A brilliant use of the nose was stylized by the cons signaling each other in The Sting. A simple forefinger stroking the nose identified the cons to each other. No one ever seemed to think that an outsider with a case of acne might have slipped into the fraternity conmen with a subtle soothing rub of a pimple. The Eerie Kid's nose is also featured prominently in The Sting , first wrapped and then swollen. The Sting DVD looks better than I've ever seen the film on video, but one still gets the feeling that this title could use an overhaul.
Long noses have a long Hollywood history.
Walt Disney knew how much money he could make promoting noses with his wonderful animated version of Pinocchio . Conjecture has it that the Disneys made millions for each additional inch that famous nose grew. The only bad break the studio has was Pinocchio was made before the preponderance of widescreen cinemascope. Perhaps the finest protuberance that ever graced a Hollywood screen sat square in the middle of Cyrano de Bergerac's face. That famous nose has seen a number of screen incarnations, including Jose Ferrer's poetic beak in the 1950 Cyrano, Gerard Depardieu's magnificent snout in the 1990 widescreen French version of Cyrano and even Steve Martin got to create a virtual catalog of nose jokes in his comic updating of Cyrano, Roxanne .