Roger Ebert Gave A Good Rating To This Cult ’60s Sci-Fi Comedy That Wants Extra Followers
There are many motion pictures that Roger Ebert cherished that everybody ought to see not less than as soon as. However he additionally handed out some perplexing good scores in his time. The critic appeared to like Samuel L. Jackson’s mediocre thriller “Lakeview Terrace,” for instance, even whereas all of his friends dismissed it. Ebert additionally gave an ideal rating to an especially bizarre fantasy-horror flick and even cherished the controversial ’70s Acid Western “El Topo.” However when it got here to his four-star overview of “The President’s Analyst,” he and his fellow critics have been aligned. The general public, nevertheless, did not appear to care all that a lot.
In his overview, Roger Ebert praised Ted Flicker’s 1967 satire as “one of many funniest motion pictures of the 12 months,” rating it alongside “The Graduate” and “Bedazzled,” however this since-overlooked sci-fi satire is probably probably the most absurd of that bunch. It stars James Coburn as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Schaefer, who’s assigned to the US president. After listening to the Commander-in-Chief’s private struggles, Shaefer finds himself confused and overburdened. He quickly escapes and embarks on an odyssey that sees him pursued by everybody from worldwide spy businesses to the phone firm.
For Ebert and his fellow critics, it made for a vigorous satire that despatched up the rising paranoia on the coronary heart of a post-John F. Kennedy assassination U.S. society and the conspiracy thriller itself, which might grow to be a way more standard style the next decade. In actual fact, “The President’s Analyst” is just not simply categorized, comprising about 10 completely different genres in a single. It is a farce, a political thriller, a buddy comedy, a darkish satire, and all the things in between. Relatively than coming off as muddled, nevertheless, in accordance with Ebert, it made for the most effective movies of the 12 months.
Roger Ebert gave The President’s Analyst one among his earliest good scores
In “The President’s Analyst,” Dr. Sidney Schaefer’s weird journey by means of mid-’60s America alongside spy Don Masters (Godfrey Cambridge) sees him immersed within the counterculture of the time. All of the whereas, he is being pursued by the movie’s equal of the FBI (The FBR) in addition to a number of worldwide businesses searching for to find what he realized throughout his time with the U.S. President. It makes for a disorienting however all the time amusing odyssey that additionally makes “The President’s Analyst” a film very very similar to “One Battle After One other.”
When the film debuted in December 1967, nevertheless, it did not make a lot of an impression on the field workplace. The critics, then again, favored it very a lot, particularly Roger Ebert, who referred to as the satire “trendy and biting” and counseled author/director Ted Flicker on the “many tremendous, delicate touches” within the movie. Flicker had been working in TV earlier than penning “The President’s Analyst,” contributing to reveals corresponding to “The Dick Van Dyke Present” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” However he impressed along with his first function, which, apart from demonstrating his skills as a filmmaker, gave James Coburn an opportunity to shine following some questionable tasks.
Ebert was definitely glad to see the actor again on high. Because the critic noticed it, Coburn had “been in awful motion pictures recently,” corresponding to “In Like Flint” and “Waterhole No. 3.” However with “The President’s Analyst,” the actor had, in Ebert’s estimation, “regain[ed] his type as a comic.” All of which resulted in an early good rating from the critic, who had solely began writing for the Chicago Solar-Occasions that very same 12 months.
