What about the original film?
I'm curious why the original French version of this film isn't in the IMDB. Is it because it is only listed under its French name? What is the French name?
shareThe answer is:
"Le Grand blond avec une chaussure noire" (The tall blonde man with one black shoe", from 1972, which is in the IMDB.
I'm glad it is listed here, as it is almost unknown (in the US) compared to the pathetic remake, which did not do it justice whatsoever. I have nothing against 80’s American films (I love them in fact), but “The Man With One Red Shoe” lacks all the originality and style of “The Tall Blonde Man With One Black Shoe.” Even just by comparing titles, you can see they were watering it down for American audiences. The awkward moments and absurd situations do not translate well from the French original.
One small moment in particular that sticks in my mind from the original: when the “agency” pays a visit to The Tall Blonde’s apartment, rummaging through all his things, the lead investigator finds one of those “Russian Nesting Dolls” and examines each piece thoroughly, totally perplexed. This plays into the psychology of the film, they believe everything “François” does is deliberate, he’s sending encoded messages. He is, after all, a “Super-Agent” according to his pursuers. This scene, like many others reinforcing this angle, was completely missing from the remake. They opted for a streamlined, “logical” interpretation of some of these elements that they probably expected would confuse the audience. It’s little things like this that made the original so great, and leave the remake feeling empty and “missing something.”
I own every version of the original film, and have come to the conclusion that the English dubbed version is the definitive one, excluding a few discrepancies. The ridiculous English voice acting makes it even slightly more comical. But, bottom line, while it is a great film, it should have never been remade. You just cannot top Pierre Richard in a comedy like this.
By the way, it is interesting to point out that several of Richard's films have been adapted by Hollywood. Anyone remember the somewhat-well-known comedy "Pure Luck" (1991) with the bumbling Martin Short and Danny Glover duo? It was a remake of an earlier (1981) Pierre Richard film entitled "La Chèvre" (The Goat).
I saw “The Man With One Red Shoe” at the theater because I really liked the original French movie, and enjoyed Tom Hanks too...I was sadly disappointed. If I hadn't seen the first one, the other might have been okay (but if I hadn't seen the first I probably wouldn't see the other...) It's been years since I've seen it, so tell me if I'm off here:
One theme that gave me trouble was the difference in the way sex was approached, especially in the crucial "I'm also a composer" scene. In 'Red Shoe', it's only when Hanks makes this statement and plays a saccharine piece of his that Lori Singer's character realizes he's not a spy, falls for him, and they can have Good People Sex. In 'Black Shoe', Christine invites François over, she seduces him, and only afterward does he admit to being a composer, and plays his shrill, dissonant violin piece for her, until she shouts at him to stop it. She might have figured he wasn't a spy in his hair-in-the-zipper ineptitude, but this clinches it.
Another difference is how the "cheating with his friend's wife" is portrayed. 'Red Shoe' - he had sex with her once, while on painkillers, so Not Responsible. 'Black Shoe' - he tries to resist her advances, but folds quickly (you can tell this is a recurring pattern with them).
Maybe I'm overreacting, but it looks like the folks doing the remake figured the audience can't accept the good guy characters as anything less than pure. At the same time, the remake amps up the pain factor as humor (thinking about the dentist scene)...kind of a creepy attitude going on there.
Hopefully I'll get the original sometime - I like the original-language version, specifically because it's done so straight-faced, which makes it that much funnier. I agree it shouldn't have been remade, and that goes for the French sequel, that just didn't jell.