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The President's Analyst

The President's Analyst

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Comedy For Paranoids
Review: "The President's Analyst" is a pleasant surprise. It's a consistently amusing cold-war comedy that lightly tweaks at everyone's most paranoid fears about espionage, government beauracracy, and monopolistic public utilities among other things. Being the sixties, it also sends up suburban liberals, hippies, and yes, psycho-therapy. James Coburn is brilliant as the analyst who finds that taking on the job as the President's analyst makes him the target of competing interests, some benevolent and some not so. The movie really takes hold when his paranoia starts to set in. Good supporting cast that includes Godfrey Cambridge as a U.S. spy and Severn Darden as an affable Soviet spy. My favorite bit has to involve William Daniels as the gun-toting self-proclaimed suburban liberal.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: DVD is unknown quality - the film is FANTASTIC
Review: *****
please , please , please , somebody

Restore this to its full original length , to its full original content , and to its full original SOUND TRACK !!!!!!

please ?

Please pay Barry McGuire whatever he needs to be paid , in order for the soundtrack to be restored . The "cheapened" "re-cut" version , withOUT Barry McGuire's music , transformed one of the most memorable scenes . The "killing field" scene went from fascinating and memorable , to trashy and boring . How could they ?

To quote other reviews :

1.) the vhs version runs 103 minutes according to imdb. amazon's listing for the dvd says 102 minutes. that doesn't sound like restored footage. they probably didn't bother to correct the music problem either. it's really too bad. this is one of my all-time favorite films. it would be 5 stars if they got it right.

2.) I agree with Vince Mack and the critics this must be put on DVD in widescreen format with Barry McGuire's music and the 'art cinema' scene where Coburn's character meets Joan Delaney's as well as the weird disembodied-eyeballs sequence. This is an absolute Gem of a movie that needs to be preserved in tact!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Restored !! This Is The Good Stuff !!
Review: ******
Here's the short version of my review of the DVD . Here's what you need to know about this new DVD version .
******
The original music has been restored . The meadow scene ( perhaps the very heart of the film ) has been restored . The picture quality is SUPERB . The audio quality is excellent .
******
This is the version of this wonderful and influential film , that you want to buy .
******



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Missing Footage and Dubbed!
Review: ... I went looking for an uncensored and uncut version and I guess I have to wait. Not only is the Art house scene (Andy Warhol parody) missing does anyone else remember seeing a version of this film where they say CIA and FBI and not the obvious dubbing of CIE and FBR?
This is one of my favorite films and love James Coburn in everything but this is absolutely his best.
Am I crazy or did this film predict Watergate! Government agencies being used for political purposes. Then I thought it just got into this silly telephone thing, but [darn] if it isn't ALL COMING TRUE!!!!
And Godfrey Cambridge wearing a Dizzy Gillespie for President Sweatshirt!? This is without exception the defining film about what happened to the USA in the nineteen sixties.

...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My favorite movie of all time
Review: A brilliant piece of work gets funnier even after seeing it over 100 times like I probably have. I especially like the scene where Coburn is hiding out at the house of the Quantrills (William Daniels plays the husband.) Daniels' facial expressions are classic. Also love the scene when Coburn is disguised at a hippie as he hangs out with Barry McGuire (Eve of Destruction) and members of The Clear Light which was a real band which put out an album in the late 60's. "The Recording" is also not to be missed in the scene atTPC (the phone company).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: There is a key missing scene
Review: A key scene is missing from the original film that leads to a plot flaw. After Sidney is recruited to be the President's Analyst, there should be a scene inside an "Art" movie theater where he meets Nan. Without this scene you are left wondering how his girl friend became a C.E.A. agent. The last time I watched a VHS of this film they had also overdubbed Barry McGuire's song, "Inner Manipulations", with an obnoxious and inappropriate instrumental. This is a truly wonderful film and one of my favorites. We can only hope that they will restore when it is released on DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Isn't as good as I remembered it as being, but still good
Review: A lot of sixties films have not dated well, and this one definitely falls into that category. A few scenes--especially those involving music--are as bad as anything that came out of the sixties. But enough of the movie works that its lapses are overlooked and forgotten. James Coburn is especially fine in the title role.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "That's my car gun."
Review: After his stint starring as the eternally groovy American super spy Derek Flint, "Repeat after me: I am not a pleasure unit." in Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967), James Colburn starred in the wonderfully quirky, funny dark political comedy/thriller The President's Analyst (1967).

Written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, who also worked on a number of television shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Dream of Jeanie, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The President's Analyst stars James Colburn as Dr. Sidney Schaefer, a New York psychiatrist who finds himself in the position of being chosen to listen to the problems of the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States. At first, it seems like a dream position, but soon Sidney realizes it's a lot more than he can handle, as the President does not make appointments with Sidney, but expects him to be 'on call' 24/7, and signals Sidney whenever he needs him through the use of flashing red signal lights in Sidney's office, his home, and even his soup. As the pressures, odd hours and the extreme weight of the problems shared by the president wear on Sidney, his paranoia grows as he sees spies around every corner. Let's face it, how valuable would the President's analyst be to a foreign, or even friendly, power? Sidney's growing paranoia along with his inability to discuss his own problems with his peers due to possible threats to national security, causes Sidney to have a sort of nervous breakdown, to which he decides to run away, hoping to find a little peace and maybe a way out of the situation. Only problem is, now that Sidney is no longer under the protection of the CEA (Central Enquiries Agency), he is now fair game and a target for practically every intelligence agency in the world, even becoming a target for the FBR (Federal Bureau of Regulations), as they all either desire or fear what he's got in his head.

Colburn is wonderful as the cool and intelligent psychiatrist on the lam, pursued various domestic and foreign powers, some intent on capture, while some intent on killing him. It's funny but even when he's 'freaking out', due the extreme pressures of his position and that of being harassed by kidnappers and assassins, he still seems to maintain a somewhat suave and sophisticated demeanor, rolling with the situations as they come up. Colburn is supported by a really excellent cast here, including Godfrey Cambridge as Don Masters, CEA agent and Severn Darden as Russian agent V.I. Kydor Kropotkin, characters, who, while on different sides, share an affable friendship and respect for each other. Also appearing is Joan Delaney as Nan, Sidney's live-in girlfriend (until the FBR discover Sidney talks in his sleep and move her to a hotel for fears that Sidney may reveal state secrets), Barry McGuire (who penned the perennial 60's anthem Eve of Destruction) as the hippy leader of a band Sidney joins in an effort to lose himself, Walter Burke as the uber-moralistic diminutive, ever suspicious FBR director Henry Lux, and William Daniels (the voice of Kitt on the Knightrider television series) as Wynn Quantrill, the head of a many gun owning (protection against the rabid right wing fascist neighbors) liberal suburban family that, while touring the White House, Sidney deceives into allowing him to leave with them, under the guise of a special presidential project involving learning what the real average American family thinks of the government. He's got one of my favorite lines in the film is when Wynn's son is unloading the car and inquires about bringing in the gun to which Wynn replies something along the lines of, "That's my car gun. My house gun is already in the house, so please return my car gun to the glove compartment." My favorite scene in the film is when Sidney, hiding out with a traveling hippy band, takes an intimate break with a female member of the band in a field of tall grass and flowers and a number of secret agents, who've followed them, meet their demise quietly one after another through various means at the hands of their rivals, as they attempt to kidnap or kill Sidney, all with Sidney and his 'date' not realizing what is going on...

I haven't seen this film before now, and I did notice the IMDb has a run time listed as 103 minutes, while the run time listed here is 102 minutes, suggesting something missing, but I couldn't tell you what. The other reviews seem to indicate a flash of nudity during the make out scene in the field, and a movie theater sequence between Sidney and Nan the hippy chick, but I couldn't say for sure. The music in this release, which is really excellent, is original to the film, which wasn't the case for some previous releases, specifically television versions. I had read another review that stated the film had originally incorporated the anagrams FBI and CIA in the movie, but due to pressures brought by these organizations, they were changed to FBR and CEA, with redubbing after the picture was finished. Apparently, if you pay close attention, you can see the actor's lips mouth FBI and CIA even though the spoken word is different.

The print on this DVD looks clean and crisp in wide screen format, but don't bother looking for any special features, as there are none, not even a theatrical trailer. One odd thing with the case, which I've seen a few times before, is the clasps on the side. You have to unlock them to open the case, which is just a matter of flipping the tabs, but don't try to force it open without manipulating these, as you may damaged the case or even the DVD, and remember, 'Killing is an excellent way of dealing with a hostility problem.'

Cookieman108

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An arty, good natured ......
Review: An arty, good natured, stylish send-up of global security issues in 1967. The hapless hero is a psychoanalyst whose buttoned down world vaporizes when he accepts the job of being the analyst to the President of the United States. The ensuing mayhem stabilizes as the cleverest of the various self-interest groups prevail and ally to face the real ultimate threat.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Warning for Clear Light Fans
Review: As you fans of the band Clear Light may have heard, they make an appearance in this film. Well, if you want to see them the way they were meant to be seen, you will be severely disappointed if you get the edited version of this movie. The band appears as an acid rock band that takes in James Coburn while he is running from the bad guys. In the original movie, the band is seen three times playing "She's Ready to be Free" and one time they are playing in a field. In the cut version, the band is only seen twice and the field scene has been deleted. To add insult to injury, in the cut version a different song is dubbed over "She's Ready to be Free" and I don't even know if Clear Light actually played that song!

As far as the movie goes, I guess it is a pretty good movie but for me to rent it expecting to see a good representation of Clear Light, I was excited but at the same time disappointed. Whoever cut this film decided to "rearrange" the music and cut out some priceless scenes with the band. Keep in mind that this is pre Ralph Schukett and Cliff De Young Clear Light. Robbie Robison was still with them (he is the guy that looks like Buffalo Bill).

For hard core fans of the band, this is still a gem even in the lousy cut version because it is just about the only video documentation of this very good but short lived band.

To be fair, the two stars represents how they butchered the music in the cut version so it does not represent the rest of the film.


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