Le Grand Blond avec une Chaussure Noire (1972)

	Also Known As: Der große Blonde mit dem schwarzen Schuh
	Year of first release: 1972
	Director: Yves Robert (La Guerre des Boutons)
	Actors: Pierre Richard, Bernard Blier (Les Tontons Flingueurs), Jean Rochefort (Lost in La Mancha), Mireille Darc
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.12.2016, 42" TV
Synopsis: A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.
Review: An unforgettable classic French comedy from my youth of watching public television, hard to believe that it is 45 years old thanks to digital conservation and projection of such movies nowadays. The humour ages but the image quality not! Indeed I guess it would be hard for a young audience to laugh at the gags, quite typical of that decade. For me that character of the absentminded violinist (Mr. Nobody in fact) is likeable, so much that a sequel was soon produced in 1974 (Le Retour du Grand Blond), and in fact it is the kind of character Pierre Richard excelled at playing (already in Le Distrait in 1970). But what makes the most fun for me is the rivalry between a stern Jean Rochefort as Secret Services Head and his deputy played by Bernard Blier as nervous as a Wolfoni Brother. This rivalry and the high-tech spy techniques used by both teams put in contrast with the mundane life of the violinist (between toothaches, adultery and an invading best friend) is what makes the comedy work.
Rating: 5 /10