MOVIE · 1983

Local Hero

ComedyDrama111 min

An American oil company sends a sharp young executive to the tiny west coast Scottish village of Ferness with a simple assignment: buy the town and the nearby shoreline so an oil refinery can be built. He expects a routine negotiation. Instead, he finds a place with its own rhythms, its own bargains, and residents who are far less straightforward than they first seem. As he meets villagers weighing the money against the life they know, the deal turns into a series of quiet standoffs, misunderstandings, and unexpected attachments. Peter Riegert anchors the outsider at the center of the talks, while Burt Lancaster appears as the company boss waiting for results from far away.