Watching Local Hero put me in mind of that other Scottish based film with that wonderful Lerner&Loewe score, Brigadoon. That one concerned a Scottish village that got itself raptured out of time and space and certainly is spared the critical decision that this village and its inhabitants have to make.
An American oil company, active in North Sea offshore drilling, wants to buy the town literally, tear it down and build a refinery and dredge the harbor to make it deeper for ocean going ships. And they're willing to pay, they've got gazillions to spend.
Looking to close the deal is young and aggressive executive Peter Riegert who I guess went to this line of work after graduating from that university with its notorious fraternity. He likes to do things by telex, saves him from the human contact.
But human contact he gets here and it does make him rethink things.
I met Peter Riegert a year ago when he was touring with his film King of the Corner, which by the way is a gem, and asked him about this film and working with Burt Lancaster who plays the oil company president and amateur astronomer.
What you saw on the screen is what you got with Burt. He sounded exactly in normal conversation like he does on screen. He was in some awe of him, telling the audience that he grew up watching Burt on the screen in such films as The Crimson Pirate and Gunfight at the OK Corral.
What I remember best was Riegert telling us of that piece of career advice he gave him. Alternate your films as he learned to. Do one for yourself and one for the poke as Burt Lancaster put it. I can just hear him saying it too.
Local Hero is a good piece of entertainment, but I wondered why no one in the village suggested the Brigadoon option as a way of having your cake and eating it too.
An American oil company, active in North Sea offshore drilling, wants to buy the town literally, tear it down and build a refinery and dredge the harbor to make it deeper for ocean going ships. And they're willing to pay, they've got gazillions to spend.
Looking to close the deal is young and aggressive executive Peter Riegert who I guess went to this line of work after graduating from that university with its notorious fraternity. He likes to do things by telex, saves him from the human contact.
But human contact he gets here and it does make him rethink things.
I met Peter Riegert a year ago when he was touring with his film King of the Corner, which by the way is a gem, and asked him about this film and working with Burt Lancaster who plays the oil company president and amateur astronomer.
What you saw on the screen is what you got with Burt. He sounded exactly in normal conversation like he does on screen. He was in some awe of him, telling the audience that he grew up watching Burt on the screen in such films as The Crimson Pirate and Gunfight at the OK Corral.
What I remember best was Riegert telling us of that piece of career advice he gave him. Alternate your films as he learned to. Do one for yourself and one for the poke as Burt Lancaster put it. I can just hear him saying it too.
Local Hero is a good piece of entertainment, but I wondered why no one in the village suggested the Brigadoon option as a way of having your cake and eating it too.