The Man with One Red Shoe (1985) User Reviews

Great Sunday-afternoon viewing

[AmbroseHoneysuckle · 6/10 · 28 March 2002]

OK, it's not the most brilliant piece of art in the world, but neither is it the turkey that the video guides make it out to be. It's a cute spy-cliché spoof with good performances from Hanks, Durning, Coleman, Belushi, Herrman and particularly Tom Noonan as the deadpan Agent Reese. Super music by Thomas Newman (one of his first scores), an elegant string of sight gags featuring Belushi and a couple of corpses, and a sweet ending scene more than make up for the underlying silliness of the plot and a handful of flatly delivered lines. Good to watch on a Sunday afternoon when you need to occupy your mind, but not TOO much.

One of the first films totally starred by Tom Hanks in a bemusing spy-comedy

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 1 October 2008]

This is an American remake from French film written by Ives Roberts and Francis Veber.An innocent concert violinist(Tom Hanks, in the role of the French, Pierre Richard) is wrongly targeted, then he's pursued by a corrupts CIA agents(Art La Flour, Tom Noonan, among others) led by a nasty chief(Dabney Coleman, in the role of Bernard Blier). It's all because an assistant(Edward Herrmann)to head(Charles Durning) of CIA picked the violinist when he was in the airport as a decoy to dupe his contender. Meanwhile he falls in love with a sexy girl(Lori Singer, role of Mireille Darc)who's spying him. But the villain boss orders his complete elimination .

This is an easy-going comedy with hearty humor, suspense, and a little of action . The tale involves murders, botchers spies,loving lies and quite amusing. Considerable comic talents act with hilarious perfection, they include Hanks, James Belushi and Dabney Coleman, among them. The film is plenty of gags, especial mention for the laughters with a director orchestra interpreted by David Odgen Steirs, arguing against his bumbling players Hanks acting at whole show, Belushi and Carrie Fisher who are playing 'Scherezade' by Rimski Korsakov. Catching musical score by Thomas Newman, though is composed by synthesizer and appropriate cinematography by Richard H Kline. The motion picture is regularly directed by Stan Dragoti. He's usual comedies director, such as, Love at first bite, Zorro gay and Mr Mom.

nice guy Hanks

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 December 2016]

There is a rivalry between Burton Cooper (Dabney Coleman) and his boss CIA director Ross (Charles Durning). Maddy (Lori Singer) is one of Cooper's agents. Cooper is able to doublecross Ross by getting a CIA agent arrested for cocaine smuggling in Morocco. The Senate calls on Ross to testify and he has 48 hours. Ross intends to misdirect Cooper by sending him on a wild goose chase. Ross' second Brown (Edward Herrmann) picks random guy at the airport, Richard Drew (Tom Hanks), the man with one red shoe. Richard is a violinist having an affair with his best friend Morris (Jim Belushi)'s wife Paula (Carrie Fisher). Cooper swallows the bait whole as his team struggles to discover what evidence Richard has against him.

Tom Hanks is playing an everyman. If this movie works at all, it is due to his charms. At times, it tries to be a screwball comedy but it never gets to be outright funny. It's nice ... like Hanks. He's never unleashed and neither is the movie.

Incredibly funny, vastly underrated!

[Arthur-23 · 9 July 2000]

Keep your expectations in check and you won't be disappointed. This film was hilarious! While not the best vehicle for Tom Hanks to show his talents, the movie's pacing, score, visual style, sound effects, and black humor were extremely effective. James Belushi was at his comic best as Hanks' best friend whose facial expressions constantly suggest he doesn't have a clue as to what's going on, but he's still probably the sanest person in the film. Well worth a look, despite what the other over-critical reviewers had to say.

induces some laughs, but the original is still better

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 6 October 2006]

In this remake of the French comedy "The Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe", Tom Hanks plays a violinist who randomly gets selected as a spy, leading the government to turn his life upside down. There are certainly some really funny scenes here - namely anything involving plumbing - but it's really undesirable when Hollywood remakes a foreign movie. "The Man with One Red Shoe" is pretty characteristic of Tom Hanks's career before he got into serious roles: innocuously silly.

So, I recommend the original, but this one isn't bad. Just don't expect any kind of religious experience. Also starring Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann, Carrie Fisher, James Belushi and David Ogden Stiers.

A Day in the Life of an Eccentric Musician

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 10 March 2017]

In a desperate attempt to keep his job as the director of the CIA "Ross" (Charles Durning) directs his assistant "Brown" (Edward Herrmann) to select a person at random and falsely suggest to his main rival "Cooper" (Dabney Coleman) that this innocent bystander has secret information that might thwart Cooper's political ambitions. To that end, Brown selects an eccentric musician named "Richard" (Tom Hanks) because he is wearing one red shoe due to a practical joke played on him by his best friend "Morris" (James Belushi). As expected, Cooper takes the bait and immediately puts all of his resources into finding out what Richard knows. However, what Cooper doesn't realize is the difficulty his agents encounter when they submerge themselves into Richard's bizarre life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie started off a bit slow but got pretty funny towards the end with Morris deservedly having to endure his share of comedic mishaps. Admittedly, this wasn't a great comedy by any means but I still found it entertaining enough and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Spies are US

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 9 November 2005]

If there is a lesson to be learned by Hollywood is not to try to remake whatever was already made, and better. Which seems to be a lesson American movie people seem to forget. The criteria might be that the original film didn't reach a wide American audience, thus the reason for the remake, but frankly, neither Stan Dragoti, the director, or Robert Klane, its adapter, put a dent in what Francis Vever and Yves Robert achieved with the original.

Then again, if one hasn't seen the French film of the same name, this comedy will appear to be the real thing. In fact, there are hardly any laughs in the film. The best sequence involves the Richard and Maddy in the seduction scene where some of her hair is caught in a zipper.

In a way, this was Tom Hanks' third film as a lead man. One can't blame him because he is bogged down by a screen play that could have been better. Tom Hanks pales in comparison with the original Pierre Richard, who was a better comedian.

The cast shows several familiar faces, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann, John Belushi, but ultimately the ones that fare better in the film are Lori Singer and Carrie Fisher in smaller roles, but ones that afford these two actress good opportunities in which to shine.

Stick with the original version if you can find it in DVD format.

Great Cast, But Average Movie

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 10 January 2017]

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

As Tom Hanks himself acknowledges, the movie is not that good. The plot is okay, but a bit convoluted. The comedy is more often of the absurd kind, and I am not sure it always succeeds. Jim Belushi is rather the strong point of the comedy parts. Also, as 1980s movies end to do, a romance is thrown in for some reason... it seems somewhat forced.

What makes this movie worth watching, despite the "blah" of the overall plot and comedy, is the ensemble cast. Tom Hanks may be the star, but he probably doesn't have 50% of the screen time, because he is sharing it with Dabney Coleman, Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher (in a small role), Charles Durning, Ed Hermann, Lori Singer, Gerrit Graham and more I'm not recalling at the moment. It is a truly impressive cast.

Not so good...

[over-13829 · 5/10 · 29 May 2020]

The one who saw Le grand blond avec une chaussure noir, the original, should not waste his time with this film because he will be disappointed. The original had Pierre Richard, who fit much better in the role of the victim, he had Jean Rochefort , who played an excellent role as an intriguer and had an excellent soundtrack composed by Vladimir Cosma, with the wonderful flute performance of Gheorghe Zamfir. The American version had nothing attractive.

amusing

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 May 2012]

Based on the French film "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire," this American version stars Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Carrie Fisher, John Belushi, Charles Durning, and Edward Hermann.

Hanks plays Richard Harlan Drew, a violinist, who is chosen at random as a "spy" by Ross, the head of a CIA-like agency, Cooper (Durning) when he knows that his second in command (Coleman) is out to destroy him and take his place. As expected, Cooper, having bugged Ross' home, is all over Drew and enlists the aide of another spy (Singer) to get close to him and get information.

It's an amusing plot - a kind of Everyman whose every move, every piece of music played, every friend, is misinterpreted as something to do with espionage.

The problem is, the film is amusing when I think it was intended to be hilarious. The best performance for my money comes from Dabney Coleman, who has the best line in the movie: "Honey, will you please - what are the odds of the Russians attacking on a Thursday night?" The big chase scene at the end, with Drew on his bicycle, is for my money the best scene in the movie.

Doesn't make much of an impact, but everybody in it is very good.

Certainly watchable, but never laugh-out-loud funny

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 9 July 2005]

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.

Quality Tom Hanks

[IsoscelesKramer · 10/10 · 31 May 2002]

It is a mystery to me why this movie has such a low rating. Anyone who would enjoy Tom Hanks (and thus, a decent flick) should love this movie. Not only is it funny, action-packed, and suspenseful (a rare combination), it boasts an all-star cast all along the way. A unique film, shot on location in beautiful Georgetown, with tons of excitement, zany plot-twists, and interesting characters to spare. If you have yet to see it, check it out now!

Mistaken

[tedg · 5 June 2005]

There are many different excuses to laugh, and any film that gives us one of them falls into that big bucket we call comedy.

I don't suppose anyone knows much about what makes us laugh, but like yesterday's stock market results, everyone seems to have an opinion about failed comedy. This is a classic failed comedy, regardless of whether you thought the original French film successful.

The story is that a crew of trained professionals mistakenly assume one thing and then grind that conclusion quite literally to death. The same thing happened to the crew that made this stinker.

The women are marginally interesting. Lori singer was a real string player; here she plays the prostituting spy to a string player. Carrie Fisher was deep into her skinny drugged out highly sexed period and plays someone much the same (with a reference to Princess Leia and the wookie).

Hanks only once in a rare while really tries to act. This isn't one of those times. My own theory is that he needs a challenging director.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Early Hanks Movie That Will Make You Smile But Not Laugh Out Loud

[tompaine-4 · 7/10 · 15 June 2001]

Tom Hanks is teamed with Dabney Coleman, Lori Singer, and Jim Belushi in this spoof of a spy movie that is enjoyable. Coleman plays the typical 80s villian chasing after Hanks whom has been intentionally fingered as the spy that can bring him down. The twist is that Hanks has been picked at random. Usual pratfalls ensue but not bad on a slow night.

Completely silly, almost slapstick. Still worth a watch for the diehard Tom Hanks fans.

[imseeg · 6/10 · 17 May 2022]

The good: Tom Hanks and Lori Singer. Tom Hanks did star in many similar silly comedies at the beginning of his career. His goofyness, clumsiness and innocence are still charming. Lori Singer simply is beauty in gold.

The bad: this is almost slapstick and not the best kind of slapstick. It's so childish that I often did cringe.

Nothing out of the ordinary, just another silly Tom Hanks comedy, only worth a watch for the diehard Tom Hanks fans.

Just see: The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe

[Peter22060 · 3/10 · 28 December 2001]

The only successful remake is The Maltese Falcon. See the original versions first. It's true with most comedies too. Jack Benny and Carole Lombard far surpass the Mel Brooks remake of To Be or Not To Be.

Watch The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe. It is in French and stars Pierre Richard.

Spy thriller turned rom-com

[timothyhilditch · 6/10 · 30 January 2022]

The CIA are caught up internal squabbles, to throw off the scent they decide to implicate one innocent man as a spy. In walks Tom Hanks with one red shoe. The movie starts off rocky trying to setup the premise, until Tom Hanks gets introduced. His normal life gets turned around with strange events and coincidences. Contains a lot of laughs and a feel-good movie making fun of government incompetence. Not for kids due to the adult humour and events depicted.

A wasted potential ...

[ElMaruecan82 · 5/10 · 8 November 2013]

"The Tall Blonde With One Black Shoe" was a delightful spy-farce written by the French Billy Wilder: Francis Veber. It was a tale of mistaken identity, featuring a poor schmuck who had the misfortune to look weird enough at the airport to be selected by secret agents as a foil for a rival organization, in order to create a distraction while a real agent was operating. Most of the gags resulted from the hero's ignorance of what was happening, being the straight man of a rodeo of gags he unknowingly caused.

It's certainly a credit to Veber's talent (more than probable connections with Hollywood) that most, if not all, of his films were remade by American directors; they exuded a particular flavor that could be easily cooked up with American ingredients. Still, the problem with the remakes is that they were all remakes, which means that they didn't try to change the original plot, let alone to improve it. In the best case, they had the merit to awaken the curiosity of some foreign movie buffs who probably thought it would be a better idea to check the original film instead. "The Man With One Red Shoe" is one of these 'for-the-sake-of-it" remakes.

The director, Stan Dragoti, is in such a hurry to get to the infamous airport scene that the whole set-up in Morocco is irrelevant; it could have gotten to the point as well without trying too hard to give an explanation, and the assumption a 'serious' set-up for a promising screwball gag is immediately deceived when Tom Hanks makes his entrance, as Richard Drew. The film then challenges your patience while the first gags (because we don't expect subtle verbal humor, there had to be gags) take their time.

I like Tom Hanks in his clumsy curly-haired earlier roles, but it's a shame how his talent is underexploited for the role, it's another shame that with such a great comedic casting (Dabney Coleman, Carrie Fisher, Charles Durning and Jim Belushi), the comedy fails lamentably. Even Lori Singer was good for the role but there was no way left to us to believe there was chemistry between her and the unfortunate hero. She was just the beautiful blonde agent, Richard a gentle bachelor and ta-ta, it had to work. Dragoti takes the original script for granted and never tries to outsmart it a little bit.

Not that the gags were totally absent though, Jim Belushi saves the day as the cuckolded best friend, but even in the supposed-to-be-funny scenes where he tries to show Hanks that something weird is going on, there's a problem of timing, of direction, that makes all the gags fall flat, like a false note. The film even fails to reprise the most iconic moment with Singer's bottomless robe when her hair is stuck in the zipper, in the French film, it took time to get to it, here it's so fast we don't have time to savor the growing romance. If reprising a good film was enough to make another good film, many directors would use the same trick.

Reading Roger Ebert's review, I noticed he said "the first film wasn't even funny in the first place", not true, it was funny in a patient and subtle way, it was funny because it was French agents acting seriously like in James Bond movies, which was already a gag by itself. "The Man With One Red Shoe" could have done better if it didn't try to imitate French imitating Americans, simply make the agents more ruthless, a darker humor, more blood, more chaos around Hanks. But it's like they didn't even trust their own capabilities, at the end, the film, ironically, gets even less violent than the remake, which is saying a lot. Didn't I say the director didn't challenge his own material?

And how about the ultimate confrontation between the leaders, the whole punch line is missing. For all we know, Durning turns into the mastermind to another employee and that's that, nothing else, Coleman and Durning together, that would have been something. Anyway, the film doesn't bring much newness to the screen to a point that it didn't even attract the Razzie's attention, it's just one film without pretension, a plot recycled to please the American audience, but without trying too hard. Why not inserting KGB agents? Why not having Singer playing a Russian spy? How about some outdoor gags, given the budget they had for the opening scene, they could have afforded it.

But no, they played it to the cards, and 30 years later, as it shows, the film is totally forgotten, not worthy enough to be called a cult-classic. I liked it when I first saw it but then I was only 11 and didn't even see the remake. Ironically, I saw more Veber's remakes before the originals but each time, they didn't hold a candle. "The Man With One Red Shoe" doesn't trust its own potential and can't exceed the limits of the original script, which doesn't work for an American setting.

At least, "Dinner for Schmucks" tried very hard to Americanize the French version and to give it a taste of zaniness; at least, Steve Carrel reinvented a whole new character, different than the original. The remake wasn't better for all that, but at least it tried.

I give this seven Tarzan yells out of ten.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 23 June 2022]

Tom Hanks is Richard, the title character, a classical musician / ordinary guy randomly selected from a crowd at an airport. He's intended to be the bait in an ongoing battle between competing C. I. A. Factions. Cooper (Dabney Coleman, perfectly slimy) is out to nab top dog Ross' (Charles Durning) job, and he subsequently takes the bait, leading to various farcical situations and an eventual assortment of dead bodies.

An Americanized remake of the French comedy "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe", this is genuinely funny often enough to rate it as a solid - if not great - comedy. This viewer would disagree that the excellent cast is "wasted", as they definitely make the most of the material. But it's true enough that leading man Hanks doesn't get many opportunities to be funny himself. He has to be the "straight man" who must eventually react with stunned surprise when he finally realizes all the intrigue that has been going on around him. (That said, it's such a hoot when he brushes his teeth with shampoo (!) and big bubbles pop out of his mouth.)

The cast is the main reason to watch this, of course. Hanks is as affable as he's ever been. The luscious Lori Singer is effective as a seductive spy who ultimately finds that she's falling for the ordinary guy. Durning and Coleman are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the steady parade of familiar faces here: Carrie Fisher (hilarious as the oversexed Paula, who's hot for Richard), Jim Belushi (priceless as her flustered husband), Edward Herrmann, Irving Metzman, Tom Noonan, Gerrit Graham, David L. Lander, Ritch Brinkley, David Ogden Stiers, Julius Carry, Art LaFleur, George Martin, and Charles Levin.

Hanks and Fisher figure in one of the most deliciously ridiculous bits of business, as she likes to play "Tarzan & Jane" during sexual escapades.

This is well-paced, fun nonsense that ends up leading into some decent-enough action sequences, and a fair-sized body count.

Seven out of 10.

Dumb

[Idocamstuf · 1/10 · 16 June 2002]

This is Tom Hanks' third movie, and it might be his worst. This movie comes on comedy central a lot, and I watched it once, because Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors. This movie tries to be funny but it's just not. It has a great cast(Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Dabney Coleman, ect.) , but that doesnt make up for how bad the movie is. Save yourself an hour and a half of your life, and dont watch this movie.

Odd Sense of Humor?

[scrubby3 · 10/10 · 5 November 2005]

Then this movie is right up your alley! It is a wonderfully kooky movie about how an 'Average Joe' who is mistaken for a spy and gets mixed up in a world of spies. I laughed from beginning to end. It is one big mix up after another and it just keeps getting funnier and funnier as the movie goes along.

Tom Hanks is a wonderful physical comic actor. He trips, falls, bangs into stuff. Meats the woman of his dreams.

Why is he only wearing one red shoe when is he picked out of a crowd of people? You have to watch the movie!

Like I said though you really must have an odd sense of humor to truly enjoy it. It is not one of those movies meant for dissection, it is meant to be mindlessly enjoyed.

The old Tom Hanks comedy style

[[e-mail] · 6/10 · 6 April 2003]

There was a period when Hanks still isn't a great Hollywood star, but he was only a likely player of fresh comedy. This is the case of `The man with one red shoe', remake to a French flick, where two big C.I.A. heads, against between them , involved a calm violinist in their fight for the power. It's true, the movie can seem goofy and his humour is coarse and vulgar, but it's funny. I had ever admiring Hanks, even in this kind of comedy, I believe that he is likely and funny and also if the story isn't the high intelligence anyway it's a good entertainment supported by a good cast, Charles Durning and Dabney Coleman as the two C.I.A. heads, Tom Hanks as the violinist, James Belushi and Carrie Fisher as a young couple violinist's friend. My rate is 6.

Harmless, but also useless

[eminkl · 3/10 · 18 April 2020]

An absolutely pointless, witless, aimless sendup of the spy genre that manages to flame out on the runway despite its name-studded cast. Tom Hanks is the center of attention, to the surprise of none, as his usual aloof '80s bachelor in search of more than just another one-night stand. His character's unfortunate choice of footwear on a long flight leaves him tangled in a web of espionage and deceit; a hapless patsy in a high-stakes game of cloak and dagger. Jim Belushi and Carrie Fisher support, in roles that don't really go anywhere or mean anything, and work no miracles with the base-level material. It's an unfocused film with no ambition, no personality and a bald, spell-it-out sense of humor that's better for eye rolls than snickers.

Oh God oh god oh...

[Gary-161 · 10 June 2000]

This film tries to be quirky and is charming but there is only one laugh in it. That is the hair in the zipper bit. Even the old collapsing chair gag (a trusty stalwart) flops here. But I don't care, because the actress who has her hair caught in the zipper is Loroooriii Sing....no, I can't type it without shaking. Oh God, it's an impossible dream, having Lori SiiiNng..thing caught in your zipper or anywhere NEAR your zipper, for that matter. Even FRANCE would be near enough to get me hot under the collar. She put the 'God' in goddess. It is unbearable watching this film. She has big hair. There's that scene where she runs in slo-mo in the baseball stand in black shorts. So if you hit the slow on your remote, it goes REALLY slow. It's too much. Then there's the scene in the hotel suite. She is in this slinky black number with a plunging (we are talking Niagra Falls here) back. Gibber. And that voice. "Come and sit beside me and get comfortable." "Relax, and let me take control". She runs her hands down...excuse me, I can't go on. Never mind 'Saving Private Ryan', you want to lose Tom Hanks. Nothing serious, just a couple of broken legs. I know this is a terrible thing to be thinking as he is something close to a national treasure in the states, but that is the SssIInnger affect. He should be removed from that expensive looking sofa and replaced by me. Oh, mother. Oh, God. This film is torture. Has Lori been in anything else? Well, there's that tv show and that bit part in 'The Falcon And The Snowman'. So she's a STAR! I feel a bit of stalking coming on. Only she's too old now and there's an ocean in the way. But with film, stars stay young forever and you control the vertical, you control the horizontal. What you can't control is your undying devotion. Okay LUST. I admit it. With video you can get to where you need to go. And with Loor...you've already arrived before you've even started to leave. If you see what I mean.

Dabney Coleman is also in this comedy. He is not pretty normally, but as he is in a film with Lorrr Snngrrr he has sexiness bestowed upon him. He must look great in the shower. The character Tom Hanks plays in this film is diagnosed as being sexually repressed. It's a metaphor for the audience, I think. Not that I know what a metaphor is of course. The only metaphor I'm interested in is one that involves ..you know who. She called me up and I metaphor a drink. You will not laugh at this film, but you will cry. Boy, *sob* will you cry. Oh, God. Lori. I don't have one red shoe but I do have one helluva red CENSORED.

What a mess!

[BrettErikJohnson · 2/10 · 20 May 2002]

Where do I begin? There is a problem with almost every facet of this film. The first major flaw is that the plot is rather confusing. I suppose that would be alright if this were a more sophisticated comedy. However, "The Man With One Red Shoe" is purely a silly little flick and it shouldn't leave its viewers scratching their heads wondering who is doing what to whom and why.

Other problems include characters that are ignorant beyond belief, boring "action" sequences, one-dimensional characters and flat performances. I literally laughed only one time during the entire picture. The "hair in the zipper" scene is one of those classic movie moments like the "hair gel" scene in "There's Something About Mary". If only the rest of this film was even half as inspired. Sadly...it's not.

Tom Hanks went through a dry spell for several years early in his comedic career. This movie was just one of those blunders before he got things back on track with "Big". The only other positive aspects of this dud are the cool Thomas Newman soundtrack and Lori Singer's slick sunglasses. Unfortunately, those don't pull enough weight to make this anywhere near a quality film. 2/10