“Local Hero” is a 1983 Scottish drama film that was directed by Bill Forsyth. A man that works for Knox Oil and Gas, Mac was travelling to Scotland from Houston, TX to look into purchasing a town in Scotland for an oil port. But Mac fell in love with Scotland with their lifestyle, despite him being hesitant before he got there. This was because of the scenery, down to earth people and the overall environment. Mac found that buying the town was easier than what he thought surprised him.
Upon Mac’s arrival to Scotland, a man named Danny picked him up and showed him around the town and that he stated that the town did not want to be sold. As the tour continued, Danny met a girl that he really liked who she thought he wanted to build a marine lab. Then, Mac and Danny met a hotel owner, Gordon where he knew most of the townspeople. Their hope was to have Gordon help out with Knox oil company buying the town. Mac wanted to change positions because he was falling in love with the town as well as having jealousy of Gordon.
Mac and Gordon ran into a problem with the sale of the beach, who was owned by Knox, who lived on the beach in a run-down home, but was not interested in selling. Mac’s negotiations with Knox were taking a long time and as a result, Mac’s boss, Mr. Happer decided to talk to Knox about the sale. He spoke with Mr. Knox for several hours changing his mind to build an observatory and research center instead of an oil port. Ironically, the plans for the oil port were scrapped and instead to preserve the beauty and uniqueness of the land.
Even though Bill Forsyth provided little action in the movie, he was able to show viewers what Mac and the people in the town want to negotiate. The lack of action and mostly tame plot made it difficult to watch. The ending was awkward because the only thing that occurred was that Mac was brought onto a helicopter then the scene cut to him back at his apartment in Houston and never really resolved his conflict of wanting to stay. Overall, “Local Hero” is a movie that viewers can explore and predict, but it can cause boredom and difficulty to viewers.