History Film / Roxanne

--> '''C.D.:''' I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream--and I hope you don't find this too crazy--is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, "Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!" [[AndThatsTerrible That would be bad]]. (''puts the fire out with an extinguisher'') Please, get it cleaned up. Don't make me have to explain it.

* JokeExhaustion: Steve Martin's Cyrano {{Expy}} does this regarding his own huge nose to show up a less-clever rival's lame insult. Except this is more of a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Martin instead.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The tale ends much more happily for most of the characters than that of Cyrano de Bergerac. Most importantly: C.D. not only gets the girl in the end, but ''lives to enjoy it''. In a more straight adaptation, the characters who are represented by the tennis players in the play were killed, but the filmmakers knew they couldn't have C.D. running around ''killing people'' in Washington State.

-->'''Andy:''' Hey, he owes me fifty bucks.
-->'''Ralston:''' You animal!

-->'''CD:''' (standing on Roxanne's porch) "Ten more seconds and I'm leaving!"
-->'''Roxanne:''' (coming out of the house) "What did you say?"
-->'''CD:''' "I said ten more seconds and I'm leaving."
-->'''Roxanne:''' "Oh."
-->'''CD:''' "Wait, what did you think I said?"
-->'''Roxanne:''' "I thought you said 'earn more sessions by sleeving.'"
-->'''CD:''' "...What does that even mean?"
-->'''Roxanne:''' "I don't know; that's why I came out to ask."

* SettingUpdate: to 1980s America.

* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: C.D.'s volunteer fire department. The first time we see the firehouse, CD arrives to find a fire burning in a barrel ''in the firehouse''. This sets him off with an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
--> '''C.D.:''' I have a dream. It's not a big dream, it's just a little dream. My dream--and I hope you don't find this too crazy--is that I would like the people of this community to feel that if, God forbid, there were a fire, calling the fire department would actually be a wise thing to do. You can't have people, if their houses are burning down, saying, "Whatever you do, don't call the fire department!" [[AndThatsTerrible That would be bad]].

* InsultBackfire[=/=]WrongInsultOffence: When a man in a bar calls him "Big Nose" to pick a fight, CD mocks him for refusing to come up with something more imaginative.

--> '''Roxanne:''' (Naming the comet she discovered) "Comet Kowalski." \\
'''C.D.:''' "'Kowalski'? Why? You've got a chance to give it a beautiful name!"\\
'''Roxanne:''' "That's ''my'' name." \\
'''C.D.:''' "It is? Roxanne Kowalski? Oh, heh-heh... sorry."

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The tale ends much more happily for most of the characters than that of Cyrano de Bergerac. Most importantly: C.D. not only gets the girl in the end, but ''lives to enjoy it''.

-->'''C.D.:''' Is he out yet? (*thud*) Nevermind.

* TheAce: CD, although his insecurity about his nose still hinders his ability to pursue women.

* BookDumb: Chris isn't a complete idiot, and he does have a kind of lowbrow wit and basic ability to appreciate natural beauty [[spoiler: as revealed in his conversations with Sandy]], but he clearly doesn't have a ton of formal education and often finds his baser instincts clouding his judgment.

* TheDitz: Chris is a male example.

** It all started when a dart was thrown, and the challenge to make as many jokes as the number on the section of the dartboard the dart landed on--and it hit a ''20.'' (Which is the ''highest labeled numeric value'' on a dartboard.)

** {{Understatement}}
--->'''Andy:''' Hey, Chief. Need any help?
--->'''C.D.:''' Nah. Just someone locked out of their house.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: C.D. may have done this when he pretended to fall for Roxanne's sarcasm about not wanting a coat when she was naked - just to prolong her public nudity.

* SettingUpdate

* StoodUp: "I met somebody else and she's real great too..."

** Becomes a BrickJoke later: At the end, Roxanne reveals she's going to name it "Comet Charlie". But it turns out, Charlie's also the name of her father, so she wasn't naming it after C.D.

Not your average romantic comedy, this 1987 SettingUpdate of the play ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'' tells the story of C.D. "Charlie" Bales (Creator/SteveMartin), the long-nosed fire chief of a small quirky town and Roxanne Kowalski (Creator/DarylHannah), a visiting astronomy student. Bales, in love with Roxanne from the start but [[BerserkButton violently self-conscious about his schnozz]], settles for helping a handsome but [[TheDitz ditzy and awkward]] fireman woo her. [[ForegoneConclusion The results are predictable]], [[OlderThanTheyThink if you know the story]], but the humor surrounding the town and C.D.'s nose set the movie apart.

* {{Troll}}: C.B. just ''loves'' teasing a quartet of old woman, such as asking them to repeat the old wives tale about how the size of a man's nose corresponds to... you know ("Oh my GOD!") to stating there were aliens at Roxanne's house who wanted sex with older women because they were more experienced.

* {{Jerkass}}: The drunk skiers at the beginning and the barfly who calls C.D. "big nose" for no reason other than to pick a fight - all of whom are swiftly and awesomely put in their places by CD.

[[quoteright:325:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Roxanne_Cover_7595.jpg]]

Not your average romantic comedy, this SettingUpdate of the play ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'' tells the story of C.D. "Charlie" Bales (Creator/SteveMartin), the long-nosed fire chief of a small quirky town and Roxanne Kowalski (Creator/DarylHannah), a visiting astronomy student. Bales, in love with Roxanne from the start but [[BerserkButton violently self-conscious about his schnozz]], settles for helping a handsome but [[TheDitz ditzy and awkward]] fireman woo her. [[ForegoneConclusion The results are predictable]], [[OlderThanTheyThink if you know the story]], but the humor surrounding the town and C.D.'s nose set the movie apart.

!!! "Twenty better tropes than just 'Big Nose'":

* SadClown: As put by RogerEbert:

** One funny moment has C.D.'s mild reaction to Chris going on about how ''big'' CD's nose was, since C.D. was on a high thinking Roxanne was into him. However, when one of the firemen muses that C.D. finally has a sense of humor about his nose, C.D. wordlessly ''bangs his head against the alarm bell''. Cue everyone but Chris fleeing the scene.

* LongList: A remark from a bar patron on C.D.'s nose causes him to lay into him chastise the man for poor insult technique and list off ''20'' unique nose jokes.[[hottip:*:He actually lists 25.]]

* ShownTheirWork: The movie follows the play very closely to. For instance, the duel with the racket, that's in the play. The only change was that the film couldn't have C.D. running around ''killing'' people.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The tale ends much more happily for most of the characters than that of Cyrano de Bergerac. Most importantly: C.D. not only get the girl in the end, but ''lives to enjoy it''.

* UnflinchingWalk: After beating up the barfly after the {{Long List}} scene, he doesn't bother to look back, only asking Roxanne, "Has he fallen yet?"

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The tale ends much more happily for most of the characters than that of Cyrano de Bergerac.

* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: C.D.'s volunteer fire department. The first time we see the firehouse, C.D. arrives to find a fire burning in a barrel ''in the firehouse''. This sets him off with an epic TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.