LOCAL HERO

Review: An American oil company sends a man to Scotland. This is in the hope of buying an entire village where they want to build a refinery. Let’s just say things don’t go according to plan.
Director: Bill Forsyth
Actors: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson and Peter Capaldi
Year: 1983
Genre: Art House, Comedy, Drama and International
Conclusion: 5/5
This is a very fun and loving film to watch. As well as Bill Forsyth directing this he also wrote the screenplay. One other film that he is most famous for and which is a classic is Gregory’s Girl, 1980. When Bill Forsyth directs you also get the impression that he has an affection for all of his characters. The scenery is just gorgeous. Just some of the reasons to watch this film are: it’s a story that shows us true happiness, it has a beautiful score by Mark Knopfler (this was his first film score and the soundtrack sold better than the movie itself), it tells us to be kind to rabbits and- it has one of the most famous lines in cinema – “Are there two g’s in Bugger Off “.  This is also one of the very rare cases of a movie whose ending wasn’t ruined by Hollywood. In the book The Movie Doctors the authors state about this film “Honestly, if watching Local Hero doesn’t make you feel better, you’re already dead”. In 2013 Film Critic Barry Norman produced a list of his 50 Greatest British Films of all time and this was in the list. At the Bafta Awards in 1984 this won one award and that was for Best Direction (Bill Forsyth).