Episode 70 : HIGH ANXIETY / Top 3 Movie Phobias

Summary: This week we check ourselves into  HIGH ANXIETY!  Mel Brooks' spoof of over 10 Alfred Hitchcock classics, including Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds. It tells the tale of Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, a renowned Harvard psychiatrist with a concealed fear of heights, (or High Anxiety) who takes over as the newest director of the Psycho Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous – where the previous head has died under VERY odd circumstances. As Thorndyke heads to a psychiatry conference, he finds himself to be in the company of some very strange colleagues and is soon faced with saving the Institute, his reputation, and his own sanity! The film features a plethora of longtime Brooks collaborators – including Cloris Leachman as Charlotte Diesel, a nurse with a dark sneer and tendency towards domination. Harvey Korman  as Dr. Charles Montague, a psychiatrist with a closeted habit of his own, Madeline Kahn as Victoria Brisbane, the eccentric daughter of a patient at the institute, and Thorndyke's love interest. Although the film was not well-received by critics, it picked up a 1978 Golden Globe nomination for best picture (musical or comedy) and landed Brooks a nomination for best actor. The movie has a number of cameos, from a young Barry Levinson's spot as an unstable bellboy to a small part by Hitchcock's right-hand special effects man, Albert J. Whitlock, who plays Kahn's father. All of this as well as our Top 3 Movie "Phobias!"