The Man With One Red Shoe

The Man With One Red Shoe (1985)

Director: Stand Dragoti

Writers:  Francis Veber, Yves Robert, Robert Klane

Cast: Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, Lori Singer, Charles Durning, Carrie Fisher, Edward Hermann, Jim Belushi, Irving Metzman, Tom Noonan, Gerrit Graham

Synopsis:

Based on the French film, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, this film focuses on internal politics within the CIA. Copper (Coleman), the agency's deputy director, has designs on the director's position, which is currently held by Ross (Durning). To achieve this, Cooper attempts to show that Ross is corrupt and orchestrates a Senate inquiry. Ross is aware of the plot and devises one of his own in an attempt to foil Cooper's machinations. Ross feeds Cooper misinformation by openly sending his underling, Brown (Hermann), to fetch someone at the airport, which is a critical witness that can bury Cooper for good. The thing is, there is no such person, and Brown is instructed to pick just a random person to send Cooper and his men on a wild goose chase. The man Brown picked is Richard Drew (Hanks), a hapless, repressed violin player with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. Fed the wrong information, Cooper and his team follow Richard to try and find out who exactly he is and what he knows. Hijinks ensue.

First Impressions:

I saw this film for the first time when it was aired on TV. I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I really didn't understand most of the plot, but man, I thought it was funny. I loved this movie, in fact, I mean to 10-year old me, there was lots to love. It had Tom Hanks at his goofiest, a man getting hit in the head with a softball while ogling a woman jogger, Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley, Princess Leia in her underwear, oh and I'm pretty sure it was the first time I saw a woman's (mostly) bare ass. Like I said, 10-year old me was quite fond of this film. I saw the DVD for this movie pop up on Amazon for cheap recently, so I figured I'd wade through some nostalgia and give it a go. It's literally been more than 30 years since I've seen it. I wonder how it'll appear to my more refined "adult" sensibilities. 

Story/Direction: 

"Control yourself. Control yourself.  What would Gordon Liddy do? No, I can't do that, I'm not hungry."

Based on my above synopsis, you'd almost think that the premise of this film would make an interesting cold-war era spy story. While I genuinely believe this to be true, the execution here was not good and the fact that it was meant to be a comedy makes that more apparent. That's not to say there aren't funny moments in the film, there are quite a few, but there's not a real story to hold them all together. I know, I know, comedy isn't the same as action or drama, and the plot for a comedy movie shouldn't be measured in the same way as other genres, but I still expect there to be some sort of coherent tale to tell. Here there's no real focus, we're given vague implications of a rivalry between Cooper and Ross, but we're not really given any reason as to why Cooper wants Ross' job other than because he's a dick. 

Speaking of characters, there's also some inconsistent characterization among them, particularly with Ross' and Cooper's various henchmen. At some points, they appear to be confident professionals, but at other times, usually, to serve some sort of gag, they end up looking like doofuses (doofi? I'm not sure of the correct plural here). That being said, regardless of character, all of them play their roles straight, and there's no implied winking at the camera through all of the silliness, which is good because the movie would be unbearable if that were the case. Overall, there some genuinely funny bits here, but I'm starting to long for the days when I didn't understand the film's story.

Acting:

For such a crummy movie, there are a fair number of big names, though some of them weren't necessarily big names at the time. First of all, Tom Hanks is just as charming as ever. It's hard to remember that before he became a perennial Oscar contender, Tom was a superb comedic actor, and that's where he got his start mostly (Mazes and Monsters notwithstanding) in the 80s. Here, he plays Richard as the quintessential Tom Hanks comedy role, a good-natured boob. Basically, what I'm saying here is that it's pretty much impossible to dislike Tom Hanks in anything. He could give a dramatic reading of Nickelback lyrics, and people would still love him.

I also have to give a shout out to Jim Belushi's take on Richard's manic buddy, Morris. I'm generally not a fan of Belushi's as he usually just plays annoying characters (which, honestly, he kind of is here too). Morris starts out as a practical joker, who is always worried that his wife Paula (Fisher) is unfaithful to him. However, during the film's third act, we see Morris - whose suspicions about his wife are confirmed - go from being angry to terrified in just a few short minutes as he's thrust into film's endgame. I'm also surprised to admit that, for me anyway, Belushi solicited my heartiest laughs.

Finally, I have to mention Tom Noonan. Now, Tom is an actor not customarily associated with comedic roles. In general, he's been relegated to playing creepy antagonists. Here, as the perennially unlucky agent Reese, he displays a real talent with comedic sensibilities. Reese is really the only competent character in the whole movie, but he's plagued with the worst luck that results in him taking a great deal of physical punishment, which he deals with stoically up until the third act when he finally snaps. 

Visuals:

There's really not much here in terms of visual effects. It's really not that type of film. The filmmakers didn't even bother to add muzzle flashes in for the various firearms used in the movie. There really isn't even much top write home about when it comes to the cinematography in the film, either. I don't really have much else to say about it, so moving on...

Score/Music:

The music in this film, composed by Thoman Newman, is pretty standard 80s comedy fare. Fairly minimalist, almost like elevator music, and there isn't really much to say about it either. It was just kind of there. However, since the main character is an orchestral violinist, we do get a bit of classical music thrown in every now and then, which was nice. All in all, the music was just...meh.

Action:

Believe it or not, there is a bit of action in this movie, but not much. It all mostly takes place in the third act, where it's just a lot of running and a little bit of shooting. There really aren't any exciting set pieces or great chase sequences to speak of. It can be forgiven for this, though, because it's a screwball 80s comedy and not an action movie.

Final Verdict:

What else can I say but 10-year old me was a dumbass. This is not a particularly good movie. It does have a few funny moments in it, but it's definitely not one of Tom Hanks' best efforts. I'd suggest steering clear unless you're a huge fan of Mr. Hanks or one of those people that really love bad movies for some reason.