The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

The Man with One Red Shoe movie storyline. Cooper, the deputy director of the CIA, wants to be the director. So, he tries to make it appear that the director is corrupt so that he will resign or be removed. The director appears before a committee and asks for some time to prepare his defense. The director goes home and asks his man Brown to join him.

He then shows Brown that Cooper is bugging him. That’s when he decides to turn the tables on Cooper by feeding him some false information. And that information is that there’s a man, who might be able to clear him of the charges against him, will be arriving at the airport, so he tells Brown to meet him.

The Director tells Brown to just pick someone who is arriving at the airport thus making Cooper believe that he is the man who can help the director. Brown picks Richard cause he is wearing mismatched shoes, one of them being red. So Cooper sets up surveillance on Richard and sends his femme fatale, Maddy to come on to him and find out what he knows.

About the Story

An agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is arrested in Morocco on drug-smuggling charges. The person behind the smuggling operation is CIA deputy director Burton Cooper, who hopes the resulting scandal will lead to the resignation of CIA Director Ross, and Cooper’s promotion to Director. Although Ross is aware of Cooper’s complicity, but when questioned by a special Senate committee about the arrest, Ross tells the committee that he has not reviewed all of the facts of the case. The committee orders a full inquiry, and gives Ross 48 hours to present with the proper answers.

Ross devises a plan for Cooper’s downfall. Ross knows his house has been bugged for sound by Cooper, so he purposely leaks a rumor that a man will be arriving at the airport who will clear him of the scandal, and orders his assistant to pick him up. Cooper, desperate to find out who the mystery man is, sends his own agents to follow Ross’s lackey, Brown. Brown goes to the airport with instructions to pick someone at random from the crowd, leading Cooper and his team on a wild goose chase.

Brown spots a man wearing mismatched shoes descending an escalator and picks him as their random target. The man is concert violinist Richard Drew, whose percussionist friend Morris played a trick on him by hiding one of each pair of his shoes. This has forced Richard to wear one business shoe and one red sneaker on his flight home. Cooper takes the bait and starts tracking Richard, who proves to be carrying on his own intrigues.

Richard is completely oblivious to the intelligence operations centered on him, consumed by his own personal problems. He has been having an affair with Morris’ flutist wife Paula, who plays in the same symphony orchestra with Richard and Morris. The affair was brought on by Morris’ immaturity and his obsession with playing practical jokes on people, Richard being one of them. After eluding them at the airport, Richard is bumped into by Maddy, one of Cooper’s operatives, who steals his wallet.

After damaging his tooth with a bag of gag peanuts given to him by Morris, Richard heads home to prepare for a visit to the dentist. While talking on the phone with Morris, Cooper, who has tapped his phone, learns that they are to meet with the Senators. Cooper thinks it is an inquiry with the Senate, but it turns out to be the name of the orchestral softball team for which Richard and Morris play.