There is something about Local Hero that makes grown film critics cry. Many have commented on their wet eyes watching this enchantingly off-kilter comedy, sentimental but never maudlin. A fictional Scottish coastal village becomes prey to Houston oil money earmarked for purchase of the town and turning it into a refinery site. Peter Riegert appears as the executive gopher dispatched to the village to close the deal for his boss, a crackpot oil magnate played with vigor by Burt Lancaster. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, this film has lost none of its magic, a love poem, as one critic wrote, to Scotland and the Scots.

UK 1983 (111 minutes)

In a Zoom interview with the festival’s Ruthe Stein, Peter Riegert (forever remembered as the Pickle Man in Crossing Delancey) talks about his memories making Local Hero, especially working with Lancaster in the waning years of his colossal career.

Sponsor: Bruce Lymburn