4. High Anxiety (1977)
Taking the Hitchcockian comedy of Silver Streak one step further, is Mel Brooks' unforgettable High Anxiety. I may be clutching at straws by putting this in a Hitchcock rip-off list, if anything this is a completely loving tribute - but it's great fun and I could not resist the chance to praise it. Brooks stars as Dr. Richard Thorndyke, who arrives at The Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous to serve as their new administrator. However he is haunted by his crippling Vertigo which eventually results in him being treated at the institute by psychotic staff Dr. Montague (Harvey K0rman) and Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman). By capturing the aesthetic of the Hitchcock's 1950's and 1960's features, Brooks opens his satirical toolbox for hilarious plays on Vertigo, Psycho and The Birds amongst others. Even the character relationships have an overtly Hitchcockian style - most notably the romance formed by Thorndyke and overtly breathy femme fatale, Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn). High Anxiety may shamelessly spoof the work of Hitchcock, but it is done so with Brooks' traditional wit and unabashed charm. Standouts scenes include a twist of the Psycho shower sequence, Thorndyke's messy encounter with The Birds and a less-Hitchcockian dominatrix scene involving Korman and Leechman.