Local Hero
| Local Hero | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bill Forsyth |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Bill Forsyth |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Mark Knopfler |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Edited by | Michael Bradsell |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £3 million |
| Box office | $5.9 million (US) |
Local Hero is a 1983 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay, and Burt Lancaster. Produced by David Puttnam, the film is about an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. For his work on the film, Forsyth won the 1984 BAFTA Award for Best Direction.
"Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) is a typical 1980s hot-shot executive working for Knox Oil and Gas in Houston, Texas. The eccentric chief of the company, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster), chooses to send him (largely because his surname sounds Scottish) to Scotland to acquire the village of Ferness to make way for a refinery. Mac (who is actually of Hungarian extraction) is a little apprehensive about his assignment, complaining to a co-worker that he would much rather take care of business over the phone and via telex machines. Happer, an avid astronomy buff, tells Mac to watch the sky, especially around the constellation Virgo, and to notify him immediately if he sees anything unusual.
Upon arriving in Scotland, Mac teams up with local Knox representative Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi). During a visit to a Knox research facility in Aberdeen, Dr Geddes (Rikki Fulton) and his assistant Watt (Alex Norton) inform them about the scope of the company's plans, which entail replacing Ferness with the refinery. They also meet (and admire) marine researcher Marina (Jenny Seagrove).
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Wikipedia