bobvonb This like fine wine. It gets better with age. I first saw it on cable not too long after it came out and was in love immediately. I bought it first on VHS tape and now have it on DVD. Every now and then when I need some emotional quiet I pull the DVD out and give it a watch. I'm sure it's over 20 times and I enjoy it more each time. It's a movie with texture like my most comfortable shirt. SPOILER ALERT. I enjoy and anticipate many (well most actually) of the scenes and feel sorry for anyone who thinks the movie ends in Houston. Others have gone over the plot and commented it was weak. Well, YEAH, it's a movie about people and feelings, not plot twists and action scenes. And it asks questions that may or may not be answered, and that's the point. It asks you to ponder various things. Who is the babies father? Is Marina a mermaid or not? What was the name of the boat being renamed? Who is the biggest capitalist? Who is the most 'normal' person in the village? What is the significance of the last scene (if you didn't quit too soon)? Which scene is the defining moment showing Mac has gone native? And just who is the Local Hero? I have my answers but think it would be unfair to you to reveal them. Watch and decide for yourself. Then let's compare answers and have a great conversation. Wait! I just discovered there is a Facebook page for Local Hero. The discussion can be there!

tom-durham "Local hero" I felt it was really a weak exploration of a Scottish village with an ending that made absolutely no sense. What hero?Instead of a strong plot with tension and release, it felt like the movie stumbled around a field dodging cow pats, finally heading towards an exit until all of a sudden it starts hallucinating, trips over and lands face first in a steamy pile of horse manure. If you just want to see a Scottish village then maybe you will enjoy it.The spoilers here mainly relate to main plot and the nonsensical ending, and don't discuss the Scottish village. So I hope that if you still decide to see the movie after reading this review, it will spare you the disappointment of the terrible ending.***PLOT OUTLINE (MINOR SPOILERS)***The main plot consists of an oil company trying to buy a piece of Scotland so they can drill for oil. They describe how don't have much money to pull it off this time (so expensive fantasies are surely out of the question?).So throughout the movie you wonder if/where it will come unstuck:Will the villagers will oppose the destruction of area? Will the villagers not want to sell? Will the villagers want too much? Will environmentalists oppose the oil platform? Although all these questions are explored I felt there was only serious tension in the third one.And then the movie quickly ends in the most unlikely way...*** MAJOR SPOILERS & PLOT TWIST ENDING ****Finally after over an hour something happens.We have a hold out. In this area, magically the aeroplanes that bomb the beach next to the village have disappeared. Serene and peaceful all of a sudden in the evening light. Yet negotiations don't seem impossible...Enter the eccentric manager/CEO! Lets get a deal going and let the credits roll!Er. no. I like plot twists, but can you believe that the eccentric manager decides to build offshore, and wants to waste money on an observatory, and then the second salesman pipes up 'can you build a fish farm(?) for this hot lady down the beach so I can get into her pants?'. Everyone cringes and the manager says 'What a fantastic idea! Lets do it!'. The movie quickly turns into a mush about the salesman for the last couple of minutes, it was so bad I could barely watch it (nothing to do with fish lady) and the credits roll.Unfortunately we don't get to see the part where the board of directors fires the manager for wasting money, the villagers unhappy because they aren't paid, and nothing is built because the hold out didn't sell.

gavin6942 An American oil company sends a man (Peter Riegert) to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things do not go as expected.There is much to like about this film. Burt Lancaster as an astrologist, a man who is (innocently) mistaken for a Scotsman, an actual Scotsman whose name is Olson. There is an environmental message here, which prompted Al Gore in 2000 to say this was his favorite film. (The theme is a bit obvious -- an oil company trying to buy pristine land, including a church.) Allegedly, the Mark Knopfler soundtrack did better than the film itself. That would not surprise me. Had it not ended up on the IMDb Top 250 (somehow), this film would never have come to my attention.

FilmCriticLalitRao In the course of human civilization, it has been keenly observed that the activities of buying and selling are not as simple as one expects them to be. This is due to the fact that in any financial transaction, apart from the exchange of cash and properties, human emotions are also involved. Keeping in mind this aspect of financial transactions, Scottish director Bill Forsyth directed "Local Hero", a film where more than buying and selling of goods, a precious exchange of human emotions take place in abundance. 'Local Hero' oscillates between comedy and drama as it contains elements of both genres. There is a lot for both critics as well as viewers to learn from an American's visit to a Scottish fishing village in order to negotiate the sale of land which would be used to construct an oil rig. One gets to watch how an ordinary American man becomes completely besotted with the simplicity of a Scottish village to such a large extent that he expresses his desire to swap his American existence for a much quieter stay in the fishing village. Director Bill Forsyth is a keen watcher of human foibles which he has succinctly shown in his film. One watches bemusedly how two lonely men feel the need of female companionship. Apart from ubiquitous concern for environment and nature, there is empathy towards animals too. In a moving scene there is string indignation when the American discovers that he has been made to eat his pet rabbit as food. Local Hero has celebrated more than 30 years of existence. It would be remembered by future generations as a film about local people who are neither hostile nor overtly nice. This is something which works in this film's favor as more than a single 'local hero', there are numerous 'local heroes' who care for their surroundings.