The Man with One Red Shoe
| The Man With One Red Shoe | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Stan Dragoti |
| Produced by | Victor Drai |
| Screenplay by | Robert Klane |
| Story by |
Francis Veber Yves Robert |
| Starring |
Tom Hanks Dabney Coleman Lori Singer Charles Durning James Belushi Carrie Fisher Edward Herrmann |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Cinematography | Richard H. Kline |
| Editing by |
O. Nicholas Brown Bud Molin |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release dates | July 19, 1985 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16 million[1] |
| Box office | $8,645,411 |
The Man With One Red Shoe is a 1985 comedy film directed by Stan Dragoti, and starring Tom Hanks and Dabney Coleman. It is a remake of a 1972 French film Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire starring Pierre Richard and Mireille Darc.
Plot
Cooper (Coleman), a deputy director of the CIA, wants to take over the director position. Standing in his way is Ross (Durning), whom Cooper plans on eliminating by implicating him in a failed drug-smuggling operation in Morocco and forcing him to resign.
Ross catches onto the plot and develops a plan of his own to get back at Cooper. Ross knows his house has been bugged for sound by Cooper, so he purposely leaks a rumor that a man will be arriving at the airport who will clear him of the scandal, and orders his assistant to pick him up. Cooper, desperate to find out who the mystery man is, sends his own agents to follow Ross's lackey, Brown (Herrmann). Brown goes to the airport with instructions to pick someone at random from the crowd, leading Cooper and his team on a wild goose chase.
Brown spots a man wearing mismatched shoes stepping onto a crowded escalator and picks him as their random target. That man is Richard Drew (Hanks) a concert violinist, whose friend Morris (Belushi) a concert percussionist, played a trick on him by hiding one of each pair of his shoes. This has forced Richard to wear mismatched shoes on his flight home, with one business shoe and one red sneaker. Cooper takes the bait and starts tracking Richard, who proves to be carrying on his own intrigues.
Richard is completely oblivious to everything around him and has his own problems. He is pursued by Paula (Fisher), a concert flutist who is Morris' wife and has been having an affair with him. Paula's infidelity was brought on by Morris' immaturity and his obsession with playing practical jokes on people, Richard being one of them. Richard, along with Morris and Paula, are all musicians who play with the same symphony orchestra. After eluding them at the airport Richard is bumped into by Maddy (Singer), one of Cooper's operatives who picks his pocket and steals his wallet.
After damaging his tooth with a bag of gag peanuts given to him by Morris Richard heads home to prep for a visit to the dentist. While talking on the phone with Morris Cooper, who has tapped his phone, learns that they are to meet with the Senators. Cooper thinks its an inquiry with the U.S. Senate, but it turns out to be the name of the orchestral softball team that Richard and Morris are, and what their conversation was referring to.
While Richard heads to the dentist Cooper send his agents out to continue their surveillance. First by having Maddy (Singer) to lead a team to search his apartment for any information and bug it for sound. And then by having other agents intercept him at his dentist office believing his tooth has microfilm inside.
They learn that Richard has traveled the world, including several Communist countries. Cooper thinks this the perfect cover for a spy, and starts digging deeper. Soon they suspect his sheet music is actually a code, and steal time on Defense Department computers to decipher it. Hoping to learn more, he sends in Maddy (Singer) to seduce Richard and find out what he knows. While Richard is playing a violin composition he wrote for her, Maddy actually falls for him.
Ross, meanwhile, simply sits back and watches the antics unfold. But Brown is concerned about an innocent man being killed, Richard being that man, due to Ross's plan to draw out Cooper. When one attempt after another fails to yield any usable information, Cooper orders Richard killed, eventually attempting to kill the man himself. Richard remains completely oblivious to the plot until the film's climax, when Maddy reveals who she really is, and testifies in front of the Senate about the plot. Cooper is arrested, while Ross is demoted and replaced by Brown as Director of the CIA. Richard settles down with Maddy.
Cast
- Tom Hanks – Richard
- James Belushi – Morris
- Dabney Coleman – Cooper
- Lori Singer – Maddy
- Charles Durning – Ross
- Carrie Fisher – Paula
- Edward Herrmann – Brown
- Irving Metzman – Virdon
- Tom Noonan – Reese
- Gerrit Graham – Carson
- David L. Lander – Stemple
Reception
The film has a rating of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes.
See also
References
- ↑ Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Scarecrow Press. p. 260.
External links
- The Man with One Red Shoe at the Internet Movie Database
- The Man with One Red Shoe at allmovie
- The Man with One Red Shoe at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Man with One Red Shoe at Box Office Mojo
- 1972 Le Grand Blond avec une Chaussure Noire
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