When Sir Doug Met Ace Ventura

The President's Analyst (1967)
directed by Theodore J. Flicker
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

Dated in spite of its endearing self-effacement, The President's Analyst is funny but wouldn't be half as funny as it is if it wasn't James Coburn waffling between paranoiac self-destruction and mad-cap slapstick. Coburn's characteristic blithe obliviousness through a healthy run of Marxist digressions - gongs might be the perfect timing gag/prop - buoys his water-off-a-duck's-back cool by never taking the full effect of that mouthful of teeth for granted. And I don't know if Hank Worden lost a bet to John Wayne at the Hollywood Athletic Club, or what, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the one-time saddle bronc rider put in so many uncredited appearances in seemingly random movies like Smokey and the Bandit long after his reputation had room to roam in Ford Country. Here he is again, this time taking LSD and pawing at the cocktail waitress while you spill your bowl of ice cream. If there's a record book for inexplicable cameos, it's a crown Elisha Cook Jr. and Old Mose wear together.