Details

Release year: 1977

Storyline

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.

Top credits

Directors

Mel Brooks

Writers

Cast

Mel Brooks — Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
Madeline Kahn — Victoria Brisbane
Cloris Leachman — Nurse Charlotte Diesel
Harvey Korman — Dr. Charles Montague

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Did you know

• During a special preview screening, Alfred Hitchcock's only criticism of the film to Mel Brooks was that in the shower scene, when the shower curtain is torn off the rail, they used 13 shower curtain rings, whereas in Psycho (1960), they used only 10.

• Alfred Hitchcock proposed a scene for the film in which the killer would chase Thorndyke to the harbor, where Thorndyke would try to escape by taking a running jump onto a boat in the water, only to realize the boat was pulling in to the docks. Mel Brooks loved the idea, but was unable to film it due to budget and time constraints.

• This tribute to Alfred Hitchcock contains references to more than 10 of his films. Mel Brooks held a private preview of the movie for Hitchcock to see his reaction. When Hitchcock walked out at movie's end without saying a word, Brooks feared that Hitchcock hated the movie. But days later, Hitchcock sent a congratulatory case of wine to Brooks, knowing that Brooks was a wine connoisseur, and declared the film "Splendid! I wish I had done it."