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IMDbPro

Local Hero

  • 19831983
  • PGPG
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
25K
YOUR RATING
Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert in Local Hero (1983)
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
Play trailer2:25
1 Video
47 Photos
ComedyDrama
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
25K
YOUR RATING
    • Bill Forsyth
    • Bill Forsyth
  • Stars
    • Burt Lancaster
    • Peter Riegert
    • Fulton Mackay
    • Bill Forsyth
    • Bill Forsyth
  • Stars
    • Burt Lancaster
    • Peter Riegert
    • Fulton Mackay
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 260User reviews
    • 52Critic reviews
    • 82Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 BAFTA Award

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:25
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos47

    Peter Capaldi in Local Hero (1983)
    Peter Capaldi and Jenny Seagrove in Local Hero (1983)
    Peter Capaldi and Peter Riegert in Local Hero (1983)
    Local Hero (1983)
    Local Hero (1983)
    Local Hero (1983)
    Burt Lancaster in Local Hero (1983)
    Peter Capaldi and Peter Riegert in Local Hero (1983)
    Denis Lawson and Peter Riegert in Local Hero (1983)
    Peter Capaldi and Jenny Seagrove in Local Hero (1983)
    Local Hero (1983)
    Local Hero (1983)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Burt Lancaster
    Burt Lancaster
    • Happer
    Peter Riegert
    Peter Riegert
    • Mac
    Fulton Mackay
    Fulton Mackay
    • Ben
    Denis Lawson
    Denis Lawson
    • Urquhart
    Norman Chancer
    • Moritz
    Peter Capaldi
    Peter Capaldi
    • Oldsen
    Rikki Fulton
    • Geddes
    Alex Norton
    Alex Norton
    • Watt
    Jenny Seagrove
    Jenny Seagrove
    • Marina
    Jennifer Black
    • Stella
    Christopher Rozycki
    • Victor
    Gyearbuor Asante
    Gyearbuor Asante
    • Rev Macpherson
    • (as Christopher Asante)
    John M. Jackson
    John M. Jackson
    • Cal
    • (as John Jackson)
    Dan Ammerman
    Dan Ammerman
    • Donaldson
    Tam Dean Burn
    • Roddy
    Luke Coulter
    • Baby
    Karen Douglas
    • Mrs Wyatt
    Kenny Ireland
    Kenny Ireland
    • Skipper
      • Bill Forsyth
      • Bill Forsyth
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      After the movie came out, many people went in search of the village with the red phone booth. It can be found in the village of Pennan on the Moray Coast, Scotland.
    • Goofs
      Marina and Danny are looking at what Marina says are grey seals but which are Californian fur seals, which aren't native to Scotland.
    • Quotes

      Townsman: Are you sure there are two l's in 'dollar', Gideon?

      Gideon: Yes! An' are there two g's in 'bugger off'?

    • Alternate versions
      CBS edited 14 minutes from this film for its 1987 network television premiere.
    • Connections
      Featured in Century of Cinema: A Personal History of British Cinema by Stephen Frears (1995)
    • Soundtracks
      Local Hero
      by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits)

    User reviews260

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Offbeat humor and charm
    In Local Hero, Scottish director Bill Forsyth allows us to see the environment not as something to possess or control but as a privilege granted to all. A young corporate executive for a Texas Oil Company, Mac MacIntyre (Peter Reigert), is sent to a small fishing village on the coast of Scotland to work out plans to buy a piece of coastal property that includes the entire town as a drilling site. The great Burt Lancaster plays Mac's boss, Felix Happer, a starry-eyed tycoon of Knox Gas and Oil who is more interested in the stars and getting rid of Moritz (Norman Chancer), his "abuse therapist" than his business. Strangely, he asks Mac to keep an eye on the constellation Virgo when he reaches Scotland to see if he can see a comet in its vicinity.

    MacIntyre meets up with his Scottish partner Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi) and they rent a room at an inn run by the local accountant Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson) and his wife Stella (Jennifer Black). Eventually, Mac and Danny settle in and get to know the town, walking the beach, talking to the black pastor of the village church, and meeting the idiosyncratic villagers. Mac slowly and without any expectations develops an attachment to the town and its people while Danny falls for Marina (Jenny Seagrove), a marine biologist with webbed feet who dreams of building a laboratory for biological research.

    When Urquhart agrees to act as the intermediary between MacIntyre and the locals in the negotiations, we are set up to expect the ruthless exploitation of country folk by the big city capitalists. Ironically however, it is the villagers who are captivated by the prospect of the money and more aggressive in its pursuit than Big Mac. The deal seems ready to be consummated when it is discovered that Old Ben (Fulton MacKay), who lives in a shack on the beach, actually owns six miles of beach property and does not want to sell. When the townspeople threaten to turn into an ugly mob, Happer arrives from Houston in his helicopter to add the final twist to a most unpredictable plot.

    Local Hero creeps up on you slowly then delivers its payoff so convincingly that, by the end, you feel as if you have a lifelong relationship with the characters. Mac's transformation from being a corporate sycophant to a caring individual who experiences a sense of belonging, perhaps for the first time, is one of the great pleasures of the film and reminded me of a similar transformation in Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us. Supported by a wonderful score by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and beautifully photographed by Chris Menges, the film captivates with its offbeat humor and charm and reminds us of what it means to be human without resorting to sentimentality. If technology is seen as an imminent threat to humans, Local Hero allows us to focus our attention upon that which is most threatened: respect for people's individuality, reverence for the land, the sea, and the sky -- and really good Scotch whiskey.
    helpful•23
    1
    • howard.schumann
    • Sep 22, 2003

    FAQ3

    • What type a Royal Air Force fighter-bombers were those in the movie?
    • What is the name of the theme song -written by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits)?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 29, 1983 (United Kingdom)
      • United Kingdom
      • English
      • Russian
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Pennan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
    • Production companies
      • Enigma Productions
      • Goldcrest Films International
      • Celandine Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 51 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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