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Wonderful Movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This appears to be a movie that partially succeeds in it's message of maintaining a semblance of humanity where it could have been an exercise in all out anti-capitalism. Oil industry executives 'Mac' MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) and his boss, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster), undergo a serious change of heart regarding their plans to build an oil refinery on the shores of a Scottish village, due primarily to their own inner conflicts and the outgoing personality of an old time beachcomber named Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay). That Ben coincidentally has the last name of Happer's company, Knox Industries, may or may not lead one to conclude that the Knox family patriarch at one time was swindled by a big business concern. The thought did occur to me when Ben's full name was revealed, but it's never confirmed in a definitive way, thus leaving it to the viewer's own imagination. There are some funny and poignant moments in the picture, introduced it seems, to insert an element of whimsy into the story. However depending on one's disposition, Marina's (Jenny Seagrove) webbed feet might elicit either a chuckle or a groan in reaction. To maintain that magical, mystical feeling, the story line could have done a better job to keep that fanciful feeling alive throughout. I didn't know how to react for example, when Mac's adopted rabbit wound up on the dinner table - "I'm sorry Mac, but we eat rabbits here".For those who enjoyed this movie, I'd recommend crossing the Atlantic to a picture that takes place in the American Southwest. "The MIlagro Beanfield War" has a similar story line of a small town being seduced by greedy corporate fat cats, though in this instance, it's the little guys who eventually win out. The film has a bigger name cast that blends in nicely with local talent without stepping on their toes. It achieves a spirituality that "Local Hero" doesn't quite reach though it tries, with a guardian angel that might have added a touch of capricious humor to the proceedings here.

"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.

In the course of human civilization, it has been keenly observed that the activities of buying and selling are not as simple as one expects them to be. This is due to the fact that in any financial transaction, apart from the exchange of cash and properties, human emotions are also involved. Keeping in mind this aspect of financial transactions, Scottish director Bill Forsyth directed "Local Hero", a film where more than buying and selling of goods, a precious exchange of human emotions take place in abundance. 'Local Hero' oscillates between comedy and drama as it contains elements of both genres. There is a lot for both critics as well as viewers to learn from an American's visit to a Scottish fishing village in order to negotiate the sale of land which would be used to construct an oil rig. One gets to watch how an ordinary American man becomes completely besotted with the simplicity of a Scottish village to such a large extent that he expresses his desire to swap his American existence for a much quieter stay in the fishing village. Director Bill Forsyth is a keen watcher of human foibles which he has succinctly shown in his film. One watches bemusedly how two lonely men feel the need of female companionship. Apart from ubiquitous concern for environment and nature, there is empathy towards animals too. In a moving scene there is string indignation when the American discovers that he has been made to eat his pet rabbit as food. Local Hero has celebrated more than 30 years of existence. It would be remembered by future generations as a film about local people who are neither hostile nor overtly nice. This is something which works in this film's favor as more than a single 'local hero', there are numerous 'local heroes' who care for their surroundings.

Oil billionaire Happer (Burt Lancaster) sends "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) from Houston to remote Scotish village Ferness to secure a bay to build a terminal for the North Atlantic oil fields. His family is not actually Scotish and he'd rather do the deal through fax. Once there, local rep Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi) teams up with him. They meet marine biologist Marina (Jenny Seagrove) and Danny falls for her. The locals led by Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson) team up to negotiate a deal as Mac tries to adjust to the town. Then Gordon discovers that beachcomber Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay) actually owns the beach that is integral to the deal.It's a quirky little quiet Brit indie. My major problem is Peter Riegert. He's a great character actor but he can't really pull off a lead. It's also odd that he's not the one with the romance. Meanwhile Burt Lancaster is back in Houston for most of the movie. I think it would be interesting to have him in the town much more. This has a cast of slightly off characters but they aren't so quirky as to be funny. I just find the movie to be a slow moving bore with characters that I don't connect with. Everything is done with such a light touch that nothing is really ever intense.