Last night I watched this film again. It is a parody of a number of Alfred Hitchcock movies, like Vertigo, Psycho, the Birds, and Spellbound. In the process it ends up being a bit formulaic as it seems certain movies were just used as a checklist for this movie to check off. On the other hand, the jokes are strong at times and can be very funny. Mel Brooks (playing Dr. Richard Harpo Thorndyke) does a great job as the protagonist and Madeline Kahn (playing Victoria Brisbane) does well also. Harvey Korman (playing Dr. Charles Montague) is good as always but Cloris Leachman (playing Nurse Charlotte Diesel) and Ron Carey (Brophy) are great in their supporting roles. The movie obviously does not paid psychology very positively as it shows it as sexist and a way to keep patients at the institute beyond their will. All in all, despite its problems, this is still one of the better Mel Brooks movies.
One paragraph reviewing this film does not do it justice. This comedy and drama is relatively effective not only through the acting of Brooks himself, along with Korman, Leachman, Carey, and Kahn, but in the situational comedy. Leachman is one of the best of the lot, with her character, perhaps a nod to the film two years earlier, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, as she is a very controlling nurse just like Nurse Ratched (played by Louise Fletcher) is in that film. The reason for Thorndyke's high anxiety is laughable and hilarious, adding to the comedy of the film, as does the antics of Brody with his "I got it" (as he strains to pick up the suitcase), followed by "I don't got it" as the suitcase drops to the ground, while Thorndyke effortlessly picks up the suitcase. The use of photographs to find out whom really killed a man in the hotel, as a person with a mask of his face shot someone while he was coming down the elevator is almost reminiscent of the 1966 English mystery and thriller film, Blowup, flouting the Hay Code, leading to its collapse in 1968. Dr. Philip Wentworth (played by Dick Van Patten) and being run off the road, then killed by loud music coming out of his stereo, not able to escape his car, may be seen now as a nod to Silkwood, but that film was actually not released until 1983!
All in all, while this movie is not as good as other Mel Brooks movies, which is why it is rated an 8 rather than a 9 or 10, it still holds together well, although it almost seems like he was trying to parody too many Hitchcock films.
One paragraph reviewing this film does not do it justice. This comedy and drama is relatively effective not only through the acting of Brooks himself, along with Korman, Leachman, Carey, and Kahn, but in the situational comedy. Leachman is one of the best of the lot, with her character, perhaps a nod to the film two years earlier, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, as she is a very controlling nurse just like Nurse Ratched (played by Louise Fletcher) is in that film. The reason for Thorndyke's high anxiety is laughable and hilarious, adding to the comedy of the film, as does the antics of Brody with his "I got it" (as he strains to pick up the suitcase), followed by "I don't got it" as the suitcase drops to the ground, while Thorndyke effortlessly picks up the suitcase. The use of photographs to find out whom really killed a man in the hotel, as a person with a mask of his face shot someone while he was coming down the elevator is almost reminiscent of the 1966 English mystery and thriller film, Blowup, flouting the Hay Code, leading to its collapse in 1968. Dr. Philip Wentworth (played by Dick Van Patten) and being run off the road, then killed by loud music coming out of his stereo, not able to escape his car, may be seen now as a nod to Silkwood, but that film was actually not released until 1983!
All in all, while this movie is not as good as other Mel Brooks movies, which is why it is rated an 8 rather than a 9 or 10, it still holds together well, although it almost seems like he was trying to parody too many Hitchcock films.