La folle mission du docteur Schaeffer

Original title: The President's Analyst

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

James Coburn in La folle mission du docteur Schaeffer (1967)

When the overworked and stressed-out White House presidential shrink runs away, the CEA and the FBR scramble to retrieve him before he could be abducted by various competing foreign intelligence services.

Play trailer3:37

1 Video

99+ Photos

Satire Comedy Sci-Fi Thriller

A psychiatrist suddenly gets assigned to be the US president's shrink. Paranoid from the many spies tailing him in hope of kidnapping him, he runs away, and dozens of spies, and the FBI, CIA... Read allA psychiatrist suddenly gets assigned to be the US president's shrink. Paranoid from the many spies tailing him in hope of kidnapping him, he runs away, and dozens of spies, and the FBI, CIA, and various agencies scramble to retrieve him.A psychiatrist suddenly gets assigned to be the US president's shrink. Paranoid from the many spies tailing him in hope of kidnapping him, he runs away, and dozens of spies, and the FBI, CIA, and various agencies scramble to retrieve him.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

3.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
In one scene being shot on the lower west side of New York City, James Coburn was being chased by two uniformed NYPD officers, who were just actors playing New York cops. Shouting "Stop, stop", they chased Coburn around a corner and he ran into a real NYPD officer, who dropped him with one blow from his nightstick. Coburn had to seek medical treatment, which postponed the filming for a time.

Goofs
Every line referring to the "FBR" or "CEA" is dubbed, often quite obviously. The actors were actually saying "FBI" and "CIA," but at the behest of the actual agencies the names were changed in post-production.

Quotes
Don Masters, CEA Agent: I was five. And I knew there were colored people and white people. But then Mama took me to school, and it was almost all white kids. And nothing much happened on the first day. But on the second day, I was walking to school alone - my big brother, he was already in the third grade, and when you got a kid brother in kindergarten it can be kind of an embarrassment. So he ran on ahead to be with his buddies. Anyhow, there was a group of white kids on the street up ahead, and as I came up they started laughing and running and yelling, "Run! Run! Here comes the nigger! Run, run!"
[softly:]
Don Masters, CEA Agent: Here comes the nigger. And I looked around, and I didn't see any niggers. But if they wanted to play, so did I. So I started laughing and running and yelling, "Run, run! Here comes the nigger!"
[Whispered:]
Don Masters, CEA Agent: Run, run. Here comes the nigger. Suddenly there was my big brother. And I ran up to him, and I started yelling, "Run, run, here comes the nigger!" And he hit me. Then he did something worse - he told me what a nigger was. And that I was it.

Crazy credits
Film disclaimer: 'This film has not been made with the consent or cooperation of the Federal Board of Regulations (F.B.R.) or the Central Enquires Agency (C.E.A.). Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, and so forth and so on.

Alternate versions
Due to a copyright dispute, all recent video and laserdisc releases omit a sequence featuring songs by Barry McGuire on the soundtrack.

Connections
Featured in Film Review: International Films (1968)

Soundtracks
Inner Manipulations
Composed by Barry McGuire and Paul Potash
Sung by Barry McGuire
(A Dunhill Records Artist)

User reviews70

Featured review

10/10

Over-looked gem

Too many films want it both ways, but this is that rare example of a film that actually gets it. It genuinely is of its age - all swinging Sixties and cultural revolution - but it also sends all that up.

Read the plot elsewhere but suffice to say that those numb-nuts who believe it to be shambolic clearly don't know a carefully structured film when they see one. It's a comedy thriller that zips along whilst never missing an opportunity to provide some of the best satire you'll ever see on Flower Power, Psychiatry, American Liberalism and the Cold War.

Furthermore, for me, it's James Coburn's best performance because we get to see his comedic skills whilst at the same time get a generous slice of just what makes him the coolest cat ever to grace the silver screen.

I'm gobsmacked that this - one of my Top 25 films - is not considered a classic. For me it's up there with Dr Strangelove because it's got everything: great direction, a great great story, great dialogue, great sound-track, and did I mention the acting...?