Rob Boudrie <rboudrie@encore.com> (06/02/91)
"The President's Analyst" is an old (early 70's I think, but I may be off) movie starring James Coburn. The President has a psychiatrist, James Coburn, who is targeted for kidnapping by TPC. The shrink is in a fone booth and the door locks behind him, at which time a telco truck drives up and loads the locked booth with Coburn in it onto the back of the truck. The truck driuves to telco headquarters (somewhere in NJ, I assume), and the phone booth (with Coburn in it) is placed on a conveyor belt taking him past displays of the wonders of telco technology. The best part is the movie they force him to watch -- done in true "public utility PR style" talking about the tremendous benefits of the fone chip they want implanted in every newborn's brain. This will allow all the implanted people to call any other implanted person merely by thinking of that person's number and thinking the communication (sort of the ultimate "follow me roaming"). Seeing this movie is a must for anyone who has ever had an interest in telecom, especially those us of dating from the days of TAP. I don't remember how it turned out, and it was mediocre as movies go, *BUT* the true to life nature of the telco promo movies in it was hilarious. If anyone remembers other funny or remarkable scenes from the film, please post them. Rob Boudrie rboudrie@encore.com
0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (06/03/91)
describes the closing scenes of a film that ought to be in the
curriculum of every student of telecommunications. Rob asks for
recall of earlier scenes, all of which probably run on and on to the
casual viewer.
The earlier scenes do, however all build the thread that the
world has some all-pervading, all-knowing super spy organization
called TPC. Because the President's analyst knows what's on the mind
of the President of the U.S., every spy organization wants to capture
him for interrogation.
For most of the film, James Coburn (the actor who portrayed
"Our Man Flint" in a number of 007 spoof films) is chased, captured
and escapes from every major spy organization in the world.
Through all this plot-building, no matter where Coburn is, on
land, at sea (indeed at one time under it in a Russian sub) or in the
air while being chased by one spy service after another, he is under
constant color video and audio surveillance by TPC. Truly, TPC has
telecommunications ability equalled by no other organization on the
planet.
But, threaded through every adventure the President's analyst
embarks on is a non-stop series of "telephone gags." Many of these
are "inside jokes," hilarious to anyone who was ever inside the
monopoly U.S. telephone esablishment; perhaps puzzling and boring to
a non-initiate.
Among the more obvious gags are a scene in the Washington bar
where spies of all nations meet for a drink at the end of a hard day.
Each has to check in with their respective national HQ, comparing
notes about how rotten the phone company is in their home nation. In
the scene Rob mentions, the President's analyst has finally escaped
bearing nothing but but his undershorts, and finds himself along a
road through open Canadian wheat fields - with nothing in view but a
telephone booth. His attempts to place a collect call to the White
House, but lacking the demanded coin the idiotic operator is only
going to return after taking the call order, are the penultimate
example of Lily Tomlin's "Ernestine the Operator."
Whoever the author of "The President's Analyst" was, that
person certainly had to be "on the inside" in the bad old days of the
monopoly era of telecommunications. Today, it can be found in the
"oldies and classics" section of many video rental stores for a very
low rental price.
I heartily recommend viewing this film to every serious
student of telecommunications as a very entertaining object lesson in
what the study all came from. It's a great way to pick up on what the
cognoscenti are talking about here in the Digest!
roy@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) (06/04/91)
rboudrie@encore.com (Rob Boudrie) writes: > "The President's Analyst" is an old (early 70's I think, but I may be > off) movie starring James Coburn. [...] > I don't remember how it turned out, and it was mediocre as movies go, > *BUT* the true to life nature of the telco promo movies in it was > hilarious. If anyone remembers other funny or remarkable scenes from > the film, please post them. You had mentioned the movie Coburn was forced to watch ... Pat Harrington played the quintessential Phone Company announcer/PR flack, narrating the movie and explaining why they needed Coburn to convince the President of the necessity of their plan. As he's going on, the camera pans down to a close-up of his right foot, shot from behind. Into the heel of his shoe is plugged a standard-looking cord-board cord and plug, with the cord trailing off-screen. At the end of the movie, there is a brief scene with a roomful of TPC types standing and watching the video clandestinely taken in Coburn's house, as he's reunited with his friends and allies. A close-up of Harrington, with a sentimental tear in his eye pulls back and pans the roomful of PhoneDroids, and as the camera pans, you see that _all_ of them have the same cord exiting their right heels. That's my favorite James Coburn movie. I've yet to see it in a video store ... is it available? The TPC movie is truly a classic; all those Bell Labs films we saw in grade school, thrown in a blender. Thanks for reminding me! Roy M. Silvernail |+| roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu
kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey) (06/04/91)
In article <telecom11.421.5@eecs.nwu.edu> 0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) writes: > But, threaded through every adventure the President's analyst > embarks on is a non-stop series of "telephone gags." Many of these > are "inside jokes," hilarious to anyone who was ever inside the > monopoly U.S. telephone esablishment; perhaps puzzling and boring to > a non-initiate. The President's Analyst really is a spectacular film. I have a 16mm print of it underneath my bed and invite any comp.dcom.telecom readers to view it if they ever find themselves in the southern Virginia area. scott
bill@rose3.rosemount.com (William Hawkins) (06/06/91)
You happen to be talking about a truly classic Coburn spoof, not some mediocre effort. This is one of my favorite movies (the other one is High Society, or maybe Forbidden Planet ... but, I digress). The funniest spoof starts in a scene without words. The President's analyst is aboard a yacht, having been rescued from the FBI (who had orders to kill him) by the Russian spy. When he awakens from a drugged sleep, he finds a loaded gun left over from the previous struggle. He picks up the gun - and the most interesting grin spreads across his face. He puts the gun down, and the next thing you know, he has talked the Russian spy into admitting that he hates his father. The spy then wants to keep him out of trouble so he can be cured by analysis. Coburn and the spy are heading back into the States when they have the trouble with the phone booth while trying to call Godfrey Cam- bridge, the CIA spy. Obtelecom: When Coburn is rescued from the phone booth, while in Telephone Central (with lots of armed guards - did the real PC ever used armed guards within a facility?) he goes over to the bland, smiling, businessman who said he was the head of TPC, but went quiet when the power failed. In the back of his right shoe heel, he finds a standard (tip and ring, round) phone plug and cord leading away. The movie ends with a Christmas get-together of heros and heroines, and then pans back to show a view of the scene on a screen in Telephone Central, being watched by a whole lot of bland, smiling businessmen, with cords coming out of their right heels. Great stuff!