The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

A man picked randomly out of a crowd is made the target of CIA survelliance and pursuit.

Director:

Stan Dragoti

Writers:

Francis Veber (screenplay "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire"), Yves Robert (screenplay "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire")

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Richard
Dabney Coleman	...	Cooper
Lori Singer	...	Maddy
Charles Durning	...	Ross
Carrie Fisher	...	Paula
Edward Herrmann	...	Brown (as Ed Herrmann)
Jim Belushi	...	Morris
Irving Metzman	...	Virdon
Tom Noonan	...	Reese
Gerrit Graham	...	Carson
David L. Lander	...	Stemple
Ritch Brinkley	...	Hulse
Frank Hamilton	...	Edgar
Dortha Duckworth	...	Natalie
David Ogden Stiers	...	The Conductor

Storyline

Cooper, the deputy director of the CIA, wants to be the director. So, he tries to make it appear that the director is corrupt so that he will resign or be removed. The director appears before a committee and asks for some time to prepare his defense. The director goes home and asks his man Brown to join him. He then shows Brown that Cooper is bugging him. That's when he decides to turn the tables on Cooper by feeding him some false information. And that information is that there's a man, who might be able to clear him of the charges against him, will be arriving at the airport, so he tells Brown to meet him. The Director tells Brown to just pick someone who is arriving at the airport thus making Cooper believe that he is the man who can help the director. Brown picks Richard cause he is wearing mismatched shoes, one of them being red. So Cooper sets up surveillance on Richard and sends his femme fatale, Maddy to come on to him and find out what he knows. While Maddy is playing, ...

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Plot Keywords:

mistaken identity | cia | spy spoof | spoof | farce | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

One of two 1985 movies starring actor-comedian Tom Hanks first released in that year. The other picture was Volunteers (1985).

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Goofs

Richard leaves his apartment in Georgetown to go to the dentist, the next scene Richard is riding his bike on the C&O Canal heading into Georgetown.

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Quotes

Richard: [Richard, playing a violin solo, begins to ad-lib his own composition. The conductor angrily taps on Richard's music stand] What?
The Conductor: [Sarcastically] This evening we are playing Scheherazade. Would you care to join us?
Richard: Oh.

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Crazy Credits

The billing for the film's source French film The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972) omits the title, stating only, "Based on the motion picture written by Francis Veber and Yves Robert".

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Alternate Versions

The video version in 1986 was cut by 5 seconds in order to receive a "PG" rating from the BBFC with edits made to shots of workmen sniffing white powder from a cocaine-covered car during the opening sequence. In 2004 all cuts were reinstated and the video was re-rated "15".

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Connections

Referenced in NYPD Blue: The Man with Two Right Shoes (2000)

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Soundtracks

Scheherezade
Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

User Reviews

Certainly watchable, but never laugh-out-loud funny

Remake of the 1972 French comedy "The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe" hasn't the flair needed for sophisticated spy comedy, and so instead fizzles a bit despite a colorful cast. Tom Hanks is green and occasionally shrill as a concert violinist who is mistaken for a spy by the CIA and is completely unaware that he is being followed, photographed and shot at; Lori Singer struggles with a real puzzler of a role as a beautiful agent(always back-lit)who has to seduce Hanks--but she seems so fed up with his bumbling that their romance comes as something of a shock. Jim Belushi has some fun as Hanks' musician buddy whose wife is cheating on him, but Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning and Carrie Fisher are all wasted.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 July 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'homme à la chaussure rouge

Filming Locations:

Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,139,015, 21 July 1985

Gross USA:

$8,645,411

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,645,411

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1