The Man with One Red Shoe

Name: The Man with One Red Shoe
Genre: Thriller, Comedy
Released: July 19, 1985
Duration: 92 min
Rating: 31
Cast: Carrie Fisher, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman, Edward Herrmann, Gerrit Graham

1985

METASCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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4.5	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 4 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | Release Date: July 19, 1985 | PG

Starring: Carrie Fisher, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman, Edward Herrmann, Gerrit Graham, Irving Metzman, James Belushi, Lori Singer, Tom Hanks, Tom Noonan

Summary: Based on the French Comedy, "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe." A man picked randomly out of a crowd is made the target of CIA surveillance and pursuit.

Director: Stan Dragoti

Genre(s): Thriller, Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 92 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Sheila Benson

One Red Shoe has trying moments (the sewer-man joke; the awful fate of Belushi’s character), but the rest of it whirls by as summer comedy ought to, and rarely does. Read full review

Laurie Horn

Fans of the droll style of actor Tom Hanks will chuckle through The Man With One Red Shoe, a story that builds a comic house of cards on a mistaken identity. [20 July 1985, p.4]

Gene Siskel

Leave it to an American production team to remake the same premise into an inarguably worse movie. And this insufferable remake called The Man with One Red Shoe marks the second time in as many years that producer Victor Drai, a former estate developer, has taken a French movie and turned it into garbage. Last year he took the genuinely amusing ''Pardon Mon Affair'' and reworked it with the help of the increasingly annoying Gene Wilder into ''The Lady in Red,'' one of the year`s worst movies. Read full review

Dave Kehr

It settles uneasily on the back of a verbal comic like Hanks—the movie keeps setting up gags that never quite materialize, and Hanks, unable to fill out his underwritten part with slapstick, is left stranded. Without any big laughs to even out the film's tone, the balance gradually shifts to the grim paranoia of the basic conception, and the movie that emerges seems oddly bleak and melancholic. Read full review

Janet Maslin

It's mostly just slight, and none of it elicits more than the mildest of chuckles. Read full review

Roger Ebert

Both of us have seen "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe," the French comedy that inspired this Hollywood retread. The French movie is about a case of mistaken identity. The American movie is about the same case of mistaken identity. The French have a name for this phenomenon: deja vu. So do we: ripoff. Read full review

Paul Attanasio

Nearly unwatchable. Read full review

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User Reviews

DawdlingPoet

Nov 28, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a comedy spy/crime film, featuring themes including surveillance and undercover intelligence. The first thing I'd like to say is that it isn't a film which seems to take itself particularly seriously - I felt the main character of Richard came across as somewhat exaggerated, being a bit geeky perhaps and the term slapstick came to mind. Having said that, its not as extreme as, say, the Mask in the film The Mask - Hanks is no Jim Carrey (Sorry Tom, though thats not necessarily a bad thing).

The plot seemed quite far fetched but it certainly does have its funny moments. Another word, or term, that came to mind was quirky - thats not specifically referring to Richard but probably moreso the undercover agents secretly tracking him and having to guess why he does what he does and having to (often wrongly) interpret the strange things they hear. There is certainly an element of incompetence brought across and I found it quite amusing, in terms of the very much official people being stumped by what they were seeing and hearing and the way they respond to things which makes them seem less than the brilliant professionals they appear to be. Its definitely a spoof of the spy/crime sub-genres and as such its a relatively pleasant watch, although I felt it was a shame it didn't provide more in the way of character development or background and also the plot felt a little 'fuzzy', that is to say not entirely clear. Its quite silly, a bit of fun and definitely amusing at times but overall I'm not sure I'd say it was great or, indeed, awful - its a pretty average 1980s (it was released in 1985) crime/action/comedy film really. Its not a film in which you have to have your wits about you and if you look away for a few moments you'll miss something but then I felt that the main plot was only roughly hinted at, in a sense, so maybe thats not such a good thing?. Its certainly somewhat entertaining but its hardly memorable.

Cast wise, Tom Hanks plays Richard. He plays the role of a seemingly average, run of the mill young(ish) adult, a slightly naive type although we learn that Richard isn't entirely what he seems. He does seem relatively clueless about things though, which makes for amusing moments during key scenes, so I suppose he plays his part well. Other cast members include Carrie Fisher as Paula, Jim Belushi as Morris and Lori Singer as Maddy. The cast are all relatively good at their parts, although I wouldn't say that any of them stood out as being outstanding or anything quite like that.

Music plays an important part in this film and is often classical in nature - it helps to raise the tension in certain scenes, as is often the case. There were times when I felt like it was relatively good at creatin a 'cat vs mouse' type tension or atmosphere, although I wouldn't say that its especially edge of your seat type thrilling either. Its a slightly hard film to review, I feel, as it seemed pretty average to me for the most part. Content wise, the film features sex references, mild violence and some strong language plus a scene featuring class A drugs, hence its 15 rating.

The film uses a number of cliches, some somewhat sexist, with one of a woman rushing in slow motion, a la Baywatch - you may find these amusing or a bit crass perhaps. There is a definite element of absurdity, in case you haven't already guessed. As I say, I thought it was relatively entertaining, particularly in the last half hour but I certainly wouldn't rush out to see it as such.

Unsurprisingly, no I wouldn't especially recommend it. It isn't without its laughs and its an easy watch but it felt a bit watered down and I wish there was a bit more detail given, in terms of Richards character development, his background and so on. It wasn't an unenjoyable watch but it felt distinctly average to me overall, so I'd say its worth watching if it comes on TV and it interests you perhaps but otherwise its not really worth spending money to see I reckon.… Expand

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FilipeNeto

Apr 27, 2020

This light comedy film is another of Tom Hanks' early career films. He gives life to a totally normal guy who is randomly chosen to be watched by the CIA as a spy because of an internal rivalry within the agency .

The biggest problem with this film is the very exaggerated and improbableThis light comedy film is another of Tom Hanks' early career films. He gives life to a totally normal guy who is randomly chosen to be watched by the CIA as a spy because of an internal rivalry within the agency .

The biggest problem with this film is the very exaggerated and improbable script. Halfway through the film, I had already forgotten the issue that gave rise to everything, the Senate audit and internal CIA rivalries. It is simply too complicated for a light film like this, and makes everything else look totally silly, with professional secret agents watching over the life of a totally normal guy without anyone realizing that there was absolutely nothing special about him. I understand that this is also part of the comedy, with all its nonsense, but I think it didn't work well.

The only good thing about this film is Hanks good performance, still far from fame and acclaim, but also relatively raw in his acting. Beside him, Lori Singer gave a good support and Jim Belushi is good at comedy, but everything else is darkened behind the work of the three actors that I highlighted here.… Expand

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