The President's Analyst
December. 21,1967At first, Dr. Sidney Schaefer feels honored and thrilled to be offered the job of the President's Analyst. But then the stress of the job and the paranoid spies that come with a sensitive government position get to him, and he runs away. Now spies from all over the world are after him, either to get him for their own side or to kill him and prevent someone else from getting him.
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One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Simply one of the funniest movies ever made......I just watched my DVD of this and I'm amazed at all the new stuff I pick up and a lot of stuff nobody did or ever would.OK....it's a satire, but some of it is too clever for it's own good. For example, the head of the FBR is named "Henry Lux". Fine. "Lux" is also the name of a brand of vacuum cleaner. Another brand of vacuum is a "Hoover". Um, who was director of the FBI when this was made? J. Edgar Hoover. Accident? I don't think so but you can't watch this and not be paranoid.I have a sick fantasy. No, not the ones involving Ms. Delaney and whipped cream. This involves a high tech room where this movie can be shown on all four walls plus the ceiling and floor, a sound system that can crank up to 130 decibels, and locking Dick Cheney in it for 24 hours. Somehow I don't think YouTube would post that video......
James Coburn gives a typically fine and engaging performance as Dr. Sidney Schaefer, a cool, mellow and modern psychiatrist who lands himself the plum job of being the president's analyst. Sidney soon finds himself in considerable jeopardy when enemy agents from all over the world try to nab him in order to obtain the valuable information he knows. Writer/director Theodore J. Flicker gleefully satirizes the 60's hippie counterculture, Cold War tensions, middle-class America, and the US government. Moreover, Flicker ably maintains a deliciously deadpan tone throughout and astutely captures the topsy-turvy social lunacy of the 60's. Coburn effortlessly carries the picture with his supremely amiable and charismatic screen presence. The bang-up supporting cast includes Godfrey Cambridge as cunning CEA agent Don Masters, Severn Darden as shrewd Soviet agent V.I. Kydor Kropotkin, Joan Delaney as Sidney's sultry girlfriend Nan, William Daniels as nutty suburban patriarch Wynn Quantrill, "Spider Baby" 's Jill Banner as flighty flower child Snow White, Will Geer as cranky shrink Dr. Lee Evans, Barry McGuire as psychedelic rock band singer Old Wrangler, Walter Burke as austere FBR chief Henry Lux, Pat Harrington, Jr. as affable phone company president Arlington Hewes, and Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne as a cocktail waitress. The subplot about the phone company's plan for monopolizing world communication is simply priceless. Lalo Schifrin's swinging funky'n'jazzy score and William A. Fraker's gorgeously crisp widescreen cinematography are both up to par. A real wacky treat.
"The President's Analyst" is the sort of movie they wouldn't make today; it's a scatter-shot spoof without a mean-spirited bone in its body. It wouldn't even have been made a couple of years later. Richard M. Nixon, elected president in 1968 and at the top of Hollywood's "Enemy's List" would never have been treated as reverently and indulgently as this unnamed President (obviously LBJ, who was president when this movie was made).James Coburn (flashing his trademark grin on many occasions) plays Dr. Sidney Schaefer, who is offered, an accepts, the post as analyst to the President of the United States. When he discovers the president now has someone to talk to about his problems and he himself (Schaefer) is denied the privilege because of the high degree of national security he's privy to, he grows increasingly paranoid and he finally escapes -- and is pursued by the secret service of every country in the world, including his own. He tries to deal with problems first by running away, then by facing them and defeating them by intelligence -- and, eventually, by delighting in raw violence. The movie has culture and counter-culture in its cross-hairs. For instance, while the FBI and CIA are common fodder for satire, when Schaefer finds himself in a group of hippies, they utter vacuous phrases and sing songs with banal lyrics -- and even the hippies, mods and rockers are not what they seem. Though the FBR (based on the FBI, with every agent looking and talking like every other agent) is colored in less than friendly tones, when a young boy uses a derogatory ethnic term, it's an FBR agent who upbraids him and tells him not to use that word because "It's bigoted." A liberal New Jersey householder, trying to show how far he agrees with a liberal president, begins to grouse about the "right wingers" next door who put out a flag every day. "They ought to be gassed," he growls. Moments like these make the movie shine. Whoever you are, whatever your politics or nationality, you can't take offense, since everybody is in the movie's cross-hairs at some time. Even the Canadians.**Spoiler Alert** The chief enemy in the movie, however, is not the Russians or the FBR or the right-wingers or the liberals or the hippies or even the Canadians, but a common enemy of all. Like the Soviet Union, this enemy is largely non-existent as such these days, but even in its present form it's something everybody loves to hate, whoever their provider. Coburn is surrounded by a solid cast, chief of whom are Godfrey Cambridge and Severn Darden as friendly rival agents from different sides of the Cold War. They provide lots of laughs, as does Pat Harrington, who comes in late but makes the whole thing worthwhile. The happy ending is SO happy it's a scream, even considering the sting in its tail.
Mix science fiction, adventure, conspiracy, politics, counterculture, violence, sex, rock'n'roll, computers, androids, hippies, drugs, and the Phone Company. Bake for two hours in a hot air-conditioned theater. Result: Instant cyberpunk. William Gibson can't hold a candle to this gem. The only other film that even comes close is the original Casino Royale. One of my top ten favorite films. Look closely, does everyone you know carry a cell phone? Do you feel freaked now? You'd better. Mwaa haa haaaa. Thank you for using the Phone Company. Seriously, this film was so far ahead of its time, it's still ahead of its time. Had it not been made as a comedic satire, it would have been banned by the Johnson Administration. This is the perfect anti-industrial declaration. But it isn't all back-to-nature, which gets a serious poke in the ribs as well. No sacred calves in this picture, except maybe life and the love of it. It's all a joke, really, as Arthur said in Zardoz (another great gem -- or maybe it wasn't Arthur.) Really, get this film by hook or by crook (nudge nudge, wink wink, be seeing you 6.) Watch it, learn it. It is t3h l33t. Before Akira, before Mona Lisa Overdrive, before The Shockwave Rider, there was The President's Analyst. Ignore this film at your peril.