This is one of the few 80s romantic comedies directed by a former video nasty director. Yes, Australian Fred Schepisi also made Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, a film that appears on the section 3 list of those films. That said, it’s more of an art film with darker gore elements, but it’s amazing that Schepisi went on to make this and Mr. Baseball.

Star Steve Martin wanted to update Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac but change the ending so that Cyrano gets the girl in the end. He wrote 25 drafts over three years and changed Cyrano to a firefighter named C.D. Bales (his crew includes Michael J. Pollard, Max Alexander, Steve Mittleman, Damon Wayans, Matt Lattanzi, John Kapelos and Fred Willard).

He’s in love from afar with Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah), who is really interested in young firefighter Chris McConnell (Rick Rossovich). Chris is attracted to her as well, but despite his good looks, he’s incredibly awkward, so he asks C.D. to help him win her over.

Martin made this and Planes, Trains & Automobiles in the same year. That’s a pretty good year.

The Mill Creek Through the Decades: 1980s Collection has a ton of great movies at an affordable price. It also has Punchline, Little Nikita, Vice Versa, The New Kids, Who’s Harry Crumb?, Blue Thunder, Suspect, Band of the Hand and Like Father, Like Son. You can get this set from Deep Discount.