The Return of the Tall Blond Man (1974)

With 'little captain' Cambrai raising serious doubts about the reality of the so-called "super spy", Colonel Toulouse kidnaps Christine and forces Francois to play again the character of "... See full summary »

Director:

Yves Robert

Writers:

Yves Robert (screenplay), Francis Veber (screenplay and dialogue)

Stars:

Pierre Richard, Jean Carmet, Jean Rochefort

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierre Richard	...	François Perrin
Jean Carmet	...	Maurice Lefebvre
Jean Rochefort	...	Colonel Louis, Marie, Alphonse Toulouse
Mireille Darc	...	Christine
Jean Bouise	...	Le ministre
Paul Le Person	...	Perrache
Colette Castel	...	Paulette Lefebvre
Henri Guybet	...	Charmant, un tueur
Hervé Sand	...	Prince, Un tueur
Jean Amos
Antoine Baud
André Bollet
Paul Bonifas
Michel Francini
Jacques Giraud

Storyline

With 'little captain' Cambrai raising serious doubts about the reality of the so-called "super spy", Colonel Toulouse kidnaps Christine and forces Francois to play again the character of "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" in some fake adventures. All this to stop the investigation into the death of Colonel Milan.

---

Plot Keywords:

black shoe | instrument case | karate | fireworks | shoe shiner | 

---

Taglines:

It's cute and very very FUNNY

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Did You Know?

Goofs

On arrival back from Rio, François goes outside and had his cases put in a car. In one scene the driver takes a vertical case from the trolley; then the camera angle changes and the case is back.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: On May 26th of last year, Francois Perrin arrived at Orly Airport in Paris wearing two different colored shoes. That was the beginning of the adventure of The Tall Blond Man with One Black Show. This man, chosen at random in the crowd, was to become the central figure in a fantastic spy story. Colonel Toulouse, head oa a certain secret service agency, used him to bait a trap for his second-in-command Colonel Milan, who was too ambitious for his taste. Toulouse convinced him that ...

---

Connections

References Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)

---

Soundtracks

Ungarische Tänze. Nr 5
Composed by Johannes Brahms

User Reviews

A sequel that's much better than the original

I strongly recommend viewing this sequel before the original. Indeed, Le Retour will probably leave you intrigued to watch "Le Grand Blonde", but I can easily imagine a viewer seeing 'Le Grand Blond' and not bothering to look for a sequel.

"Le Retour" is worth watching even if you've recently seen the American remake, "The Man with One Red Shoe". In fact, give it a chance even if you didn't particularly like the Hanks film -- the gulf is akin to (but not quite as large as) the one between Jean Luc Beson's Le Femme Nikita and the Hollywood remake -- a huge difference in tone, richness and sheer cleverness (This film may be where Quentin Tarantino got his by-now-familiar Mexican standoffs.)

If you worry about seeing films out of order, have no fear! There's charming introduction, where the characters and events of the original 'Grand blond' are dealt out and explained as cards in a magic act (rather clever ...and apropos) It may leave you feeling as if you're missing a lot of background, but you aren't. It's a fine demonstration of the show biz maxim "leave them wanting more"

I first saw this film over 20 years ago at a college-sponsored "Midnight Movies" and enjoyed it so much that I never forgot it and kept an active eye open for an opportunity to see it again (and show it to my friends)

About a year ago, I happened across both movies at a small local video. By now, I'd long since forgotten if I had seen the 'le Grand Blond' or 'Le Retour' (the sequel), so I started with the original.

It was such a total disappointment that I couldn't bring myself to put the sequel in the VCR. Where was the charm I remembered? I wrote the whole thing off as one of those college experiences you can never re- create. Could I really have been that different at 16?

Fortunately, I did end up playing 'Le retour' a few days later. It still held a large measure of the appeal I recall from 1978, and remains firmly among the films I recommend

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 December 1974 (France)

Also Known As:

The Return of the Tall Blond Man

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont International, Les Productions de la Guéville

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1