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csziggy

(34,136 posts)
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 08:53 AM Jun 2013

"The President's Analyst" warned us that The Phone Company was spying

On us all and that TPC wanted to control us all.

The 1967 satire, The President's Analyst warned about government and corporate spying. Sure, it was just a funny little movie but it had it right 45 years ago! It even includes gun toting Americans, commentary on race relations, and a lot of other things that haven't changed much since the movie was made.

<SNIP>
Taken to TPC's headquarters in New Jersey, he [Dr. Schaefer] is introduced to the head of TPC (Pat Harrington, Jr.), who wants Dr. Schaefer's help in carrying out their plan. TPC has developed a "modern electronic miracle", the Cerebrum Communicator (CC), a microelectronic device that can communicate wirelessly with any other CC in the world. Once implanted in the brain, the user need only think of the number of the person they wish to reach, and are instantly connected, thus eliminating the need for The Phone Company's massive and expensive-to-maintain wired infrastructure. (The operation of the CC is shown in animation that parodies the animated sequences in the Bell Telephone Science Series television programs.)

For this to work, every human being will be assigned a number instead of a name, and the CC prenatally implanted. Dr. Schaefer is "requested" to assist TPC by blackmailing the President into pushing through the required legislation.

Masters and Kropotkin use their superspy abilities to come to Schaefer's rescue. They hand Schaefer an M16 rifle that Schaefer gleefully uses on The Phone Company's security staff. The three emerge victorious from the ensuing bloodbath, but months later, as Dr. Schaefer and his spy friends are enjoying a Christmas reunion, animatronic executives from TPC look on approvingly, while "Joy to the World" plays in the background.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Analyst
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"The President's Analyst" warned us that The Phone Company was spying (Original Post) csziggy Jun 2013 OP
This is an incredibly funny movie meant as... MiddleFingerMom Jun 2013 #1
Yep. hobbit709 Jun 2013 #2
I'm just waiting until Cerebrum Communicators are ready csziggy Jun 2013 #4
That was one of my favorite movies EVER !!! DFW Jun 2013 #3
And Godfrey Cambridge's bit about gowing up csziggy Jun 2013 #5
Dick Gregory??????? DFW Jun 2013 #6
D'oh! csziggy Jun 2013 #7
Be my guest! LOL!! DFW Jun 2013 #8
Oh, goodness - I wouldn't last unless I slept the entire train trip csziggy Jun 2013 #9
They have hi-speed trains now DFW Jun 2013 #11
That's be long enough for a nap! n/t csziggy Jun 2013 #12
They wake you up with announcements in 4 languages and hot beverages. DFW Jun 2013 #15
I slept through Star Wars movie battles in the theatre csziggy Jun 2013 #16
I envy you DFW Jun 2013 #18
It's not a good thing - my sleep schedules are terrible csziggy Jun 2013 #19
Never been anywhere near Tallahassee in my life, but if I ever do DFW Jun 2013 #20
now I have to see the film again olddots Jun 2013 #10
I watch it every chance I get csziggy Jun 2013 #13
It is SCARY how much of that film turned out to be prophetic DFW Jun 2013 #14
USAmericans will never wake up ConcernedCanuk Jun 2013 #17

MiddleFingerMom

(25,163 posts)
1. This is an incredibly funny movie meant as...
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 10:45 AM
Jun 2013

.
.
.
... exaggerated satire and I don't think anyone involved realized
just how prophetic it was.
.
.
.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
4. I'm just waiting until Cerebrum Communicators are ready
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 05:57 PM
Jun 2013

To be implanted into everyone's brains! They'd so much more convenient than cell phones.

I for one welcome The Telephone Company as our corporate overlords.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
3. That was one of my favorite movies EVER !!!
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 10:54 AM
Jun 2013

"Krepotkin! Kak Vy pazhyvayetye?"

"Please! No Russian, I'm spying!"

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
5. And Godfrey Cambridge's bit about gowing up
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:01 PM
Jun 2013

Really got me to recognize the damage that racial epithets do.



For you:


And for our gun loving Americans!

DFW

(54,363 posts)
6. Dick Gregory???????
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:21 PM
Jun 2013

I've met Dick Gregory when he came to speak at my college in 1970.

That wasn't Dick Gregory. That was Godfrey Cambridge.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
8. Be my guest! LOL!!
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:30 PM
Jun 2013

Long day--how's this for a long day: it's half past midnight here in Sprout City, after having left home on the 6:14 train, and I have to be in Paris by 10:00 AM tomorrow, and back here in Belgium by 9:00 tomorrow night.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
9. Oh, goodness - I wouldn't last unless I slept the entire train trip
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:35 PM
Jun 2013

I have no endurance these days, but sleeping badly contributes. I got maybe 5 hours last night, went with my husband to the doctor to find out about the surgery he needs (just fixing ligaments in a foot but he'll be non-weight bearing for weeks), probably why I didn't sleep A few more errands and now I am useless.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
11. They have hi-speed trains now
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:38 PM
Jun 2013

What used to be a standard 3 hour trip from Brussels to Paris is now only 80 minutes. By the time you doze off, you're there.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
15. They wake you up with announcements in 4 languages and hot beverages.
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:43 PM
Jun 2013

Better make that one quick snooze!

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
16. I slept through Star Wars movie battles in the theatre
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:48 PM
Jun 2013

Pffffft to a few announcements!

I just can't sleep at night when everything is quiet.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
18. I envy you
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:53 PM
Jun 2013

I don't even know what quiet is any more.

I always fly back to the States for a few weeks in the summer to a spot where I KNOW it's quiet. Batteries need periodic recharging, and here in Europe it's just too crowded, and there's ALWAYS someone that just HAS to ask me something.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
19. It's not a good thing - my sleep schedules are terrible
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 11:46 PM
Jun 2013

But at least I have a quiet place. A 60 acre horse farm in North Florida, outside Tallahassee I've owned since 1978. It's not as quiet as it used to be, but it is still very peaceful. I can go outside and hear the birds' wings as they fly by - in fact the birds and frogs are some of the noisier things I hear most days.

I couldn't live in a city or even a community of any size - I had problems in college living in the dorms with people around all the time.

Falling asleep in the movies was from disrupted sleep, not the ability to ignore noise. But I bet I could sleep on a train - I do in the car all the time.

If you ever get to Tallahassee, let me know. The best times are spring and late fall - in the summer the bugs are terrible. I'll let you wander the farm and promise to not ask you something.

DFW

(54,363 posts)
20. Never been anywhere near Tallahassee in my life, but if I ever do
Wed Jun 12, 2013, 12:21 AM
Jun 2013

I will definitely take you up on that!

DFW

(54,363 posts)
14. It is SCARY how much of that film turned out to be prophetic
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:41 PM
Jun 2013

The President's analyst tells his girlfriend that most people would think he was worried about Russia or China, but he spent lots of time just worrying about (the then totally insignificant country of) Libya.

Of all the inconsequential places to pick out of a hat, they picked a country that, starting less than 5 years later, would be in the headlines on and off right up until the present day.

 

ConcernedCanuk

(13,509 posts)
17. USAmericans will never wake up
Tue Jun 11, 2013, 06:51 PM
Jun 2013

.
.
.


until the bombs start coming over from Russia and China

and they WILL come unless the USA changes its attitude towards the rest of the World,

Can't go messing around with the whole world without expecting payback . . .

wtf are the American voters thinking???

CC

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