Local Hero (1983)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Bill Forsyth

Writer:

Bill Forsyth (writer)

Release Date:

17 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.

Plot Keywords:

Oil | Beach | Scotland | Village | Webbed Toes

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Felix Happer
Peter Riegert	...	Mac
Fulton Mackay	...	Ben
Denis Lawson	...	Urquhart
Norman Chancer	...	Moritz
Peter Capaldi	...	Oldsen
Rikki Fulton	...	Geddes
Alex Norton	...	Watt
Jenny Seagrove	...	Marina
Jennifer Black	...	Stella
Christopher Rozycki	...	Victor
Gyearbuor Asante	...	Rev Macpherson (as Christopher Asante)
John M. Jackson	...	Cal (as John Jackson)
Dan Ammerman	...	Donaldson
Tam Dean Burn	...	Roddy
Luke Coulter	...	Baby
Karen Douglas	...	Mrs. Wyatt
Kenny Ireland	...	Skipper
Harlan Jordan	...	Fountain
Charles Kearney	...	Peter
Betty Macey	...	Switchboard Operator
David Mowat	...	Gideon
John Poland	...	Anderson
Brian Rowan	...	Ace Tone
Ann Scott-Jones	...	Linda Fraser (as Anne Scott Jones)
Ian Stewart	...	Mr. Bulloch
Tanya Ticktin	...	Russian girl
Jonathan Watson	...	Jonathan
Mark Winchester	...	Ace Tone
Dave Anderson	...	Fraser (as David Anderson)
Alan Clark	...	Ace Tone
Alan Darby	...	Ace Tone
Caroline Guthrie	...	Pauline
Ray Jeffries	...	Andrew
Willie Joss	...	Sandy
James Kennedy	...	Edward
Michele McCarel	...	Switchboard Operator
Roddy Murray	...	Ace Tone
Buddy Quaid	...	Crabbe
Edith Ruddick	...	Old Lady
John Gordon Sinclair	...	Ricky
Anne Thompson	...	Switchboard Operator
Sandra Voe	...	Mrs. Fraser
Dale Winchester	...	Ace Tone
Jimmy Yuill	...	Iain

Directed by
Bill Forsyth

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bill Forsyth		writer

Produced by
David Puttnam	....	producer
Iain Smith	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Mark Knopfler

Cinematography by
Chris Menges

Film Editing by
Michael Bradsell

Casting by
Susie Figgis

Production Design by
Roger Murray-Leach

Art Direction by
Adrienne Atkinson
Frank Walsh
Ian Watson

Costume Design by
Pip Newbery
Penny Rose

Makeup Department
Karen Dawson	....	makeup assistant
Tommie Manderson	....	makeup supervisor
Barbara Sutton	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Patricia Churchill	....	production manager: U.S. (as Pat Churchill)
Robin Douet	....	production manager: U.K.

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jonathan Benson	....	first assistant director
Matthew Binns	....	assistant director
Melvin Lind	....	assistant director
Joel Tuber	....	assistant director: U.S.
Richard Hawley	....	second assistant director: second unit (uncredited)

Art Department
Steve Allaway	....	chargehand carpenter
Tony Allaway	....	carpenter (as Anthony Allaway)
Les Beaver	....	chargehand rigger
Dennis Bovington	....	carpenter
Dave Coldham	....	plasterer (as David Coldham)
Roy Evans	....	construction manager
Barry Gates	....	stagehand
John Gorham	....	graphics
Martin Hammerton	....	stand-by carpenter
Roy Hansford	....	carpenter
Alec Hearn	....	draper
John Hogan	....	props
John Hurley	....	painter
George Malin	....	dressing prop
Norman North	....	stand-by painter
Jill Quertier	....	production buyer
Eamonn Redmond	....	stand-by stagehand
Cornelius 'Ted' Restall	....	chargehand painter (as Ted Restall)
Ray Staples	....	plasterer
Bill Stark	....	props
Ted Stickley	....	dressing prop
Arthur Wicks	....	property master

Sound Department
Allan Brereton	....	sound assistant
Ian Fuller	....	dubbing editor
David Grimsdale	....	assistant dubbing editor
Louis Kramer	....	sound mixer
Ray Merrin	....	assistant dubbing mixer
Bill Rowe	....	dubbing mixer
Mike Tucker	....	boom operator
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Roy Carnell	....	special effects
Stuart Galloway	....	special effects
Dennis Harrison	....	special effects rigger
Peter Hutchinson	....	special effects
Patrick McColgan	....	special effects
Tommy Parker	....	special effects rigger
Peter Skehan	....	special effects
Wally Veevers	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Steve Simmonds	....	modeler

Camera and Electrical Department
James Ainslie	....	clapper loader
Kenneth Atherfold	....	camera grip (as Ken Atherfold)
John Beach	....	electrician
Michael Coulter	....	camera operator (as Mike Coulter)
Micky Davey	....	electrician
Ron Lyons	....	electrician
Brian Martin	....	chargehand electrician
Jan Pester	....	focus puller
Ronnie Rampton	....	chief electrician
Micky Wilson	....	electrician

Casting Department
Penny Perry	....	casting: USA

Editorial Department
Jim Howe	....	first assistant editor
Anne Sopel	....	second assistant editor

Transportation Department
Robbie Sandison	....	driver: grip truck (uncredited)

Other crew
Graham Attwood	....	unit stillman
Dennis Bishop	....	location manager: USA
David Brown	....	location manager
Iain Brown	....	national film school attachment
Diane Chittell	....	secretary to producer
Teresa Colman	....	secretary to director
Louise Coulter	....	assistant accountant
Susan d'Arcy	....	unit publicist (as Susan D'Arcy)
Charles Finch	....	runner
John Hemmings	....	liaison: Kay Laboratories
Gus Maclean	....	runner
Maggie Phelan	....	assistant accountant
Ron Phipps	....	production accountant
Pat Rambaut	....	continuity
Anne Rapp	....	continuity: USA
Mary Richards	....	production secretary
Lynda Smith	....	secretary to producer
Rona Lamont	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Celandine Films
• Enigma Productions
• Goldcrest Films International

Distributors

• Arcadia Digital (2005) (Greece) (TV) (Cyprus) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1983) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1987) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• MK2 Diffusion (1984) (France) (theatrical)
• Suomi-Filmi (1984) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1983) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1983) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Tobis (1983) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1983) (UK)
• Atlantic Film (2001) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Karelia Food (1994) (Finland) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV) (1991) (Finland) (TV)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1997) (Finland) (TV)
• Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Showtime Networks (19??) (Finland) (VHS)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (1984) (Sweden) (video) (16 mm)
• Universal Home Entertainment (UK) (DVD)
• VMP (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (UK) (video)
• YLE Teema (2004) (Finland) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2004) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• J&J Film Foods Ltd.  location catering
• Joe Dunton & Company  camera equipment provided by
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Mayflower Recording  adr recording
• Scottish Television Enterprises  funding
• Thorn EMI Elstree Studios  re-recording

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Denmark:15 | Iceland:L | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

Company:

Celandine Films

Trivia:

During the opening credits, Mac can be seen driving his car while a radio station provides the background dialog. The radio station identifies itself as KNOX, which is the same name of the oil company that Mac works for.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Happer leaves his penthouse office to enter his adjacent apartment, he uses a remote control to reveal the apartment's single doorway entrance. Yet in the next sequence, Happer is shown cooking in the kitchen, with the same entrance in the background - double-doored.

Quotes:

Happer: Oldsen, I could grow to love this place.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle (2007)

Soundtrack:

Boomtown (Variation Louis' Favourite)

A Classic From (But Not Of) the 80's

I consider this one of the 10 best movies I've ever seen (and to paraphrase John Cleese from LIFE OF BRIAN, I've seen a few). It is definitely the funniest movie of the 80's, just ahead of RAISING ARIZONA. And although LOCAL HERO and RAISING ARIZONA are quite dissimilar films, they do share one distinction: they were both made in the 80's, yet they go totally against the grain of movies made during that decade. All the shallow, cheap, go for the simple-minded lowest common denominator audience garbage that was so much a part of the 80's is missing here.

What is most special about LOCAL HERO to me is how it not only respects it's audience, but seems to show an against-all-odds affection for humanity that INCLUDES the audience. Bill Forsyth cares about every character that inhabits his film, and in a very gentle, open-handed way he seems to want to share his characters with the audience so that the audience might see the best of themselves in some aspect of those characters.

I can understand why Forsyth didn't develop into a major moviemaker in Hollywood, in the same way that I can understand why some people find this movie boring. But somehow, to me, keeping this movie alive along with all its' other fans is part of a cockeyed optimism about people that, these days, seems to be very much against-the-grain.