There was Pinoccio. There was Cyrano de Bergerac. And then, there was Steve Martin in “Roxanne” (1987, rated PG), screening at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug.  3, at Mesa Public Library.

Martin, as screenwriter and lead actor, and director Fred Schepisi take the story of the plentiful proboscis to its romantic and comedic extreme in this retelling of de Bergerac’s classic tale.

C.D. Bates (Martin) runs a small-town fire department staffed by well-intentioned men who can neither save an altitude-wary cat nor snuff a fire. They do, at least, know better than to mention his nose, or look at it, or think about it at all.

However, if C.D. had one wish, it would not really be that his nose were smaller, but rather that newcomer Roxanne (Daryl Hannah) would love him, jumbo schnoz and all.

Astronomy student Roxanne came to town hoping the dark night skies would allow her a clear view of “her” comet, an as-yet unnamed comet she believes she has discovered.

Bates’s poet’s heart has met its match in Roxanne’s scientific (yet hopelessly romantic) one. If only it were his heart that people could see! When Roxanne’s interest in him appears platonic, Bates helps tongue-tied firefighter Chris (Rick Rossovich) seduce her, feeding him dialogue through an earpiece and pretending to be Chris in the umbrageous trees below her balcony.

Bates’s passionate words of profoundly felt love essentially trick Roxanne into sleeping with a man who can only form sentences about her body parts, and this is distressing. But Bates doesn’t exactly want to trick her. He wants to be Chris — so badly that Chris’s victories feel like his own.

And while I can’t exactly forgive Bates, I do care about him. Martin’s performance leaves all the complications intact, and despite the exaggerated smelling organ and a whole lot of slapstick, firmly denies caricature.

The free screening is part of the Mesa Public Library Free Film Series, which continues the first Thursday of each month with “Annie Hall” on Sept. 7, “McCabe and Mrs Miller” Oct. 5, “Days of Heaven” Nov. 2, and “The Last Waltz” Dec. 7. All movies are offered thanks to the Friends of Los Alamos County Libraries.