Local Hero (1983)

This like fine wine. It gets better with age. I first saw it on cable not too long after it came out and was in love immediately. I bought it first on VHS tape and now have it on DVD. Every now and then when I need some emotional quiet I pull the DVD out and give it a watch. I'm sure it's over 20 times and I enjoy it more each time. It's a movie with texture like my most comfortable shirt. SPOILER ALERT. I enjoy and anticipate many (well most actually) of the scenes and feel sorry for anyone who thinks the movie ends in Houston. Others have gone over the plot and commented it was weak. Well, YEAH, it's a movie about people and feelings, not plot twists and action scenes. And it asks questions that may or may not be answered, and that's the point. It asks you to ponder various things. Who is the babies father? Is Marina a mermaid or not? What was the name of the boat being renamed? Who is the biggest capitalist? Who is the most 'normal' person in the village? What is the significance of the last scene (if you didn't quit too soon)? Which scene is the defining moment showing Mac has gone native? And just who is the Local Hero? I have my answers but think it would be unfair to you to reveal them. Watch and decide for yourself. Then let's compare answers and have a great conversation. Wait! I just discovered there is a Facebook page for Local Hero. The discussion can be there!

I may watch this film again and again and all the time it is like going home and be with friends.One of my favourite films, and music is perfect. Love it.Only one thing was very surprising for me....sea lions in Scotland....It will leave you with a big smile on your face.Amazing film.Everything I love about Scotland is in this film.All the characters are very real and you just want meeting them again and again.And beautiful nature of Arisaig and Morar ...you go there and you see itall is real.

"Local hero" I felt it was really a weak exploration of a Scottish village with an ending that made absolutely no sense. What hero?Instead of a strong plot with tension and release, it felt like the movie stumbled around a field dodging cow pats, finally heading towards an exit until all of a sudden it starts hallucinating, trips over and lands face first in a steamy pile of horse manure. If you just want to see a Scottish village then maybe you will enjoy it.The spoilers here mainly relate to main plot and the nonsensical ending, and don't discuss the Scottish village. So I hope that if you still decide to see the movie after reading this review, it will spare you the disappointment of the terrible ending.***PLOT OUTLINE (MINOR SPOILERS)***The main plot consists of an oil company trying to buy a piece of Scotland so they can drill for oil. They describe how don't have much money to pull it off this time (so expensive fantasies are surely out of the question?).So throughout the movie you wonder if/where it will come unstuck:Will the villagers will oppose the destruction of area? Will the villagers not want to sell? Will the villagers want too much? Will environmentalists oppose the oil platform? Although all these questions are explored I felt there was only serious tension in the third one.And then the movie quickly ends in the most unlikely way...*** MAJOR SPOILERS & PLOT TWIST ENDING ****Finally after over an hour something happens.We have a hold out. In this area, magically the aeroplanes that bomb the beach next to the village have disappeared. Serene and peaceful all of a sudden in the evening light. Yet negotiations don't seem impossible...Enter the eccentric manager/CEO! Lets get a deal going and let the credits roll!Er. no. I like plot twists, but can you believe that the eccentric manager decides to build offshore, and wants to waste money on an observatory, and then the second salesman pipes up 'can you build a fish farm(?) for this hot lady down the beach so I can get into her pants?'. Everyone cringes and the manager says 'What a fantastic idea! Lets do it!'. The movie quickly turns into a mush about the salesman for the last couple of minutes, it was so bad I could barely watch it (nothing to do with fish lady) and the credits roll.Unfortunately we don't get to see the part where the board of directors fires the manager for wasting money, the villagers unhappy because they aren't paid, and nothing is built because the hold out didn't sell.

This is a lovely film that comes out of nowhere and captures your imagination. Films of the same ilk are Trout Fishing in the Yemen, Waking Ned Devine, the Decoy Bride, and Field of Dreams. If you like these, you will like this film. It takes a subject of little interest to most, the capitalization of an isolated village in Scotland for profit, and because of brilliant characterization and dialog, creates something lasting that you can comment on 25 years after you watched it for the first time. I don't know why I chose to see this move initially. I do know why I rank it as one of my favorite films. The soundtrack is haunting, with Mark Knoffler at his creative prime. The characters are truly unique, the script natural and intelligent. I loved seeing a senior Burt Lancaster at his very best. That is saying something for a man that stole the scenes in so many great films over his career. The scenery is spectacular and filmed in such a way to convey the both the harshness and the vulnerability of Northern Scotland. - Daryl P.