User reviews

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Hollywood has paid homage to this Gallic gem. And, as usual, the original is better than the Hollywood copy.

The best description of this classic is the oxymoron: sophisticated slapstick. But there is much more. Like the category list suggests (comedy, mystery, and more) there's something for everybody, and you needn't be a Francophile to enjoy it.

Simply delightful!

Many, many years ago -- the mid-70s, in fact, this movie was on TV in our local area. It was one of the few times I'd seen my dad really excited about a movie, and watched it with him.

It's stuck with me ever since.

This is a brilliant piece of film-making, satisfying as both a comedy and a spy movie. Pierre Richard has a masterful sense of comedic timing, on par with Buster Keaton.

If you get a chance to see this, do.

Successfully spawning a sequel and a Hollywood remake, Tom Hanks' starrer THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE (1985), and augured from its ingenious legerdemain in the opening credits, Yves Robert's THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE is a beguiling divertissement that mocks the espionage profession and retains the essential Gallic funny bone.

Our protagonist is the titular tall (?, he looks very average), blond François Perrin (Richard), a French violinist, who is randomly chosen as a bait because he wears one black shoe and one brown shoe (owing to a practical joke) when he arrives in Orly airport from Munich, a whim of Perrache (Le Person), the assistant of Louis Toulouse (Rochefort), the chief of France's Counter-Espionage department, who clandestinely retaliates his treacherous second-in-command Bernard Milan (Blier) by deliberately letting the latter on that François is a top spy who has kompromat to hazard his position.

Milan rises to the bait immediately, with his whole team working in succession to stake François out, break into his apartment (and playing with a set of matryoshka dolls) and keep tabs on his visitors and telephone calls, trying to fish out what he knows, obviously, all to no avail. Only after a recoiling honey trap set by agent Christine (Marc), Milan finally loses his patience and demands François to be roundly dispatched, but unbeknown to him, Perrache assigns two agents to safeguard François, so the ensuing internecine shoot-out takes a heavy toll on both sides, and completely behind François's back.

Yes, the off-piste leitmotif is that, during the whole shebang, François is insouciantly oblivious about the happenings, resumes his daily routines - a tryst with Paulette (Castel), the harpist in the same orchestra and the wife of his best friend Maurice (Carmet), a percussionist - and plays in an evening concert (a cock-up to the dismay of the conductor, played by Robert himself), then a wee-hour consummation with the mysterious, sultry Christine, who even more mysteriously, falls head over feet for him and defects her superior afterward, and in the jolly ending, the pair flies to Rio together, in different airliner compartments though, only leaving Maurice, beset by his numerous encounters with the goings-on and its unsavory aftermath, firmly believes that he is mentally unstable and needs heavy medication.

Comédien Pierre Richard relaxedly inhabits François with a mix-bag of clownish, aw-shucks, yet louche facades (although gobbing gums in the airport doesn't leave a great first impression), playing off against the agents' collective callousness and dead seriousness, he is endowed with a Benigni-esque comical facility to dampen the plot's innate implausibility, so is Jean Carmet, a dutiful foil that nails the deadpan impression after his character becomes increasingly enmeshed with and befogged by contradictory situations, so much so that questioning his own sanity seems to the only possible way to justify it. All in all, the film is a thoroughly pleasurable vintage comedy that has enough sophistication and élan to spare for a second go-round.

This movie is certainly one of the best I've seen. Just delighting. Like some journalists like to say: Two tumbs up and if your an alien, 3 or 4 tumbs up! Today, movies like this are rare. If you like it you should see the second one: Return of the Tall Blond with One Black Shoe. As good as the first one!

A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.

The film was remade in English as "The Man with One Red Shoe", which makes me want to see that version -- I never really had an interest before. This version is quite good, and I especially love the score. It is whimsical and light, keeping the material fun.

The topic of secret agencies against themselves sort of suggests a Kafka-type plot, but it never reaches that level. Because of the humor involved, it might be closer to compare this to a Peter Sellers film. Certainly more deserving of attention than it generally receives.

This comedy/mystery is simply delightful. You can call it a masterpiece of its genre(s) or you can just enjoy its great timing, hilarious physical comedy, its story that involves spies, murders, and a sexy blonde (Mireille Darc) in a dress you have to see to believe. Pierre Richar is excellent as the blond man of the title who one day became a "person of great interest" for two rival departments in the French secret service. As we know, it is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room especially if the cat is not in the room and that's what the experienced employees of the secret service try to do - to find the sense in the routine activities of a man they are convinced is an important spy and who is in reality an absent-minded and oblivious violinist and the object of the practical jokes by his fellow musicians.

If it is not enough, there is a soundtrack written by Vladimir Cosma and performed by the King of Pan Flute, a famous Romanian musician Gheorghe Zamfir. Cosma recalls that when he was composing the music for The Tall Blond Man, he was thinking of the movie "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" and he wanted to use the elements of the Eastern European music. His idea to use the themes of Romanian doinas played by Zamfir was a stroke of genius. Once you hear the melodies, you won't be able to forget them.

YES to the movie and YES!! to the soundtrack

I am amused and find this also funny. Of particular note is the interior decors of the various rooms have a darkly tint to them objects and lighting of notable 70s fare as opposed to 60s fare which is more colorful, but this is nonetheless interesting.

This film was one of the most successful crossover French films of the 70's, and for very good reason. It is a delightful spoof of the spy genre, with a hapless musician unknowingly caught in the middle of a war between two factions of the French secret service. The plotting is extremely funny, the directing tight, the music (played by Zamphir on the pan pipe!) unforgettable, and above all the ensemble acting by a stellar cast will have you watching this again and again. Pierre Richard, playing the title character, brings an unusual elegance and sense of class to what would otherwise be a Woody Allen-esque role (it was played by Tom Hanks in the American re-make). Mireille Darc is the femme fatale, and there were quite few teenage boys in the 70's who never got over the image of her in a jaw-dropping backless dress. The rest of the group, from the cool head of the Secret Service, to the efficient but misguided spies, to the bumbling best friend and his wife, all leave indelible memories. Thirty years after having seen this film for the first time, I can remember everything with crystal clarity, and my own kids have found it just as delightful. Go ahead and rent this one for truly fun evening, you will love it!

Yves Robert, a director characterised for his slow-paced, calm touch in films, made "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire" in 1972. Preceding the box-office successes, "Un éléphant ça trompe énormément" (1976) and "Nous irons tous au paradise" (1977), it was also received extremely positively by the audience and is now regarded as a cult film. Its magic, unfortunately, didn't work so much on me.

The legendary actor Pierre Richard plays here a character named - like in other comedies written by Francis Veber - François Perrin. Two are his most recognisable traits; his talent for playing the violin, something that has also given him his profession, and his clumsiness. He's an everyman, one completely undistinguishable. This last quality of his is the one that will catch the attention of the head of the French secret agency (Jean Rochefort). He's in big trouble, since his agency is facing troubled from within. In order to distract the opposite fraction of the organisation from his own men, he picks poor Perrin as the victim of a chase between the rivaling agents. While Rochefort's men pursue Perrin, thinking he is their enemy, their own opponents start chasing them, and this becomes the occasion of some hilarious events.

Preposterousness is rampant in Robert's parody of spy films. The whole movie is based on Perrin's ignorance of the situation having himself as its centre, and continuing his ordinary business, under strict , but to him nonexistent, surveillance. In the bathroom, while riding his bike, even when making... love, he is constantly scrutinised by some dimwitted agents. While Perrin's intelligence can hardly be considered exceptional, he has, at least, some sense of logic, but the agents go as far as to start a battle with their enemies inside his house, Perrin not having left, and just being in the bathroom (!) Robert takes all serious elements of classic spy adventures, think James Bond, and deconstructs them to the point of being utterly ridiculous. His direction helps at that, as he makes every battle so slow and overdramatic, and every chase so fast, that any sense of realism disappears. What remains is the spectacle only. Without a brave, likeable hero, these action scenes become nothing more than laughable moments, in which the characters act so theatrically that they only serve to show the absurdity of the whole situation.

The hero does exist in Robert's work, but his likeability stems from his human nature and flaws, not from his charm or superhuman abilities. He is no real spy, rather one by chance, and so employs no tricks, uses no impressive gadgets to carry out his mission. After all, he has none. He doesn't even know that he's being used without his will, and continues his life. It's his nature as an ordinary person that makes Perrin a great protagonist, especially for a parody.

Richard and Rochefort shine as the heroes of this improbable story. The first one is vibrant, loving and compelling in his total ignorance, exerting such a high sense of intensity that the movie often becomes a one-man show, with him as its act. The other is the complete opposite; calm, reserved, intimidating not through his movements, but through his look, freezing his agents with only a glance. The two only meet at the end, but it's through their indirect interaction that the whole story takes place. When the one looks away, the other continues to pay attention. When the one doesn't know anything, the other has full knowledge of the situation, being the one who instigated it in the first place.

"Le grand blond" is surely an intelligent film, but Yves Robert's direction unfortunately both makes and breaks it. While being amazing during the chases - fast to the point of making them completely absurd and hilarious - and the face-to-face combats between the spies - so slow and theatrical that the actors fall down as if on stage and "pews" are heard instead of real shots - it feels sluggish at times and makes the film seem longer than to really is, focusing too much on Perrin instead of showing his pursuit by the agents until later.

Nevertheless, "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire" is a successful comedy, typically French in its more refined way of presenting the story as one of light intrigue rather than resorting to the easy humour of the unlucky hero entangled in illogical situations without any particular reason. The cast serves it with obvious passion and talent, while the director attempts and partly succeeds in parodying now ubiquitous spy film genre. It's through these elements that Perrin can succeed in his mad adventure and prove that he really has "no time to die". There is a violin concert waiting for him.

This is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Pierre Richard is HILARIOUS! The script is tight as a mosquito's leotard and the action unrelenting. The story, based in part on a serious of government agencies play SPY vs. SPY games and bureaucratic CYA, arbitrarily pick a fall guy for their foil and who better than a musician hooked on modern music. The amazing thing is Richard's apartment where the walls are covered with pictures of modern composers, dominated by a huge picture of Stravinsky. And, the riotious aside when he tells the girl trying to pump information from him that he has a "secret." When all of the spying evesdroppers stretch their ears to hear, he announces, "Je compose." Is this some new code? They look from one another as Pierre takes his violin and warns, "Mais, elle est moderne," and launches into a chromatic allegro ala Stravinsky. The movie goes on with great slapstick abetted by the marvelous timing of Richard who is rivalled only by Peter Sellars in that means. As the other reviewer noted, there was a decent American version with Tom Hanks, who played the part a lot more low key than Richard. I've seen this movie more than a dozen times and plan to see it again soon. Each time I find some new twist that gives me an extra tickle. Check it out! On s'amuse assez avec ce film-ci!

The film is real pleasure, masterpiece in its genre. Dynamic scenario, delightful music and of course excellent actors Pierre Richard, Mireille Darc Jean Carmet, Jean Rochefort acting as a team. Very 'aerial' and sunny film. The film is one of the best and unforgettable films of my childhood and I like it today. 'Grand blond' was a best-seller in Soviet Union and it did not lose its charm now.

After years of trying to get a copy of this wonderful movie and checking on Amazon, suddenly it became available on VHS at Amazon last summer and I ordered a copy. What arrived, is NOT an original studio release. Instead it was a generic tape with a typed white label. When I put it in to view, what I found was a very grainy image with a dubbed English soundtrack. I was very disappointed.

My guess is that someone found a copy of the 1972 poor U.S. release at a flea market somewhere and has taken a position that the copyright has entered the public domain after 28 years as per statutory section 17 USC 303 of the copyright law and is publishing copies of that worn out flea market copy.

An earlier comment was sophisticated slapstick, but while there are the occasional pokes in the eye -- the scene where an exploding cigar goes off and all the spies silenced weapons go "pfffht" (no blood, just lots of people falling over with silly expressions) is wonderful -- I think I'd instead classify this as sophisticated silliness. Reminds me of the old David Niven movies, except much less restrained.

But I also want to point out that the movie ends with a quote: "Every person is entitled to the respect of his or her private life. Penal Code, Article 9." Indeed, the wry tongue in cheek is pointed squarely at the absurdities of the French intelligence community. I find looking at the movie in that light adds another bit of fun to identifying the "good guys" and the bad guys.

Well worth your time.

Pierre Richard at his best. The movie has both verbal and slapstick comedy scenes which are some of his best. Mireille Darc when she turns her back to hapless Pierre. The dead bodies everywhere (including the refrigerator). A great comedy if you can understand the French.

Now finally available in a collected set of DVDs

"Coffret Le Grand blond - 2 DVD Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire - Le Retour du grand blond De Yves Robert Avec Pierre Richard, Jean Rochefort, Mireille Darc DVD Zone 2 - Pal. 2 volumes"

But for the English speakers - you may have to check out the Web to find some subtitles - product available from www.FNAC.com in France.

"Each citizen has a right to privacy" says the ninth article of French code penal. A nice touch from the director, Yves Robert, to remind us at the end of the film that privacy is a luxury that is not necessarily guaranteed just because we live in a democracy, and one might never be too careful that his secrets could be unveiled.

Still, let's suppose now that the government needs to know some secrets. Suppose that the person to spy on can be a threat? Now, suppose that he's thought to be dangerous, but in reality, he's just an average schmuck no better, no worse than the other fellow. That's an interesting basis of comedy, isn't it? Now, why would an average schmuck be spied on? Let's say he's used as a booby-trap to prove one agent's incompetence? Why? Well, imagine an Agent 1 wants to get rid of his second in command? Well, now you have the perfect set-up for one of the most iconic French comedies of errors.

Wait, there's still one piece of the puzzle missing, they still have to pick a random guy in an airport, and chose him as the unfortunate pawn of a deadly chess-game. Who? A tall black man with a green collar? An old man? A young… wait, who's coming here? A tall blond man with a black shoe … in one foot, and a reddish brown in another, it's so peculiar it looks premeditated, it's perfect, and the guy is the master spy, and the perfect booby trap and the most memorable entrance of a character in French cinema.

In French Cinema, there is a fistful of movies whose only mention of their titles is enough to bring back a particular imagery, music, some iconic shots, forever rooted in people's memory. "The Tall Blonde with a Black Shoe" is one of these immediately evocative titles, Pierre Richard's iconic entrance in Orly's escalator, Mireille Darc's black dress with the naughty buttock cleavage (the French equivalent of Marylin Monroe's white dress), the rivalry between two veteran actors: Jean Rochefort and Bernard Blier, respectively #1 and #2 of French Secret Services, Vladimir Cosma's immortal Pan's flute theme played by the no-less legendary George Zhamfir, and so on and so forth. Everything screams 'classic!' and for reasons.

"The Tall Blonde with a Black Shoe" 's particular flavor relies on two comedic ingredients: people taking the most peculiar things with an absolute seriousness, one man totally oblivious to the chaotic situations he creates around him and a goofy screwball thought to be a genius, three premises combined in one film, whose abundance of gags is never tarnished. The center of this oddball universe remains Pierre Richard in the most defining role of his career as François Perrin, the 5'10'' tall man with curly blonde hair and two unsuited shoes, the quintessential funny-looking character.

What is remarkable in Pierre Richard's performance is the way he embodies the natural goofiness of the character and yet remains straight all through the movie, he's either the Auguste clown causing trouble to a bunch of white-faced clowns around him, or he's the straight man of a grotesque masquerade. It's not surprising that the film was co-written by Yves Robert and Francis Veber, the latter would know how to use other actors' talent to highlight Richard's comedic appeal. But here, everyone is so damn serious yet everything seems so crazy and the film's laughs plays in an almost surreal level, as we follow the adventure of François Perrin.

Speaking of Perrin, It's interesting to note that he's the only one with a normal name while all the others are named from cities, to avoid any confusion, the writers took these precautions and exploited him for pure laughs as there are two thugs named Poucet and Chaperon a reference to two fairy tale characters, the film is like a timid parody and oddly enough, it works. In "The Tall Blonde", all the actors play their parts seriously and the laughs don't come from Perrin's weird situations but from the way they're interpreted. It can get a bit repetitive in the first act during which they bug his home, and follow him in his most intimate moments with Paulette, Maurice's wife, and Maurice his best friend played by an irresistible Jean Carmet.

The film takes a brilliant turn during a hilarious symphony sequence featuring the wife, the lover, and the cuckolded husband in the instruments and Yves Robert doing a brilliant cameo as the conductor, the laughs reach their pinnacle with the unforgettable evening at Christine's house. Relying on Richard's comical talent and not without some ad-libs, the film doesn't avoid the use of pure slapstick comedy allowing us to take a break from all this sophistication displayed in the previous scene. And while the film doesn't try to be funny every time, it remains consistent in quality. And of course, even indivisible element of the film, the catchy score of Vladimir Cosma, probably the music that would pave his way to glory.

Asked to make a sort of parody of James Bond themes, Cosma chose to follow his instincts instead of these advices, and dig in his Slavic background to come up with this Soviet-like little tune, not too oriental to be exotic, but catchy enough to be forever associated with the film. While Veber disagreed with the music's choice, Robert kept it, and as it was pointed out in the making-of, the music fitted perfectly the film as it sounded like a sort of Gypsy Dance to Death. I didn't know what it meant, until I remembered the parts where the first shots were fired. I thought it was over the top, but after a second thought, I guess they perfectly captured the spirit of a film that should not be taken too seriously.

And we all know, from the film, the danger of taking stuff 'too seriously'.

This was a pretty inventive French film that I really wanted to like. I picked up the video because it starred Pierre Richard, who I really liked in La Chèvre. However, unlike this later film, Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire wasn't really the wacky film I hoped it would be and I found Richard's performance to be a bit too restrained. In other words, the film was billed as a wacky parody of spy films but it just didn't get wacky enough--I expected something more. And, while Richard was occasionally clumsy or a little dim, his performance really wasn't all that funny. As a result, to me it's really just a time-passer.

The actual story idea is pretty creative. Two rivals within the French intelligence agency are at odds with each other. One decides to try and outwit the other by pretending to have a top agent who has incriminating information on his rival--hoping to get his rival to believe that some sap chosen at random is actually this agent. And, the supposed top agent is Richard. While I could go on and describe the plot further, it's probably best you just see the film. One highlight I really DID like was Richard's friend who kept seeing dead people at the end of the film. Yet each time he tried to show Richard, the bodies disappeared...making him seriously doubt his sanity. This was pretty funny, though the rest just seemed to miss the mark somehow.

first, excuse me for my English bur i didn't write in this language since 2 years. This movie was one of the best i've ever seen. Pierre Richard is the same as usual, with all its "tics" like : - his face with a little smile and look like someone which don't have any idea of what he's making here ! - its clothes are always out of fashion or completely "vintage" Moreover, the french version is more interesting because it's the VO so he "word games" are respected. In fact, all the characters are good in this movie, they all see to be exactly what they seem to be. The men who are supposed to be secret agents are too much : their raincoats and their shoes couldn't have been better than this. then, the music sound is one of the best i know. i can sing this song all the day without any problem.

But there's a reason why "obvious" gets to be so... well obvious.

Despite the fact that the print I saw of this had colour so mucky I would've been better off watching on a black and white TV set and that it was the dubbed version and not the original French version it is still better by far than the Hollywood remake in the 1980s.

First off the director of this has a sense of timing which goes a long way. Scenes like the opening interrogation using a lie detector move fast and with a Spartan minimum of activity.

More importantly is the fantastic art direction and the score by Zamfir (master of the pan flute). The hero's apartment could've easily graced the pages of Progressive Architecture. Especially his bathroom - no really. Only 'The Prisoner' made better use of art direction.

Even the dubbed dialog retains a level of precision with lines like "I didn't see you behind me" "Ah, but I'm already ahead of you...". They could've gotten a better voice-over for Maurice, but at least the sound effect for the guns was an inspired choice.

Some things like the bagpipe-as-a-snake scene don't work so well (at least outside of France) but they're a minor annoyance. Most of the comedy set pieces are inspired genius worthy of Chaplin, Keaton or (Harold) Lloyd.

By all means see this movie - and make sure to see it before you subject yourself to the American remake.

It's been many years since I saw this one, but it just "tickled my fancy." The US remake with Hanks and Belushi was ok, but the original had more spark. (I think casting Hanks and Belushi was as close as we could get to the original with big name actors. It was like seeing your friends perform "Taming of the Shrew".) The physical comedy of the best friend makes this good story even better.

This is like a Robin Williams movie directed by Ingmar Bergman and without Robin Williams. If someone had handed the script to a couple of high school kids and told them to make a movie, this is it. Everything about it misses the mark. Things that should have been funny were stepped all over, things that should have been touching were utterly pedantic. (Example: the fellow feeling guilty and saying he could have chosen someone else. It is said like he'd found a spare sock in the dryer.) Some things were no even attempted (Example: no reason is given as to why he changed his mind about the dentist. Instead, he just holds his hand to his cheek and drives off.) The actor who plays the patsy has absolutely no comedic talents. He just stands, walks, sits wherever the director says. Honestly this is the worst comedy I have ever seen and over the decades I've seen thousands of films to compare this with. It is lifeless, dull, pedantic, mechanical, and utterly devoid of any inspiration whatsoever. There is not one facet of this film that does not suffer from a pronounced lack of skill, talent, and intelligence. If you want to see this film done right, see then Hanks remake. As for the original, I have no idea how this limp noodle ever saw the light of day.

The British films have their flavor with mysteries but the French have the Gallic way of infusing humor in the most unlikely manner that the mysteries become terrific platforms of French humor at its finest. Film Movement is re-releasing this 1972 gem of a film and it hasn't lost a bit of its allure. Written by Francis Veber and writer/director Yves Robert this little pastiche is a treasure.

Two factions of the French Secret Service (Jean Rochefort and Bernard Blier) involve a seemingly normal but hapless orchestra player, François Pignon (Pierre Richard), into their battle as one side uses him as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.. Soon, agents are all over the place, and one of them, Christine (Mireille Darc), is sent to seduce François. Meanwhile, François has his own problems, tangled up in an affair with his best friend's wife.

This is French comedy/mystery at its best and it is just as radiant today as it was in 1972!