In order to help ease the burden of office, psychoanalyst Dr. Sidney Schaefer (James Coburn) is hired to care for the President of the U.S. in this 1967 satirical romp from director Theodore J. Flicker. Unfortunately, while the tete a tete sessions may leave the President feeling better, Schaefer is fried by the weight of his secret knowledge about worldly affairs, and in a fit of psychological self-preservation he flees for his (mental) life, only to discover that every intelligence agency on Earth (including the FBR and CEA--i.e., the FBI and CIA, whose names where changed in overdubbing after principal photography was complete) is after him for the information he now holds. Godfrey Cambridge (who has a disquieting monologue on childhood racism that is one of the film's highlights) and Severn Darden co-star as American and Russian spies, respectively, who bury the ideological hatchet in order to help Schaefer when he's kidnapped by the nastiest spies of the lot--the phone company, which seeks world domination. Serving up a tasty (if stylistically dated) slice of caustic political humor, The President's Analyst debuts on DVD in a very handsome widescreen transfer with solid Dolby Digital mono sound, but--unfortunately--no extras. Recommended. (R. Pitman)
The President's Analyst
Paramount, 102 min., not rated, DVD: $14.99 Volume 19, Issue 5
The President's Analyst
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