Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
... View MoreOk... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
... View MoreAll of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
... View MoreThis is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
... View MoreThe fun which audiences had due to Yves Robert's ingenuous story telling methods in "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" continues without any break in "The Return of the Tall Blond Man". Much of the action concentrates its focus on the notion that if a spy is created for some specific targets to be met, this person can also be allowed to die once those targets are achieved. French actors Pierre Richard as a spy and Mireille Darc as the spy's girl friend travel to Brazil as love birds where they are able to escape danger by being vigilant during all times. A key aspect of this film is about how a bureaucrat would try to do anything possible in order to please a minister ? This sub plot brings a fresh twist to the story wherein direct political involvement in matters of spies are brought to the fore. This situation gives rise to a minor yet decisive conflict between a secret agent and his contemporary.The fun does not seem to end as a lot of comic situations are added in the film to depict the futility of espionage.
... View MoreWhatever the success of its predecessor, 'Le retour du grand blond' (= French for 'the return of the tall blond man') can safely be labeled as a miscarriage.Its plot, providing an almost endless sequence of just-not slap sticks, nowhere & never carries you away. Even its distant link to James Bond hardly makes sense.The only memorable scene is provided by male lead Pierre Richard, getting stuck with his finger in a street grill.However, a positive exception is made by its shooting, which is fully up to 1974-standards. But sadly that's all there is. Not even Mireille Darc is able to lift 'Le retour du grand blond' from its misery.
... View MoreBetween them the other two posters seem to have got it just about right. In other words this IS a sequel that works as well as if not better than the original. Those who missed the original are quickly brought up to speed with a particularly brilliant precis which concludes with a natural link that enables us to zoom straight into THIS film, picking up 'Blondie' and Christine in Brazil even as back in Paris a colleague of the late Milan is preparing the ground to discredit Toulouse (Jean Rochefort) again utilising Perrin as an unwitting pawn. The stage is now set for more assassination attempts that go comedically wrong and allow the excellent cast to turn in standout performances - Mirielle Darc gets a 'with the participation of' credit and is off-screen for the bulk of the action suggesting problems behind-the-scenes - as they did the first time around. The two films are now available as a DVD package and are highly recommended.
... View MoreI strongly recommend viewing this sequel before the original. Indeed, Le Retour will probably leave you intrigued to watch "Le Grand Blonde", but I can easily imagine a viewer seeing 'Le Grand Blond' and not bothering to look for a sequel."Le Retour" is worth watching even if you've recently seen the American remake, "The Man with One Red Shoe". In fact, give it a chance even if you didn't particularly like the Hanks film -- the gulf is akin to (but not quite as large as) the one between Jean Luc Beson's Le Femme Nikita and the Hollywood remake -- a huge difference in tone, richness and sheer cleverness (This film may be where Quentin Tarantino got his by-now-familiar Mexican standoffs.) If you worry about seeing films out of order, have no fear! There's charming introduction, where the characters and events of the original 'Grand blond' are dealt out and explained as cards in a magic act (rather clever ...and apropos) It may leave you feeling as if you're missing a lot of background, but you aren't. It's a fine demonstration of the show biz maxim "leave them wanting more"I first saw this film over 20 years ago at a college-sponsored "Midnight Movies" and enjoyed it so much that I never forgot it and kept an active eye open for an opportunity to see it again (and show it to my friends)About a year ago, I happened across both movies at a small local video. By now, I'd long since forgotten if I had seen the 'le Grand Blond' or 'Le Retour' (the sequel), so I started with the original.It was such a total disappointment that I couldn't bring myself to put the sequel in the VCR. Where was the charm I remembered? I wrote the whole thing off as one of those college experiences you can never re- create. Could I really have been that different at 16?Fortunately, I did end up playing 'Le retour' a few days later. It still held a large measure of the appeal I recall from 1978, and remains firmly among the films I recommend
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