Houston film critic Joe Leydon still remembers when he met the Scottish filmmaker who would make a charming little film in his neck of the woods.
Back when he was covering movies for the long-gone Houston Post, Leydon met writer-director Bill Forsyth back in 1981, when his film Gregory’s Girl played the city’s WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. “As I recall, Forsyth was sort of the whimsical little character that you would expect,” Leydon told the Texas Observer. “He was really impressed by the size and the muscle of Houston.”
A couple years later, Forsyth would drop Local Hero, which hit U.S. theaters on February 17, 1983—40 years ago this month. It’s a movie that starts off in Houston: “Mac” MacIntyre (Peter Riegert), an executive at Knox Oil and Gas, gets chosen by his eccentric boss Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) to fly to Scotland and convince the people of fictional beachside village Ferness to vacate,for a hefty sum, of course, so his company can build a refinery. Once MacIntyre and his Scottish Knox representative (future Doctor Who Time Lord Peter Capaldi) get there, they both slowly but surely fall in love with the place. Originally showing up in a three-piece suit, it isn’t long before MacIntyre starts rocking sweaters, shooting the breeze with the locals, and collecting seashells.
