How the film "The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe" was filmed: 17 interesting facts about the film (19 photos)

I think I will not be mistaken if I say that one of the most famous films with Pierre Richard is the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe,” released in 1972.





1. Director Yves Robert was once fond of spy films and biographies of secret agents. And after reading the novel “The Fifth String” by Igal Shamir, Yves Robert literally got the idea to make his own film on a similar topic.



Yves Robert

2. Before starting the script, Yves Robert was able to talk to some real secret agents who told him some stories from their work. Some of these stories were even included in the film.

3. Despite the fact that the background for the film and some of the stories of the secret agents that will be included in it belonged to Yves Robert, he was not the one who wrote the script. Screenwriter Francis Weber was brought in to write the script, who had previously written scripts for such films as “Call Me Matilda” and “Once Upon a Time There Was a Policeman.”





Francis Weber

It was Francis Weber who advised him to cast his friend Pierre Richard in the main role, although Yves Robert initially wanted to see Claude Richet in the role of the main character. But when Robert heard about Pierre Richard, he immediately agreed with Weber, and was even surprised that this thought had not occurred to him himself.

Later, Francis Weber himself became a director, and already in 1976 his first film “Toy” was released, where Pierre Richard would also play the main role. And this will be just the beginning of their cooperation.



But the bosses of the Guamont studio were against Pierre Richard playing in this film, despite the fact that he was at the peak of his popularity. The producers believed that because of Richard they would lose a good part of the provincial viewers.

But then Yves Robert himself intervened, who did not want to give up Richard. And thanks to the fact that he himself was one of the producers of the film (and not just the director), he managed to defend the actor.



4. Initially, Yves Robert wanted to call his film “The Fool’s Trap,” but when Pierre Richard was cast in the leading role, it was decided to change the title to “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe.”

5. By the way, director Yves Robert also played a small role in the film as an orchestra conductor.



6. It was originally planned to take actress Annie Dupre for the role of Christine, but the producer of the Guamont company, Alain Poiret, suggested that Robert try actress Mireille Darc for this role, who eventually received the role of Christine.

Mireille herself later said that she agreed to this role on the advice of her common-law husband, the famous actor Alain Delon.



By the way, it was Mireille Darc who turned to the famous fashion designer Guy Laroche to come up with an unforgettable dress for her heroine. As a result, Laroche, with the help of an assistant, designed that same black dress with a deep neckline on the back. And yes, many will certainly remember this dress forever.



According to Mireille Darc herself, when she came to the set in this provocative dress, all members of the film crew literally fell silent, staring at the actress and not taking their eyes off her.

But Pierre Richard himself saw this dress only when filming began. Yves Robert and Francis Weber specifically did not tell Richard about this dress in order to capture the actor’s real emotions from what he saw.



Many years later, Mireille Darc held a sale of her film dresses, but she did not put up that same black dress with a cutout for sale. As the actress herself said, he would never sell the dress, because he didn’t want to think that it would sit on someone else’s buttocks.

7. Yves Robert specifically named some characters (for example, Milan and Toulouse) after cities in order to avoid coincidences with real people.

8. In the apartment of Francois Perrin.



9. The National Museum of Art was used as the headquarters of the French secret service, both outside and inside.

10. The music for the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe” was written by the famous French-Romanian composer Vladimir Cosma. He was asked to do something in the spirit of James Bond, but with a comedic twist.

Cosma himself thought that it would be inappropriate and not funny, so he offered his own options. But Francis Weber considered the proposed music absolutely uninteresting and dull. But director Yves Robert and producer Alain Poiret liked the music, so they convinced Weber.



Vladimir Kosma

Surprisingly, despite the fact that Weber was initially against the music written by Cosmo, years later he himself began to invite the composer to his films. It was Vladimir Cosmo who wrote the iconic melody for Francis Weber’s first film, “The Toy” (1976).

11. The opening credits are made in a very interesting way - using playing cards. And what's most interesting is that there is not a bit of editing here. To create the credits, a special deck of cards was produced with the names of the crew members. Then professional magician and illusionist Gerard Mojax performed several card tricks on a black background so that a card with a particular name appeared at the right moment.



By the way, the illusionist and magician Gerard Mojax himself also played a small role in the film



12. According to the original idea of the author, Francois Perrin was supposed to die at the end of the film at the airport. But due to the fact that the authors began to think about a possible continuation of the film even at the time of filming, they decided to leave Perrin alive and kill Milan instead.



And as a result, a couple of years later, a sequel to the film called “The Return of the Tall Blonde” was actually released.

13. The film "The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe" is the first film where a character named Francois Perrin appears. This name was invented by screenwriter (and then director) Francis Weber, and in the end he decided to use this first and last name for the main characters in his other films, such as “Toy”, “Nowhere Further”, “Headbutt”, “Unlucky” ", "Jaguar", etc.



Moreover, these characters are in no way connected with each other, despite the fact that Pierre Richard plays Francois Perrin in four films.

14. In 1972, the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe” became the leader in the French box office. Also, the film was rated very highly in the USSR, like other French films at that time. True, the merciless Soviet censors cut out some moments, as they considered them too frank and inappropriate. For example, Soviet viewers did not see the scene when Christina’s hair got stuck in Francois Perrin’s fly.



15. In 1985, the Americans filmed a remake of the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe” called “The Man in One Red Shoe,” where Tom Hanks played the main role.



"The Man in One Red Shoe" (still from the film)

But the remake didn't come close to the original. The film was a box office failure, grossing only $8.6 million against a budget of $16 million.

16. Jean Rochefort, who played Colonel Louis Toulouse, never crossed paths with Pierre Richard during filming. By the way, many of you will certainly remember this wonderful actor for his role as Degre from the series of films about Angelica.



Jean Rochefort

17. The word “Scoundrel!”, which Colonel Milan, played by Bernard Blier, shouts every now and then, has become the actor’s calling card. He repeatedly shouted this word in other films with his participation.



Bernard Blier

By the way, in the Soviet dubbing the character Bernard Blier was voiced by actor Vladimir Kenigson, whose voice many will recognize from films with Louis de Funes.

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