When Houston oil executive Mac is told to go to northern Scotland to buy the village that stands where Knox Oil wants to build its new refinery he doesn't think it is an important job; he believes he could do it just as well via telex. When he gets there he initially maintains that view as local lawyer, and hotelier, Gordon Urquhart, tells him that he thinks the locals could be persuaded to sell if the price is right... the truth is they are all keen to sell and understandably want to make sure they get the best price. During his stay there he goes to like the place and its people... but not enough to change his mind about the project; that would be overly cliché. Mac is accompanied by Scotsman Danny Oldsen who works at the company's Aberdeen office and he does end up somewhat conflicted when he falls for marine researcher Marina who believes Knox wants the site to build a research facility not a refinery.

This is a delightful film populated by a fine array of characters including Felix Happer, an oil executive who is more interesting in finding comets; Marina, a web-footed marine researcher; Happer's psychiatrist who believes he is paid to insult his employer; Ben, an old man who lives on the beach and could scupper the project and just about everybody in the town. Director Bill Forsyth did a great job keeping the story fun without slipping into sentimentality... the fate of Mac and Danny's pet rabbit is anything but sentimental; it is funny though! This isn't just a visual treat; the sound is great too with a haunting score from Mark Knopfler, the regular peeping of shorebirds and the occasional roar of RAF Jaguar jets that shatters the tranquillity in a way that stops us from thinking the village is perfect. Peter Riegert puts in a nicely understated performance as Mac which went well with Burt Lancaster's and Denis Lawson's performances as the larger than life Happer and Urquhart and Peter Capaldi is good as Danny. I'd certainly recommend this; the plot might not be deep but it is all the little moments that make it great.

I first saw this movie 1,000 miles from home. I was on business, staying in an outlying hotel, no car, no evening plans. So I walked 1/2 mile to a local 2-plex (!) theater. The choices were Max Dugan Returns and, starting 15 minutes later, Local Hero. The theater manager said the first one was a real good comedy, and he didn't know what Local Hero was about. I said I'd start with Dugan and switch if I didn't like it, and he said OK.

The Neil Simon, Jason Robards, Marsha Mason movie was ho-hum, totally predictable, formula claptrap, so I ducked into Local Hero.

WHAT A SURPRISE !!!

I was alone in the theater, laughing continuously, thrilled by this wonderful movie. What a joy!

When I left, still smiling, the manager asked me how I liked it. I told him it was a sure Oscar winner (wrong, alas) and the best film I'd seen in years. He was amazed. I hope he sat in on it. I hope you do too.

Here's the key - - EVERY TIME I encounter this movie on TV I stop what I'm doing and watch it. I once arrived at a hotel after midnight, tired and with a meeting at 8:00 am. I flipped on the TV while I unpacked and there it was, just a little past the beginning. I sat on the end of the bed for an hour, then pulled up a chair. I finished unpacking when it was over!

Just whose baby is that, anyway? You'll find out! {:-)

I consider this one of the 10 best movies I've ever seen (and to paraphrase John Cleese from LIFE OF BRIAN, I've seen a few). It is definitely the funniest movie of the 80's, just ahead of RAISING ARIZONA. And although LOCAL HERO and RAISING ARIZONA are quite dissimilar films, they do share one distinction: they were both made in the 80's, yet they go totally against the grain of movies made during that decade. All the shallow, cheap, go for the simple-minded lowest common denominator audience garbage that was so much a part of the 80's is missing here.

What is most special about LOCAL HERO to me is how it not only respects it's audience, but seems to show an against-all-odds affection for humanity that INCLUDES the audience. Bill Forsyth cares about every character that inhabits his film, and in a very gentle, open-handed way he seems to want to share his characters with the audience so that the audience might see the best of themselves in some aspect of those characters.

I can understand why Forsyth didn't develop into a major moviemaker in Hollywood, in the same way that I can understand why some people find this movie boring. But somehow, to me, keeping this movie alive along with all its' other fans is part of a cockeyed optimism about people that, these days, seems to be very much against-the-grain.