The Return of the Tall Blond Man (Le Retour du Grand Blond) is the 1974 sequel to The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe. It was directed once again by Yves Robert and still starred Pierre Richard in the title role. Vladimir Cosma returned for the soundtrack.
Following the events of the first movie, Captain Cambrai is trying to prove Toulouse's plot that led to the death of Colonel Milan. With the help of a minister, they ask to meet the infamous "Tall Blond Man". To bury the evidence, Colonel Toulouse (Jean Rochefort) at first tries to have François Perrin assassinated during his vacation with his newfound love, Christine (Mireille Darc), in Brazil. But his killers, Prince (Hervé Sand) and Charmant (Henri Guybet), repeatedly fail to hit François, and Toulouse has no choice but to force Perrin into pretending he's an actual superspy.
The Return of the Tall Blond Man provides examples of:
- Assassin Outclassin': In Brazil, François manages to foil all the attacks on his life by Toulouse's assassins, Prince and Charmant, if only by sheer luck. For the last attempt, the assassins are told to spare his life so they move his car with a bomb inside out of the way.
- Beach Bury: The two assassins sent after François in Brazil shoot with their suppressed guns at what they believe is him buried in sand in a lying-down position (his charentaises shoes stick out the other end and a straw hat covers his face) on a beach, then they run away. When Christine comes out of the sea, she removes the charentaises thinking it was his feet, and it turns out he made her a prank and was buried vertically, with only his head sticking out under the straw hat. He was lucky the killers didn't shoot at his head.
- Binocular Shot: Maurice and Paulette are observed via binoculars at the opera in the opening scene.
- Blood from the Mouth: The fat Chinese gangster dying in the shootout has blood running from his mouth. It's all fake, though, to make François look like a badass spy.
- Bring It: François makes this hand motion when showing off his martial arts moves in the street with the police officer.
- Camera Sniper: A viewfinder follows François as he dances around in his apartment in Rio. The sniper shoots but misses him continuously.
- Coincidental Dodge: A sniper tries to shoot François in his apartment in Rio, but the attempt fails because François dances and bows down to spit out his drink.
- Counting to Three: François demands that the agents let him out of Maurice's apartment by the count of three. When they don't move on three, François continues counting to four but then loses his temper and lashes out at them.
- External Combustion: A hitman sets up François's car to explode shortly after ignition, but then gets told to spare François' life, so he instead moves the car away from François while he's not looking so it can explode safely.
- Fanservice Extra: Plenty of bikini-clad beauties on the beaches of Rio.
- Groin Attack: François applies this technique in his combat with the unwitting policeman.
- Gun Twirling: François shows off this trick as part of his deep spy cover.
- Handbag of Hurt: The wife of the policeman that François beats up in the street goes after him with her purse.
- Hollywood Silencer: The killers sent after François have guns and a sniper rifle that emits sounds akin to plastic pipes hitting something, not unlike some of the guns in Les Tontons flingueurs.
- Iris Out: The final scene.
- Mistaken for Badass: Toulouse's plan backfires on him the moment the minister wants to see François, and he's forced to explain everything to François and have him actually act as if he were a spy.
- Mistaken for Spies: The minister believes François is a spy and wants to see him. Toulouse has no choice but to have François pretend to be a superspy.
- Musical Pastiche: When François arrives in France disguised as a spy, there's a pastiche
of John Barry's James Bond music (including a snippet sounding like Goldfinger's "Bond Back in Action Again"). Then François goofs up when taking his (too tight) shoe off and leaving it on the airport's moving walkway's handrail, leading to it falling in a bucket of red paint, and the "Tall Blond Man" theme plays again. - Previously on…: The previous movie gets a recap at the beginning, with cards printed with the characters' pictures played by a stage magician while a voice-over describes the past events.
- Queer People Are Funny: The gay priest.
- Revenge of the Sequel: The sequel has The Return in the title.
- "Risky Business" Dance: François performs one in his apartment in Rio, making it impossible for the sniper to hit him.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: The first movie was in Paris, the sequel takes the action to Rio de Janeiro.
- Shoe Phone: François gets equipped with firelighters that act as walkie-talkies and switchblades.
- Sound-Only Death: Toulouse's alleged suicide in the finale happens behind a closed door.
- Theme Naming: As with Fairy Tale monikers Poucet and Chaperon in the first movie, Colonel Toulouse's killers here are called "Prince" and "Charmant" (Charming).
- These Hands Have Killed: The ploy to humble Cambrai. Toulouse sets him up to shoot a man on impulse which makes Cambrai feel deeply guilty. Too bad he later finds out that the bullets in his gun were blanks.
- Unluckily Lucky: François is still a magnet for mishaps, but he always emerges triumphantly from them, once again.
- Woman Scorned: Christine assassinates François at the opera for cheating on her with Paulette. It's all staged to fool Toulouse, though.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Toulouse plans to kill François after he has served his purpose. However, things turn out differently when François confuses left and right.
- Your Other Left: François is ultimately saved by his poor sense of direction when he strays from his intended route and avoids an encounter with Toulouse's killers.
