Regular Price $9.98

Starring: Burt Lancaster,  Peter Riegert,  Fulton Mackay,  Denis Lawson,  Norman Chancer, 
Directed By: Bill Forsyth, 
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1983-02-17
Studio: Warner Home Video
Format: Anamorphic,  Closed-captioned,  Color,  Dolby,  DVD-Video,  Full Screen,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Local Hero

Amazon.com essential video
When Mac MacIntyre (played with deadpan perfection by Peter Riegert) is sent by his star-gazing, slightly insane Knox Oil and Gas boss (Burt Lancaster) to Scotland's West Coast to buy the rights to a seaside town slated to be the site of an oil refinery, Mac embarks on his journey reluctantly. "Why do I have to go to all the way to Scotland?" Mac complains to a coworker. "I'm really more of a Telex man." But on the way to closing the deal, a funny thing happens: the place takes root in Mac. The town's eccentric inhabitants, eventful night sky, and stunning scenery soak into his psyche and combine to bring a very different Mac to the surface, a Mac who collects seashells, walks on the beach in his jeans instead of his suit, and throws his calendar watch, beeping "meeting time in Houston," into the sea.

Mac eventually vies to switch places with Gordon Urquhart--accountant, bartender, innkeeper, and community representative in the land deal. After an evening spent drinking 42-year-old scotch ("old enough to be out on its own," Mac chirps, and then laughs smugly at his own joke) and negotiating the real estate deal, Mac tries to negotiate a deal for himself--to trade his high-rise Houston apartment, Porsche, and oil-company job for Urquhart's less traditional, but more fulfilling, life.

The plot runs along almost as if behind the scenes, and the characters are intriguing, but the real appeal here is the incisive yet gentle humor. During a visit to a Knox Oil lab, Mac is shown into a room that contains a miniature of the town he has been sent to purchase. The head of the lab says, "Welcome to our little world," and then gives Mac the plastic replica of the town as a souvenir. "Dream large," he intones. The irony's easy to miss and is just one example of the intelligent presence--in the form of writer and director Bill Forsyth--working behind the scenes here.

Mark Knopfler's delicate, haunting soundtrack complements the sometimes melancholy, sometimes hilarious currents of Local Hero to perfection. --Stefanie Durbin

Customer Reviews for Local Hero

After 20+ years, never fails to make me smile
Like some of the other reviewers, when this movie came out I was fresh out of college with that misguided sense of ambition that characterized our generation. We were supposed to admire and emulate people like MacIntyre, the stereotype 80s corporate over-achiever, although like him, many of us also figured out that there were more important things in life. However, this is one of my very favorite movies for several reasons beyond the generational aspect: the dry Gaelic wit, the understated performances, the breathtaking landscapes, etc. all factor into it, but what puts it over the top for me is that it is an unequivocally hopeful story. No matter how many times I've watched it, when the phone rings in the last scene, I'm left with a warm heart and a smile on my face.

One parting shot: in a way, I was surprised (and dismayed) to discover that Al Gore cites it as one of his favorite movies. The environmental message in this story is made gently, a seamless part of the story quite the opposite of the heavy-handed approach of Gore and company. I wonder if he learned that this method works infintely better than scare tactics and scolding, but the skeptic in me doubts it. Fortunately the idealist in me enjoys this story too much to be bothered and is waiting for the day when I can travel the out-of-the-way corners of Scotland, perhaps finding a MacIntyre tending the bar in my little hotel.Local Hero

It is written in the stars
What do you get when you have an oil tycoon and a young businessman wanting to change a sleepy village into the "petrol capital of the free world?" The 1983 enchanting film, LOCAL HERO, written and directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam who is best known for CHARIOTS OF FIRE. This film is not as epic as the previous, but rather a contemporary and quiet respite from all the extravagance displayed in FIRE.

Burt Lancaster plays the executive of Knox Oil and Gas, Felix Happer, and sends Mac MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) to help negotiate with the people of a Scottish seaside village that the piece of land in which they live and dwell in will be detrimental to the global economy for an oil pipeline. The most interesting aspect of the film is how subtle turn of events occurs the longer MacIntyre spends time in the village. The people as well as nature, the Northern Lights and the Scottish coastline, have an affect on both MacIntyre and Happer when the final decisions are made to turn the small village into a refinery.

LOCAL HERO will touch a nerve as well as the funny bone. With its quaint characters, good storyline, and an exceptional soundtrack from legendary guitarist, Mark Knopfler, the film will sure to please viewers looking for a film that simply entertains without a big production.
Local Hero

Scotland The Brave
In my carefree 20's I took my bicycle over to the British Isles and rode all through England, Wales, and Scotland. I spent almost all that summer of '77--Queen Eliz' silver anniversary year--on my red Swallow ten-speed "pushbike", as the Brits called it, slogging it up and down and all around that sceptred isle. Though I saw a ghost in a lonely churchyard above Lynton, hit a sheep outside of Chester, saw authentic gypsies near Malton, and heard a concert in the King's College chapel in Cambridge, my fondest memories of the entire trip remain my rambles through the highlands and isles of northern Scotland. They say that many a wistful Scot longs for his homeland, as he drinks a toast in a bar somewhere in the US, or Australia, or Spain, or anyplace that's got a bit less rain and wind than Scotland! Takes a stout heart to survive the rugged weather and harsh terrain of that wild and lonely place!
If you've ever been there, or want to go there, then you should see this movie. It's got everything I love in a film: humor, quirkiness, romance, unexplained actions and unresolved situations, lovely music, magnificent scenery, magic, diversity of all types and the magnanimity and acceptance that must accompany it. You cannot put this film in any easy category; it's totally unique. For that alone it deserves five stars. Knopfler went on to do many soundtracks, but this is still his best. His music is so perfectly evocative of the true nature of Scotland and indeed, this film itself: defiantly independent, far-reaching, fiercely proud, deliberately out of step with the fads and trends.Local Hero

Worth a look...
This little-know bit of surrealist deconstruction remains poignantly relevant. Especially as the debate over the ANWR heats up, here in the US.Local Hero

Terrific Movie
This is an excellent movie, nice simple plot with great music and scenery, which works perfectly. It is a shame it is no longer available for Region 2, still, most of us are lucky enough to have DVD Players which will play any. Whatever, just get a copy of this movie and watch it, totally brilliant.Local Hero

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