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The President's Analyst
Original movie poster
Directed by	Theodore J. Flicker
Produced by	Stanley Rubin
Written by	Theodore J. Flicker
Starring	James Coburn Godfrey Cambridge Severn Darden
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	William A. Fraker
Editing by	Stuart H. Pappé
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	1967
Running time	103 min
IMDb profile

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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Response 3 Trivia 4 External link 5 Notes

Dr. Sidney Schaefer (James Coburn), a psychiatrist, is chosen by the U.S. Government to act as the President’s top-secret personal psychoanalyst, against the advice of Henry Lux, the director of the all-male-under-5'6" Federal Bureau of Regulation (FBR). Dr. Schaefer is assigned a comfortable home connected to the White House by underground tunnel, and is on-call at any/all hours to fit the President's hectic schedule. However, the President's Analyst has one problem: there is no one he can talk to about the president's ultra-top-secret and personal problems. As he steadily becomes overwhelmed by stress, Schaefer begins to feel that he is being watched everywhere (which is actually true) until he becomes clinically paranoid; he even suspects his sweet girlfriend Nan (Joan Delaney) of spying on him, which she is, as an agent of the Central Enquiries Agency (CEA). Eventually, he goes on the lam with the help of a typical American family who defend him against tiny agents from the FBR, under orders to liquidate him as national security risk. Schaefer escapes with help of a hippie tribe led by the "Old Wrangler"(Barry McGuire), as spies from all over the world attempt to kidnap him for all the secret information the President has confided to him. Schaefer is protected by Don Masters (Godfrey Cambridge), the CEA assassin who had vetted Dr. Schaefer while undergoing psychoanalysis, and Kropotkin (Severn Darden), Don's trusted opposite from the KGB, but is eventually kidnapped by Canadian Secret Service agents masquerading as a British pop group, and finally by TPC, otherwise known as The Phone Company. Masters and Kropotkin use their superspy abilities to come to Schaefer's rescue, and help him to foil a TPC plan to enslave the human race. They emerge victorious from the ensuing bloodbath, but months later, as Dr. Schaefer and his spy friends are enjoying a Christmas reunion, robot executives from TPC look on approvingly.

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.

• 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 [1])
• While fleeing from assassins, Dr. Shaefer runs underneath a theater marquee. The movie listed on the marquee is "No Running."
• 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.
• The internet fax service The Phone Company takes its name from this film.^[1]

• The President's Analyst at the Internet Movie Database
• The President's Analyst at RottenTomatoes.com