High Anxiety

High Anxiety is a 1977 American satirical comedy film produced and directed by Mel Brooks, who also plays the lead. This is Brooks' first film as a producer and first speaking lead role (his first lead role was in Silent Movie). Veteran Brooks ensemble members Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, and Madeline Kahn are also featured. It is a parody of Freudian therapy and Alfred Hitchcock films. Plot Arriving at LAX, Dr. Richard Thorndyke has several odd encounters (such as a flasher impersonating a police officer, and a passing bus with a full orchestra playing). He is taken by his camera-happy driver, Brophy, to the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, where he has been hired to replace Dr. Ashley, who died mysteriously (Brophy suspects foul play). Upon his arrival, Thorndyke is greeted by the staff, Dr. Philip Wentworth, Dr. Charles Montague, and Nurse Charlotte Diesel. Thorndyke also reunites with Professor Vicktor Lillolman, a past mentor now employed by the institute. Later, Thorndyke hears strange noises coming from Diesel's room and he and Brophy go to investigate. Diesel claims it was the TV, but it was actually a passionate session of BDSM with Montague. The next morning, Thorndyke is alerted by a light shining through his window, coming from the violent ward. Montague takes Thorndyke to the light's source, the room of patient Arthur Brisbane, who thinks he is a Cocker Spaniel. Wentworth wants to leave the institute, arguing with Diesel. After she lets him go, he drives home, but the radio is rigged to blast deafening rock music. He is trapped in his car, his ears hemorrhage, and he dies from a stroke, aggravated by the loud music.