Local Hero (1983 Bill Forsyth & scr)

Next in our Scotland double-bill is Forsyth's best film, in which American Peter Reigert travels to Scottish village (with Peter Capaldi) to buy it for an oil refinery. Wily villagers led by hotelier / lawyer (everyone has more than one job) Denis Lawson embrace the plan. It's a bit like an Ealing film, with a humour that is gentle but cynical and characters who are human. It is also fantastically filmed by Chris Menges (a year ahead of his first Oscar) with dazzling magic hour scenes on the beach. Like the visitors, the viewer finds themselves falling in love with the place and the people.

I couldn't find out if the aurora borealis was real or a special effect.

Burt Lancaster, Fulton Mackay, Jenny Seagrove (the marine biologist), Jennifer Black.

Thankfully Mark Knopfler's score has not dated at all.