The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Local Hero
Comedy · Drama · 1983
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
Movie details
Local Hero
“A BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE... A RICH OIL MAN WANTS TO DEVELOP IT. A POOR BEACH BUM WANTS TO LIVE ON IT. AN ENTIRE TOWN WANTS TO PROFIT BY IT. AND A REAL-LIVE MERMAID WANTS TO SAVE IT... ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GET THEIR WAY.”
1983 Comedy · Drama 1h 51m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Local Hero?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Comedy · 2025
An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favourite musicians to perform at his home.
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
Animation · 2022
A man narrates stories of his life as a 10-year-old boy in 1969 Houston, weaving tales of nostalgia with a fantastical account of a journey to the moon.
Julian Po
Comedy · 1997
Christian Slater is a stranger who comes to a small town. The local citizens think he's up to no good. After bothering him for a while, he blurts out in frustration, that he is there to kill himself.
Wild Rose
Music · 2019
A young Scottish singer, Rose-Lynn Harlan, dreams of making it as a country artist in Nashville after being released from prison.
Fisherman's Friends
Comedy · 2019
Ten fishermen from Cornwall are signed by Universal Records and achieve a top ten hit with their debut album of Sea Shanties. Based on the true-life story of Cornish folk band, Fisherman's Friends.
Promised Land
Drama · 2012
A salesman for a natural gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources.
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown
Animation · 2017
When the Scooby gang visits a dude ranch, they discover that it and the nearby town have been haunted by a ghostly cowboy, Dapper Jack, who fires real fire from his fire irons. The mystery only deepens when it’s discovered that the ghost is also the long lost relative of Shaggy Rogers!
Secondhand Lions
Family · 2003
The comedic adventures of an introverted boy left on the doorstep of a pair of reluctant, eccentric great-uncles, whose exotic remembrances stir the boy's spirit and re-ignite the men's lives.
The Trip to Bountiful
Drama · 1985
Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940s Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish – just once before she dies – is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home."
Sarah's Oil
Drama · 2025
Sarah Rector, a Black girl born in early 20th-century Oklahoma Indian Territory, believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted, and her faith proves right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation's first Black female millionaires—at eleven years old.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Bill Forsyth
Written by
Bill Forsyth
Burt Lancaster
Felix Happer
Peter Riegert
"Mac" MacIntyre
Denis Lawson
Gordon Urquhart
Fulton Mackay
Ben Knox
Peter Capaldi
Danny Oldsen
Jennifer Black
Stella Urquhart
Jenny Seagrove
Marina
Court is in session
Put Local Hero on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.