Local Hero
The Film
Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay and Burt Lancaster. Produced by David Puttnam, the film is about an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company.
For his work on the film, Forsyth won the 1984 BAFTA Award for Best Direction.
Production
Development
When producer David Puttnam approached his regular backers Warner Bros. and Goldcrest Films to fund Local Hero, they initially turned him down. When Puttnam won a BAFTA for Chariots of Fire in 1982 this convinced Goldcrest executives to finance the entire film. Warner Bros. agreed to pay $1.5 million for US rights.
Casting
Puttnam always wanted Burt Lancaster to play Happer but the casting proved problematic because the Hollywood star wanted his $2 million salary, which was almost a third of the film's entire budget. However, upon learning of Lancaster's potential involvement in the project, Warner Bros. offered Puttnam a US distribution deal and provided the additional funding to secure Lancaster. After negotiations, Puttnam ended up having an additional $200,000 in the film's budget. He later remarked in an interview that "big stars are not a liability, they are an asset!".
Michael Douglas and Henry Winkler were both actively pursued by Bill Forsyth for the role of MacIntyre, which ultimately went to Peter Riegert.
Filming
Local Hero was filmed in several locations around Scotland. Most of the Ferness village scenes were filmed in Pennan on the Aberdeenshire coast, and most of the beach scenes were filmed at Morar and Arisaig on the west coast.
Arisaig
The Ship Inn, Banff (interior bar scenes)
Ben Nevis Distillery, Fort William
Camusdarach Sands, Camusdarach, Morar, Mallaig (Ferness, beach scenes,
including external scene of Ferness church, using a mock-up of Our Lady
of the Braes church – see below – specially constructed beside the beach
Fort William
Hilton (Ferness, village hall ceilidh)
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Road, Houston, Texas (Knox Oil
testing lab)
Loch Eil
Lochaber
Lochailort (Ferness hotel, internal shots)
Loch Tarff, Fort Augustus (fog and rabbit scenes)
Mallaig
Moidart (road scenes for drive to Ferness – A861 descent to Loch Moidart
and descent to Inversanda Bay)
JPMorgan Chase Tower, formerly Texas Commerce Tower, 600 Travis St., Houston,
Texas (Knox Oil headquarters)
Our Lady of the Braes Roman Catholic Church, Polish (Ferness, village
church, internal scenes)
Pennan (Ferness, includes red phone box)
Pole of Itlaw (Ferness, village shop)
Reception
Critical response
In his Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert gave the film his highest four stars, calling it "a small film to treasure". He gave particular praise to writer-director Bill Forsyth for his abilities as a storyteller.
"What makes this material really work is the low-key approach of the writer-director, Bill Forsyth, who also made the charming Gregory's Girl and has the patience to let his characters gradually reveal themselves to the camera. He never hurries, and as a result, Local Hero never drags: Nothing is more absorbing than human personalities, developed with love and humor. Some of the payoffs in this film are sly and subtle, and others generate big laughs. Forsyth's big scenes are his little ones, including a heartfelt, whisky-soaked talk between the American and the innkeeper, and a scene where the visitors walk on the beach and talk about the meaning of life. By the time Burt Lancaster reappears at the end of the film, to personally handle the negotiations with old Ben, Local Hero could hardly have anything but a happy ending."
James Berardinelli gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it "a fragment of cinematic whimsy—a genial dramatic comedy that defies both our expectations and those of the characters". Berardinelli also focused on Forsyth's abilities as a storyteller, noting that the director "finds the perfect tone for this not-quite-a-fairy-tale set in a quaint seaside Scottish village named Ferness. By injecting a little (but not too much) magical realism into the mix, Forsyth leavens his pro-environmental message to the point that those not looking for it might not be conscious of its presence." Berardinelli concluded that Local Hero represents "the best kind of light fare: a motion picture that offers a helping of substance to go along with an otherwise frothy and undemanding main course".
The New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote, "Genuine fairy tales are rare; so is film-making that is thoroughly original in an unobtrusive way. Bill Forsyth's quirky disarming Local Hero is both." Maslin concluded: "Local Hero is a funny movie, but it's more apt to induce chuckles than knee-slapping. Like Gregory's Girl, it demonstrates Mr. Forsyth's uncanny ability for making an audience sense that something magical is going on, even if that something isn't easily explained."
In Variety magazine, film critic Todd McCarthy wrote, "After making the grade internationally with the sleeper hit, Gregory's Girl, Scottish writer-director Bill Forsyth has broken the sophomore sesh jinx the only way he could, by making an even better film ... Given a larger canvas, director Forsyth has in no way attempted to overreach himself or the material, keeping things modest and intimate throughout, but displaying a very acute sense of comic insight."
Almar Haflidason called Local Hero "a wry film that slowly slips under the skin to surprising effect" in BBC Home. Haflidason concludes, "Once over, the mood of the film hits home and a longing develops to visit once again the characters of this warm and deceptively slight comedy."
For Movie Gazette, Gary Panton described the film as a "magical, intelligent comedy". Panton praised the cinematography as "little short of amazing" and that Local Hero was "Bill Forsyth's finest work of all - this is a perfect film."
During his 2000 campaign for the presidency, U.S. Vice President Al Gore told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that Local Hero was his favorite film.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a rare 100% positive rating. The site's consensus reads: "A charmingly low-key character study brought to life by a tremendously talented cast, Local Hero is as humorous as it is heartwarming". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 82 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics.
Awards
1984 - British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA):
Best Direction - Bill Forsyth - Won
Best Actor in a Supporting Role = Burt Lancaster Nominated
Best Cinematography - Chris Menges - Nominated
Best Editing - Michael Bradsell - Nominated
Best Film - David Puttnam - Nominated
Best Film Music - Mark Knopfler - Nominated
Best Original Screenplay - Bill Forsyth - Nominated
1983 - National Board of Review Awards - Top Ten Films - Won
1984 - National Society of Film Critics Awards - Best Screenplay - Bill
Forsyth - Won
1984 - New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Screenplay - Bill Forsyth
- Won
Cast
Peter Riegert as Mac
Burt Lancaster as Felix Happer
Fulton Mackay as Ben Knox
Denis Lawson as Gordon Urquhart
Norman Chancer as Moritz
Peter Capaldi as Danny Oldsen
Rikki Fulton as Geddes
Alex Norton as Watt
Jenny Seagrove as Marina
Jennifer Black as Stella
Christopher Rozycki as Victor
Christopher Asante as Reverend Macpherson
John Gordon Sinclair as Ricky
Caroline Guthrie as Pauline
John M. Jackson as Cal (as John Jackson)
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was written and produced by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. This has led to the popularity of the film with fans of the band.
Knopfler has since performed an arrangement of "Going Home (Theme of the Local Hero)" as an encore at many of his concerts. This tune borrows some melodic riffs from traditional songs.
In his review of the album for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann wrote: Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler's intricate, introspective fingerpicked guitar stylings make a perfect musical complement to the wistful tone of Bill Forsyth's comedy film, Local Hero ... The low-key music picks up traces of Scottish music, but most of it just sounds like Dire Straits doing instrumentals, especially the recurring theme, one of Knopfler's more memorable melodies.
Gerry Rafferty provided the vocals for "The Way It Always Starts" on the soundtrack. The album was certified a BPI silver record.