Movies - The President's Analyst

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	Movies - The President's Analyst

The President's Analyst is a 1967 comedy film written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, starring James Coburn. Featuring stylish widescreen cinematography by William A. Fraker, the film has strong elements of political satire and science fiction, and has some resemblance to many of the spy spoofs that had proliferated in the mid-60’s in the wake of the James Bond phenomenon.

Plot

Dr. Sidney Schaefer (James Coburn), a psychologist, is chosen by the U.S. Government to act as the President’s personal analyst. He is constantly telephoned at any/all hours to go to the White House and listen to his client’s daily problems, and quickly becomes overwhelmed by stress. Schaefer begins to feel that he is being watched everywhere and his paranoia grows to an almost insane degree; he even suspects his sweet girlfriend (Joan Delaney) of spying on him. Eventually, he goes on the lam and manages to narrowly avoid several assassination attempts by tiny agents from the “FBR”, who are trying to kill him due to his having been pegged as a risk to national security. At the same time, spies from every corner of the world attempt to kidnap him because of all the secret information the President has provided to him. Two of Schaefer’s previous clients, a “CEA” assassin (Godfrey Cambridge) and a Russian spy (Severn Darden), come to his aid and help him expose a major conspiracy involving The Phone Company and world domination.

Response

The film was a commercial failure at the time of its initial release, but a favorable critical response and numerous television showings over the years have helped it to develop a cult following. Fans of the film enjoy the wild political satire, fast paced narrative and colorful set designs, as well as the fine ensemble cast led by James Coburn in what is generally considered one of his finest comedic roles. Godfrey Cambridge, Severn Darden, William Daniels, Joan Darling, and Arte Johnson, among other cast members, also give standout performances. The film scores many amusing and surprisingly prescient points about privacy concerns, specifically regarding the U.S. Government’s intrusions into the private lives of its citizens.

Trivia

Television prints and videocassette versions of the film were missing some songs written and performed by Barry McGuire, replacing them with generic instrumental music. The 2004 DVD release restores the songs.
The film originally repeatedly mentioned the CIA and FBI by name, but pressure of some kind was apparently asserted by both agencies, resulting in hasty redubbing of these references to “CEA” and “FBR”.
An important scene is reportedly missing from current editions of the film. Originally Dr. Schaefer meets his lover Nan seemingly randomly at a 60's style underground movie. It's a satire of the art films of the time and sets the audience up for the paranoia of discovering that she's actually CEA. Some fans believe this is a very important vignette and it is not known why it has not been restored. (A still from the missing scene can be seen at Roger Ebert's site )
Another reportedly missing scene featured glowing eyeballs appearing while Sidney goes paranoid. Some fans claim this scene was in the original cut of the film.
Director Flicker went on to work on TV's Barney Miller.

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