Review of Roxanne (1987) by Stuart K — 16 Apr 2013

At the height of his success, Steve Martin took Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac, and updated it to 80's America, he also personally chose Australian director Fred Schepisi (Barbarosa (1982), A Cry In The Dark (1988) and The Russia House (1990)) to bring it to the screen.

It's a very sweet and very funny film, with Martin at his best, and it displays his talents as a screenwriter as well, which he puts to good use here. In the mountain town of Nelson, fire chief C.

D. Bales (Martin) is a witty and intelligent man, who is also endowed with a very big nose. He would have it altered, but cannot due to a dangerous allergy to anesthetics, but his mood changes when astronomer Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah) comes to town to search the skies for a comet.

C.D. falls in love with her, but she ends up falling for fireman Chris McConnell (Rick Rossovich), who has just joined C.D.'s team, but Chris also has affections for Roxanne, but is too shy to tell her so, so he get's C.

D. to write love letters to Roxanne, in an attempt to win her over, and the plan works, to a point. It's a film which still works now, and it shows how clever Martin is as a writer, it's got a good cast and a memorable scene where C.

D. is able to tell 20 big nose jokes as a bet, it has a fantastical quality about it, but it manages to be a sweet and uplifting love story as well.