jonmeta

I saw Local Hero in a mostly empty multiplex in 1983. It was slow and not overly endowed with plot, but charming, beautiful, and funny. Significantly, it passed my two subjective tests of a good film: (1) I didn't look at my watch during the screening, and (2) scenes stuck with me for days afterward. After getting married in 84, I subjected my wife to Local Hero on video several times, and the first few viewings she fell asleep halfway through. I wondered if our marriage was doomed. But the third or fourth time she made it all the way through and later confessed that she liked it. One just needs to give it time.

True, it starts a bit slowly. The early scenes of Mac's successful but lonely existence in Houston, and the trip to the Scottish village to "acquire some property in the area", are important for setting up the plot and characters, but not spell-binding. The film rises to a new level when we're introduced to Gordon ("We tend to double up on jobs around here") Urquhart and his lovely wife Stella. It kicks into high gear with the appearance of Ben, who lives alone on the beach, and Victor, the Russian sailor, who arrives for the ceilidh. All this time Mac is being seduced by the charms of village life, and we see it reflected in his interests –he goes from financial negotiations to shell collecting – and in his progressively casual dress. "And McIntyre...get yourself a shave!"

The ceilidh itself is the high point. All the characters come together. Victor sings a song about Texas, sending women into rapture, and Mac dances with Stella while Gordon plays a mournful tune on the accordion. Ben, standing apart and seemingly oblivious to the party, fills his pockets with sandwiches and buns. Right afterward comes one of the film's perfect scenes, where a tipsy Mac, standing in the bar lit only by an amber glow through whiskey bottles, makes an odd proposal to Gordon that somehow seems reasonable after the magical evening. It ends with, "I'd make a good Gordon, Gordon." After that there's a crisis, a Deus ex machina in the form of oil boss Happer and his helicopter, and a resolution that's both sad and happy, like life itself.

If you can go away uncharmed and unmoved after watching Ben laugh himself breathless in response to Mac's question, "How much do you think the bay is worth?", you're a more cynical person than I. Highly recommended.