{ "id": "epfczy83jp", "slug": "the-presidents-analyst", "title": "The President's Analyst", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "label": "Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The President's Analyst is a 1967 Paramount satire directed by Theodore J. Flicker, starring James Coburn as psychiatrist Sidney Schaefer, hunted by spies and the Telephone Company after becoming the President's psychoanalyst.", "snippet": "The President's Analyst is a 1967 Paramount satire directed by Theodore J. Flicker, starring James Coburn as psychiatrist Sidney Schaefer, hunted by spies and the Telephone Company after becoming the President's psychoanalyst.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.science-fiction-fantasy.science-fiction-and-fantasy-films-before", "markdown": "# The President's Analyst\n\n**The President's Analyst** is a 1967 American satirical comedy film in which psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Schaefer, played by [James Coburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-coburn), is recruited to serve as the [President of the United States](https://www.edgepedia.org/president-of-the-united-states)'s personal, top-secret psychoanalyst and then becomes a target for intelligence agencies and, ultimately, the Telephone Company. It was written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, produced by Stanley Rubin through Coburn's company Panpiper Productions, and released by [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) on 21 December 1967.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/presidents_analyst)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 21 December 1967, opening at the Forum and Loew's Tower East theaters in New York City[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521) |\n| Runtime / format | 103–104 minutes, Technicolor, Panavision (2.35:1)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521) • [3](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-president-s-analyst-special-edition) |\n| Writer-director | Theodore J. Flicker, making his feature debut after television work on The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521) • [4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) |\n| Principal cast | James Coburn (Dr. Sidney Schaefer), Godfrey Cambridge (Don Masters), Severn Darden (Kropotkin), Joan Delaney (Nan Butler)[5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/the-presidents-analyst) |\n| Censorship history | FBI and CIA references relooped as \"FBR\" and \"CEA\" before release; NBC removed the film's punchline for its early-1970s broadcast[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) • [5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/the-presidents-analyst) |\n| Reception | 78% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (23 reviews); reputed to have bombed at the box office despite a four-star review from Roger Ebert[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/presidents_analyst) • [6](https://www.steynonline.com/14482/head-cases-political-satire-and-the-president) |\n| Music | Jazz score by Lalo Schifrin; protest singer Barry McGuire appears on camera[7](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/presidents-analyst-1967/) • [4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nNew York psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Schaefer does not know that one of his patients, CEA agent Don Masters (Godfrey Cambridge), has been evaluating him for the job of the President's analyst. After being sworn to secrecy, Schaefer and his girlfriend Nan Butler move to Washington, where he meets CEA head Ethan Allen Cocket and FBR chief Henry Lux, who are suspicious of each other. Though helpful to the President, Schaefer cannot speak with anyone about his work, acquires the President's tensions, and grows paranoid, wary even of Nan.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521)\n\nSeeking relief, Schaefer slips away with a White House tour group and leaves Washington with the Quantrills, a gun-carrying, karate-practicing New Jersey family that boasts of being liberals and is cautious of its right-wing neighbors. Pursued by foreign agents, he escapes with nomadic hippies, is kidnapped by Canadian Secret Service agents disguised as a Liverpool rock group, and is then abducted by the Russian spy Kropotkin (Severn Darden), whom he convinces that Kropotkin himself needs an analyst. While traveling toward Washington, Schaefer is seized by the Telephone Company; irritated by endless gripes about its poor service, it intends to seize control of the nation and have Schaefer brainwash the President. Masters and Kropotkin, old friends from previous clandestine assignments, join forces to rescue Schaefer and destroy the Telephone Company's headquarters. Schaefer resumes his job, marries Nan at an equal security clearance, and the couple spends Christmas evening with Masters and Kropotkin, unaware they are still being watched.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521)\n\n## Production\n\nCoburn and Flicker first met while shooting *Charade* (1963) in Paris and became reacquainted at a Christmas party at [George Peppard](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-peppard)'s home in 1966. Flicker presented treatments of two projects, *The President's Analyst* and *The Man from MEDICI*; they chose the former, which was more developed, and pitched it to Paramount production chief Robert J. Evans, who secured a deal in twenty-four hours. Producer Stanley Rubin and executive producer Howard W. Koch were attached within the next week, and the Los Angeles Times referred to a budget of \"over $2 million.\" On 28 January 1967 the paper reported that Coburn would independently produce the film, abbreviated T.P.A., through his new company Panpiper Productions.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521)\n\n[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began 18 April 1967, mostly at Paramount's Hollywood studios, with eight days of location work in New York City. During a police chase sequence filmed near MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane in [Greenwich Village](https://www.edgepedia.org/greenwich-village), tactical patrolman [Melvin Schwartz](https://www.edgepedia.org/melvin-schwartz) mistook the staged chase for a real one and beat Coburn with his nightstick; the incident left the actor with cuts on his face and head and prompted a note of apology from Mayor John Lindsay.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521) Folk singer Barry McGuire, best known for \"Eve of Destruction,\" was cast in his first motion picture role.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521)\n\n## Renamed agencies and censorship\n\nThe film's opening disclaimer states it was not made with the consent or cooperation of the Federal Board of Regulations (F.B.R.).[8](https://rapeutation.com/presidentanalystscreenplay.pdf) According to TCM, the C.I.A. and F.B.I. were cited by name throughout the film, and all references had to be relooped before release, changing the names to \"F.B.R.\" and \"C.E.A.\" with the actors' lip movements out of synch; the ruse did not prevent audiences from recognizing the agencies.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) Paramount's own synopsis notes the phony names were crudely dubbed onto the soundtrack after the film was completed.[5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/the-presidents-analyst) When NBC broadcast the film in the early 1970s, the network removed the picture's punchline.[5](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/the-presidents-analyst)\n\n## Reception and later history\n\nRoger Ebert, then a fledgling reviewer, gave the film a four-star review, calling it \"modern and biting, and there are many fine, subtle touches,\" and compared it favorably as a comedy to *The Graduate* and *Bedazzled*.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) • [6](https://www.steynonline.com/14482/head-cases-political-satire-and-the-president) Despite the critical praise, the film is reputed to have bombed at the box office and has remained more of a cult item than a widely recognized classic.[6](https://www.steynonline.com/14482/head-cases-political-satire-and-the-president) • [4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 78% Tomatometer from 23 reviews and a 79% audience score from more than 1,000 ratings.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/presidents_analyst)\n\n**Home video troubles.** When the film reached VHS and laserdisc, music rights issues led to the excision of [Barry McGuire](https://www.edgepedia.org/barry-mcguire)'s vocal work, with most shots of McGuire cut out and replaced with generic music; this destroyed the sequence in which multiple assassins close in on a field while McGuire sings on camera. Schifrin's score remained intact. DVD and new widescreen television transfers restored the music.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) TV showings and some preview prints also contained an additional scene in which Schaefer meets Nan at a movie theater showing a pretentious underground film; the scene was deemed illogical given Nan's true motives and dropped from most circulating prints, and it has never resurfaced on home video.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) Kino Lorber released a Special Edition Blu-ray in 2024.[3](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-president-s-analyst-special-edition)\n\n## Place in satire\n\nTCM's retrospective describes the film as a precursor to the paranoid, anti-government Hollywood films of the 1970s, such as *[The Parallax View](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-parallax-view)* (1974) and *All the President's Men* (1976), which followed Watergate and Vietnam.[4](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst) The Village Voice places it as a bridge between *The Manchurian Candidate* and the conspiratorial thrillers of the early 1970s, noting it opened in late 1967 during the same season as *Bonnie and Clyde* and *The Graduate*.[9](https://www.villagevoice.com/the-presidents-analyst-a-paranoid-lark/) Its central target, the Telephone Company as a surveillance-minded corporate power, is the element later commentators single out as prescient; the Starburst review calls the film's blend of comedy, espionage, and would-be science fiction \"remarkably prescient,\" and its politics, aimed at both left- and right-wing extremism, as relevant at re-release as at premiere.[7](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/presidents-analyst-1967/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The President's Analyst (1967), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19789-THE-PRESIDENTSANALYST?cp=1&pos=1&sid=f42d32f4-c111-42a9-86f5-c5e5eb972ab0&sr=8.839521)\n2. [The President's Analyst, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/presidents_analyst)\n3. [The President's Analyst (Special Edition), Kino Lorber](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-president-s-analyst-special-edition)\n4. [The President's Analyst, by Nathaniel Thompson, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/191875/the-presidents-analyst)\n5. [The President's Analyst, Paramount Pictures](https://www.paramountpictures.com/movies/the-presidents-analyst)\n6. [Head Cases: Political Satire and The President's Analyst, SteynOnline](https://www.steynonline.com/14482/head-cases-political-satire-and-the-president)\n7. [The President's Analyst (1967), Starburst Magazine](https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/presidents-analyst-1967/)\n8. [The President's Analyst, Illustrated Screenplay, Paramount Pictures and Panpiper Productions](https://rapeutation.com/presidentanalystscreenplay.pdf)\n9. [The President's Analyst: A Paranoid Lark, The Village Voice](https://www.villagevoice.com/the-presidents-analyst-a-paranoid-lark/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The President's Analyst\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The President's Analyst](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The President's Analyst\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-presidents-analyst. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The President's Analyst is a 1967 Paramount satire directed by Theodore J." }