Roxanne
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List Price: $9.98
Features
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC
In Theaters : 19 June, 1987
Video Release : 09 January, 2001 |
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Romantic Comedies Don't Come Much Better
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"Roxanne," a 1987 film written by, and starring, the comic genius Steve Martin is yet another film from the fertile 1980's that more people should be happy to know. It's based on the 100-year old French play "Cyrano de Bergerac," by Edmond Rostand. And it costars the long-legged blonde Daryl Hannah, makes good use of Shelley Duvall, Fred Willard, and Michael J. Pollard in supporting roles, was directed by the talented Australian Fred Schepisi. It's set, supposedly, in a pretty Oregon skiing town; actually filmed in a pretty Canadian town; the cinematography presents us with many green and charming vistas.
Its plot follows the original. C.D.(Charlie) Bales (Martin), (note he's got the same initials as the original), is the intelligent, engaging fire chief of the small town; he's got quite a lot going for him, but also, unfortunately, an extremely prominent nose. But he's getting alone fine until astronomy student Roxanne (Hannah) comes to town on a cheap summer sublet. She falls for one of Bales's employees, dumb but handsome Chris (Rick Rossovich) in a big way; but, fortunately, she doesn't really go for dumb. Her friend Dixie (Duvall), tells her she wants Chris's looks with Charlie's brains. And, for a while, that's what she gets, as Charlie writes Chris's love letters and dictates his dialogue.
Many critics have lauded Martin's extraordinary gift for physical comedy, but you've got to see it to believe it. He opens the movie with an energetic strut across town, then has a wonderfully choreographed fight with two rude young male tourists: his tennis racket against their ski poles. He also spends a lot of time climbing up and around houses and trees; and falls down from a tree, claiming he was abducted by aliens, as per a puzzling scene in the original play. The movie also gets a gratifying amount of mileage out of Charlie's fire department: there aren't too many movies that give the viewer any feel for what a character supposedly does to make a living. One criticism: Dixie is not as young or beautiful as Roxanne, but does that mean she had to be turned into an asexual auntie type? Oh well. Romantic comedies don't come much better than this.
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