Dayle Loves This: Local Hero (movie)
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Welcome to Dayle Loves This, wherein I recommend books, TV, and movies (and maybe other things) that rocked my world.
If they don’t rock your world, that’s okay. We all have reader/watcher cookies as well as triggers. If you have questions, ask. And please make your own suggestions, and discuss!
I can’t believe Local Hero wasn’t my first Dayle Loves This entry. This is one of those movies I watch about onc a year. It’s the second movie Peter Capaldi appeared in (in 1983), and when he was at the Rose City Comic Con a couple of years ago, I asked him a question about this movie. Many people applauded; however, I was the only one not to ask him a Doctor Who–related question.
I’ve been to the town in Scotland where the movie was filmed. (The town shots, not the beach shots, which were elsewhere.) That’s how much I love this movie.
I love it because it’s surprisingly simple and yet surprisingly complex. Every time I watch it, I pick up another detail.
In the early 1980s, “Mac” MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) works for Texas company Knox Oil and Gas. He’s summoned to the office of the eccentric company owner , Mr. Happer (Burt Lancaster) and sent to a remote village Scotland to buy the entire place because oil has been found off the coast.
Mac is being sent because of his Scottish name. He’s actually of Hungarian descent. If that level of humor is your jam, you’ll love this movie.
A New York Times review says, “Genuine fairy tales are rare; so is film-making that is thoroughly original in an unobtrusive way. Bill Forsyth’s quirkly disarming Local Hero is both.”
Forsyth also directed Gregory’s Girl and Comfort and Joy. The former hasn’t worked for me, but the latter is also charming.
Local Hero is subtle, sweet, often ridiculous, and tugs at my heartstrings and makes me cry. If you have the chance, check it out. Dayle Loves This, and wants you to, too.