Local Hero

"A BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE... A RICH OIL MAN WANTS TO DEVELOP IT. A POOR BEACH BUM WANTS TO LIVE ON IT. AN ENTIRE TOWN WANTS TO PROFIT BY IT. AND A REAL-LIVE MERMAID WANTS TO SAVE IT... ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GET THEIR WAY."

1983 1h 51m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 422🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●83Metacritic★7.3IMDB · 28,959

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.

“A BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE... A RICH OIL MAN WANTS TO DEVELOP IT. A POOR BEACH BUM WANTS TO LIVE ON IT. AN ENTIRE TOWN WANTS TO PROFIT BY IT. AND A REAL-LIVE MERMAID WANTS TO SAVE IT... ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GET THEIR WAY.”

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Cast

Burt Lancaster
Felix Happer
Peter Riegert
"Mac" MacIntyre
Denis Lawson
Gordon Urquhart
Fulton Mackay
Ben Knox
Peter Capaldi
Danny Oldsen
Jennifer Black
Stella Urquhart
Jenny Seagrove
Marina
Norman Chancer
Moritz

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Bill Forsyth
Writers: Bill Forsyth
Languages: Russian, Japanese, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

43 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, Japanese, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Bill Forsyth, shot by Chris Menges. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Knopfler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Bradsell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert and Denis Lawson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE... A RICH OIL MAN WANTS TO DEVELOP IT. A POOR BEACH BUM WANTS TO LIVE ON IT. AN ENTIRE TOWN WANTS TO PROFIT BY IT. AND A REAL-LIVE MERMAID WANTS TO SAVE IT... ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GET THEIR WAY.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Bill Forsyth directs. Chris Menges behind the camera. Mark Knopfler scores. Michael Bradsell cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Russian, Japanese, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
243 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, Japanese, English.
4Directed by Bill Forsyth, shot by Chris Menges. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Mark Knopfler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Michael Bradsell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert and Denis Lawson carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE... A RICH OIL MAN WANTS TO DEVELOP IT. A POOR BEACH BUM WANTS TO LIVE ON IT. AN ENTIRE TOWN WANTS TO PROFIT BY IT. AND A REAL-LIVE MERMAID WANTS TO SAVE IT... ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GET THEIR WAY.".
9IMDB entry: tt0085859 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "small town", "petrol", "scotland", "village life".

The technical file

Cinematography: Chris Menges
Original score: Mark Knopfler
Editing: Michael Bradsell
Production design: Roger Murray-Leach
Makeup / hair: Barbara Sutton
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,200,000
Box office: $5,900,000
Return: 140% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Local Hero (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 83/100
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 28,959 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Won 1 BAFTA Award4 wins & 6 nominations total

Also by

Bill Forsyth

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-06-08
★ 7/10
Burt Lancaster is the multi-millionaire oil magnate "Felix Happer" who despatches one of his minions (Peter Riegert) to Scotland to buy up a village to turn it into an oil refinery. Once he arrives, he is taken for a bit of a ride by the canny locals as they try to milk him for as much cash as they can. In the days before cell phones; he has to call his boss from the phone box reporting his lack of progress and some astronomical sightings until eventually Happer comes over himself and immediately strikes up a rapport with Fulton Mackay who lives on the beach (and who is steadfastly refusing to sell). It is is simple story very well told with a slightly unpredictable, happy ending and a brilliant score from Mark Knopfler.
Filipe Manuel Neto2023-06-20
★ 3/10
Slow, with boring characters and dialogues and a disjointed script, this film does not justify the “hype” around it. This is one of those indie films that has won over a legion of self-confessed admirers. It's a film that everyone speaks highly of, as if it were a solid masterpiece. I didn't know that when I saw it for the first time, so I saw it without a lot of expectations. I'm glad I did it: despite recognizing some merits, I am convinced that the film has been well overrated. The proof is the way it fell into oblivion! If we exclude fans and movie nerds who know everything (and when they don't, they make it up) who really remembers this movie? The film revolves around a story that is very simple: in the north of Scotland, there is a small bay with a beach and a sleepy village. When a rich oil entrepreneur decides to buy all that to build a huge refinery and a terminal for oil tankers, all those people are expectant, wanting to sell what they have for the best price. Only two people disagree: a marine biologist who want to preserve and study the local, and an old simpleton who owns a good part of that beach. The film had some potential, but it lacks solidity and a good script. Time is spent in sterile dialogue, rambling about comets, constellations and flirting. It is also very unbelievable, as a project like this would never be so consensual, there are always those who oppose it for financial or ecological reasons, or mere nostalgia. If director Bill Forsyth decided to close his eyes to the insipidity and fragility of the script, he was equally inept at using the actors. The cast is good, but he didn't know how to use it. Peter Riegert does what he can, but he has absolutely no charisma and is a forgettable protagonist, who seems more uncomfortable with his character than his character with fieldwork, far from the comforts of the office. Peter Capaldi doesn't do it better, and Jenny Seagrove is just a pretty face here. Fulton Mackay manages to give us something more substantial, but he has little screen time, and the same can be said of poor Burt Lancaster, who is removed from the screen for a good time. A disjointed script, insipid dialogues purposely created to fill up time, characters without strength and ability to captivate us… could there be something in the technical aspects that saves this film? Yes. The cinematography is very good, making the best use of the beauties of the Highlands. The sets and costumes are quite good, and the soundtrack is atmospheric and pleasant. Is it enough to justify the hype around this film and consider it a magnificent and exceptional work? I don't think so.
badelf2026-02-05
★ 9/10
Bill Forsyth's Local Hero sends an American oil company executive (Peter Riegert) to a remote Scottish coastal village to buy it up for a refinery. What he finds instead is a community that can't quite be bought, locals who negotiate on their own eccentric terms, and a way of life that makes his corporate ambitions seem hollow and absurd. This is gentle, quirky, humanistic filmmaking at its finest. There's no heavy-handed messaging, no villains twirling mustaches; just the quiet revelation that some things matter more than money; that community and a slower life render capitalism's promises useless. Burt Lancaster plays the oil tycoon with surprising warmth, Denis Lawson charms as the innkeeper, and Mark Knopfler's score wraps the whole thing in melancholy beauty. It's a subtle, sardonic comment on what we value and what we've lost, delivered with such affection and humor that you barely notice you're being radicalized against late-stage capitalism. I loved it for the entertainment value, for the pleasure of watching people choose connection over profit, for the reminder that not everything worth having can be purchased.