Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This appears to be a movie that partially succeeds in it's message of maintaining a semblance of humanity where it could have been an exercise in all out anti-capitalism. Oil industry executives 'Mac' MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) and his boss, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster), undergo a serious change of heart regarding their plans to build an oil refinery on the shores of a Scottish village, due primarily to their own inner conflicts and the outgoing personality of an old time beachcomber named Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay). That Ben coincidentally has the last name of Happer's company, Knox Industries, may or may not lead one to conclude that the Knox family patriarch at one time was swindled by a big business concern. The thought did occur to me when Ben's full name was revealed, but it's never confirmed in a definitive way, thus leaving it to the viewer's own imagination. There are some funny and poignant moments in the picture, introduced it seems, to insert an element of whimsy into the story. However depending on one's disposition, Marina's (Jenny Seagrove) webbed feet might elicit either a chuckle or a groan in reaction. To maintain that magical, mystical feeling, the story line could have done a better job to keep that fanciful feeling alive throughout. I didn't know how to react for example, when Mac's adopted rabbit wound up on the dinner table - "I'm sorry Mac, but we eat rabbits here".For those who enjoyed this movie, I'd recommend crossing the Atlantic to a picture that takes place in the American Southwest. "The MIlagro Beanfield War" has a similar story line of a small town being seduced by greedy corporate fat cats, though in this instance, it's the little guys who eventually win out. The film has a bigger name cast that blends in nicely with local talent without stepping on their toes. It achieves a spirituality that "Local Hero" doesn't quite reach though it tries, with a guardian angel that might have added a touch of capricious humor to the proceedings here.

Saw this at the theater when it came out, and haven't seen many since that can hold a candle to it. Off beat and totally entertaining, gorgeous scenery and great music (Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits). Great date night film.

This is a lovely film that comes out of nowhere and captures your imagination. Films of the same ilk are Trout Fishing in the Yemen, Waking Ned Devine, the Decoy Bride, and Field of Dreams. If you like these, you will like this film. It takes a subject of little interest to most, the capitalization of an isolated village in Scotland for profit, and because of brilliant characterization and dialog, creates something lasting that you can comment on 25 years after you watched it for the first time. I don't know why I chose to see this move initially. I do know why I rank it as one of my favorite films. The soundtrack is haunting, with Mark Knoffler at his creative prime. The characters are truly unique, the script natural and intelligent. I loved seeing a senior Burt Lancaster at his very best. That is saying something for a man that stole the scenes in so many great films over his career. The scenery is spectacular and filmed in such a way to convey the both the harshness and the vulnerability of Northern Scotland. - Daryl P.

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey Bill Forsyth directs "Local Hero", one of several films released in the early 1980s credited with rekindling the British film industry. The plot? A gang of big city oilmen attempt to buy up an idyllic Scottish village with the hopes of turning the location into a hotbed of commercial exploitation. One by one this gang convinces our lovable Scottish locals to sell and give up their property, but are stopped in their tracks by an elderly oddball named Ben Knox. Ben refuses to move.The film stars an ageing Burt Lancaster as Felix Happer, the chairman of the oil corporation. His henchman is Mac MacIntyre, played by Peter Riegert. Both men go to Scotland with the hopes of laying the foundations for dredging, but come away with a deep appreciation for Scotland instead. It's an archetypal anti-urban, anti-corporation comedy, our yuppie, big city slickers falling for the beauty of nature, community, the allure of life in the slow lane and the charms of rural countrysides. If this all sounds familiar ("Cars", "Doc Hollywood", "Mr Deeds Goes To Town", "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but came Down a Mountain", Powell and Pressburger's "I Know Where I'm Going" etc) its because it is, but Forsyth's style is unusual and he delivers the tale as best as it been done.Much of the film watches as the villagers become bewitched with the idea of becoming rich. As their greed grows, MacIntyre begins to shed his materialistic lifestyle. His changes are subtle, and conveyed visually: he stops wearing a tie, he stops wearing a suit altogether, he starts drinking with locals etc. This gentle, affectionate tone permeates the entire film. Forsyth slowly draws out the peculiarities and graces of both his rural folk and city folk and aided by musician Mark Knopfler, creates a mystical quality, a superb sense of location, and memorably contrasts Houston, Texan and Scottish skylines, the latter of which is beautifully enhanced by the Aurora Borealis.Films like this were a dime a dozen in the 80s, reacting against the oil boom, Reaganism, Thatcherism and rise in Yuppie and Wall Street chic. It's one of those films which words like "feel-good", "sentimental" and "heartwarming" are routinely applied to, complete with a fantasy ending in which oil barons stop dredging and start saving communities. This fantasy, of course, does not correlate with our world. Big Oil murders for money and has no moral compass whatsoever. "Local Hero's" style, however, is very special; Michael Mann meets Ken Loach and an 80s synth band. Ironically, Forsyth would give up film directing after finding experiences working in Hollywood to be soulless, greedy and distasteful. He'd retire to the countryside.8.5/10 – Worth two viewings.