The Man with One Red Shoe *** (1985, Tom Hanks, James Belushi, Lori Singer, Dabney Coleman, Carrie Fisher, Charles Durning, Edward Herrmann) – Classic Movie Review 6175

The Americans remake yet another French comedy (the 1972 The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe) to provide a fun role for Tom Hanks as Richard, a violinist who cycles to his engagements, taken on as a dupe by ambitious CIA deputy director Ross (Charles Durning) and chased by spies like Cooper (Dabney Coleman).

Director Stan Dragoti’s 1985 screwball spy comedy thriller is totally silly and preposterous, but that is okay here because that surely that is the point, and because the movie is so entirely pleasant and likeable,

Robert Klane’s screenplay is bright and lively, while on the performing front Hanks leads the way to plenty of laughs. There are good moments too from Durning, Coleman, James Belushi as Hanks’s prankster pal Morris, Carrie Fisher as a flighty flautist called Paula, Lori Singer as Maddy and Edward Herrmann as Brown.

It is cut for a PG certificate in the UK, and the PG-rated swearing and violence are further trimmed in the TV version.

Also in the cast are Irving Metzman, Tom Noonan, David L Lander, Ritch Brinkley, Gerrit Graham, Frank Hamilton, Dortha Duckworth, Art LaFleur, David Ogden Stiers, Julius Carry, Stephen Bradley, Richard McGonagle, George Marton, Patricia Gaul and Charles Levin.

Klane’s screenplay is based on the original 1972 screenplay (Le Grand Blond avec une Chaussure Noir) by Francis Veber and Yves Robert. It starred Pierre Richard, Bernard Blier and Jean Rochefort. Note that the shoe colour has changed from black to red in the transatlantic crossing!

Nevertheless, it is a largely overlooked Hanks movie, after struggling to find an audience, taking a disappointing $8,600,000 in the US on a $16 million budget.

Coleman went on to play Hanks’s father in You’ve Got Mail.

Edward Herrmann died of brain cancer on 31 December 2014, aged 71.

Carrie Fisher died on 27 December 2016, age 60.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6175

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