Product Description

Roxanne (Darryl Hannah) is a beautiful astronomer in search of a comet, and Chris is a hunky but inarticulate fire expert who has been hired to train C.D.'s team of well-meaning firemen. C.D. immediately falls in love with Roxanne but he is sure that she won't notice anything about him except his extremely prominent facial feature and is quick to hide his passionate desires. However, Roxanne has captured the fancy of another, Chris. When C.D. learns of Chris's crush, he uses his gift for poetry to help the inexperienced courtier capture her affections. Wooed by the beauty of the words, Roxanne falls for Chris, not realizing that C.D. was the one really doing the talking. Of course, when put to the test, Chris does not live up to Roxanne's expectations and she quickly learns the identity of her real poetic suitor. Steve Martin is at his agile and uproarious best in this superior version of a classic story that revels in the oddity of life and the power of true love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7210 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-06-04
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
In 1987, almost a hundred years after its first production, the romantic story of Cyrano de Bergerac found new life in a winsome film written by Steve Martin. Roxanne updates the tale with a smart '80s spin, yet writer-star Martin stays close to the old-fashioned heart of the matter. He plays a small-town firefighter named C.D. Bales, whose otherwise unremarkable existence is crowned by an amazingly long nose. He falls for the world's most beautiful astronomer (Daryl Hannah), but he is embarrassed by the size of his proboscis and prefers to stay on the sidelines. Like Cyrano, the shy C.D. instead helps a handsome friend (Rick Rossovich) woo the fair lady by providing flowery sentiments and soulful poetry. Not only does the story still work, but Australian director Fred Schepisi captures a dreamy grace in his visual design for the film (some of which will be lost without the widescreen format). Set in Washington State, but filmed in the hilly ski resort of Nelson, British Columbia, the location seems like a fairy-tale town, nearly as unreal as Steve Martin's nose. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

"I have breathed you in, and I am suffocating..."
This one is an all-time favorite and a long-time resident of my home video library. Comedy legend Steve Martin, in a way that only Steve Martin can, plays the role of the emotionally and intellectually-wealthy goblin of a man who falls for the equally emotionally and intellectually-wealthy blonde bombshell (Daryl Hannah--hey, why not?) who visits his small town. Unfortunately, this bombshell is lacking in the common sense department, because she immediately falls for the beefcake village idiot, played convincingly by Rick Rossovich. Go figure. But what happens as a result of this scenario is altogether funny, charming, touching and totally entertaining. This movie flows. Martin compounds his genius in the movie by assembling a stellar supporting cast (which includes Shelley Duvall and a young Damon Wayans) that more than holds its own throughout the film. Pay extra special attention to the balcony scene--from its beginning to its end, Martin and Rossovich are allowed to shine their brightest. Martin teams up for this 'Cyrano' retelling with director Fred Schepisi, the visionary behind 'Six Degrees of Separation', the movie that first separated Wil Smith from his legendary "Fresh Prince" persona. 'Roxanne' gets the highest possible recommendation for its perfect balance of humor and romance and the stellar performance of its entire cast. Please, please make it your business to own a copy of this movie.

Where is the widescreen?
It's September 2006, and they *still* have not released a widescreen version. I got through the first 20 minutes of this pan-and-scan version before I couldn't stand it anymore. There are so many beautiful shots; I just can't watch them butchered like this.

Roxanne is a great movie, and it deserves more than this poorly rendered DVD version.

Pan & Scan travesty
Like other reviewers, I am apalled that this wonderful movie is available only in pan & scan format, chopping off close to half the picture. This is just inexplicable--even when this was released a few years ago, it was quite unusual for high profile anamorphic films like this to be released only in a P&S version. I'd love to add this to my collection--here's hoping a propererly framed version is forthcoming (hopefully also in Blu-Ray or HD DVD).