up. He pesters the bellboy with repeated requests about getting a newspaper, wanting to look in the obituary for information concerning Dr. Wentworth’s demise. He then takes a shower, during which the bellboy comes and in a frenzy mimics stabbing Thorndyke with the paper while screaming “Here’s your paper! Happy now?! Happy?” The paper’s ink runs down the drain, a reference to Psycho. Read more
