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Local Hero
An American oil-man goes native while on a mission to buy up a Scottish fishing village, in Bill Forsyth’s tribute to Scotland’s irresistible charm.
Comedy 1983 111 mins
Director: Bill Forsyth
Overview
Bill Forsyth’s tribute to rural Scotland’s irresistible charm is also the ultimate parable of going native. Texan billionaire Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) despatches hot-shot executive "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) to buy up a Scottish fishing village. To his surprise, Mac finds the villagers receptive, but the plan is scuppered by the intransigence of a solitary fisherman (Fulton Mackay) who refuses to budge from his beach-side shack. As Mac becomes ever more embedded into village life, Happer decides to make a personal intervention.
Forsyth’s unashamedly romantic evocation of Scotland is heightened by Mark Knopfler’s famous guitar score; the result is one of the most fondly admired British films of the 1980s.
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