Local Hero: An Environmentally Conscious British classic?

There are two Scottish-set films above all others that visitors to our shop ask if we have posters for: Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996) and Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero (1983). These very different but much loved classics of British cinema have firmly embedded themselves in popular culture, and like all the best movies, appeal across the generations.

The basic plot of Local Hero is simple. Peter Riegert plays "Mac" MacIntyre, an American oil company representative, sent by his astrology loving Chief Executive of Knox Oil and Gas in Houston, Felix Happer, (brilliantly played by ageing Hollywood superstar Burt Lancaster), to the village of Ferness on the remote west coast of Scotland. His mission: to negotiate with the locals for a price to purchase the town and surrounding property to build an oil refinery. 

Original 1983 US One-sheet Poster for Local Hero

The environmentally conscious themes in Local Hero have been less commented upon than the whimsical comedic elements of wily locals resisting the ravages of American capitalism. Aside from the obvious theme of destroying a local community’s ecology and landscape in favour of Big Oil, there’s the subplot involving a young Peter Capaldi (of The Thick of It fame) as Danny, the lovestruck local Knox representative. Danny falls for local marine researcher Marina (Jenny Seagrove), whose dream of an oceanographic research facility is one of the basslines that runs through the narrative. Marina’s deadpan, other worldly mermaid-like beauty is beautifully done, and is perhaps Forsyth’s sly nod to the “Aqua Marina” character of 1960s TV puppet series Stingray!

There are several reasons why Local Hero doesn’t really date. If we accept the fact that the iconic red phone box, which represents a vital communication tool for both the outside world and the village, now seems an anachronism in the digital age, the film is rooted in a clear-eyed understanding of British and Scottish film history, whilst offering a wholly original Forsythian vision. 

Orginal 1983 UK Quad Poster for Local Hero

There are obvious nods and homages to earlier classics. For example, the lovely community dancehall sequence references a famous scene in Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going (1945), whilst the collective ability of the villagers to guard their traditions, and quietly push back against outsiders’ commercial interests, recalls the similar resistance in Alexander MacKendrick’s evergreen Ealing comedy Whisky Galore(1949).

New York Times critic Janet Maslin summed up the film’s lasting but hard to pin down appeal:

“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.”

Original 1980 US One-sheet poster for Gregory’s Girl