The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe

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The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe

PG

1972

1h 30m

Comedy

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

79%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Desperate to protect his job from a bureaucratic rival, the head of the French secret service (Jean Rochefort) picks outs a stranger, François Perrin (Pierre Richard), from a Paris crowd and singles him out as a master spy who should be tracked very closely. In reality, François is an amiable, if clumsy, classical violinist whose complete obliviousness to the agents watching him only further convinces them that they have a major undercover operative in their sights.

Jay Cocks

TIME Magazine

Just about as witty and well-turned as its title.

Mar 18, 2020

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Roger Greenspun

New York Times

Well, it isn't comedy of the highest order, but most of it is thoroughly winning.

May 9, 2005

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Tall Blond Man is just too relaxed, too confident of its own cool; comedy has to take more risks than this one does.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 23, 2004

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Meagerly amusing, if thanks to several scenarios genuinely funny in their brevity, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe is worth a look, but like several of its scenarios, the mere idea of its existence is more entertaining than the actuality.

Rated: 2.5/5

Oct 27, 2020

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Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

... takes an idea out of Hitchcock's North by Northwest-an innocent man is mistaken for a government agent and targeted by the enemy-and gives it cynical twist and a comic treatment closer to the Pink Panther films.

May 22, 2016

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 4, 2005

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Mikael Z

I thoroughly enjoyed it, even with some rough edges here and there.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/24

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Mark V

This movie is a farce as only the French can produce. It has so many scenes that are just absurd and hilarious, but everything fits together magnificently, making plausible what would otherwise be completely implausible. Christine's gown is a stunner.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/27/23

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Kupferman J

Old movie but not old fashioned at all, it was sharp and funny!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/03/23

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Audience Member

Showed me the value of foreign films in my formative years, not just for heavy-duty serious stuff. SO so funny. Mel Brooks and Monty Python and take on James Bond and Harry Palmer.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

Subtle and broad humor combined beautifully! Even the score is spot on all the way through.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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Audience Member

A clever French Comical Farce about a clumsy Musician who is mistaken as a Super Spy & has half the French Secret Service following him. Very clever & quirky comedy but the film was missing a little something & failed to keep up my enthusiasm throughout. There are some delightful scenes & I read this film was remade by the USA with Tom Hanks in the lead. Clever concept that shows some great footage of Paris in the early 1970's.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Yves Robert

Director

Pierre Richard

François Perrin

Bernard Blier

Barnard Milan

Jean Rochefort

Le colonel Louis Marie Alphonse Toulouse

Mireille Darc

Christine

Jean Carmet

Maurice

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Synopsis

Desperate to protect his job from a bureaucratic rival, the head of the French secret service (Jean Rochefort) picks outs a stranger, François Perrin (Pierre Richard), from a Paris crowd and singles him out as a master spy who should be tracked very closely. In reality, François is an amiable, if clumsy, classical violinist whose complete obliviousness to the agents watching him only further convinces them that they have a major undercover operative in their sights.

Director: Yves Robert
Producer: Alain Poiré, Yves Robert
Screenwriter: Yves Robert, Francis Veber
Production Co: Gaumont, Madeleine Films, Les Productions de la Guéville
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Runtime: 1h 30m