Talk:Local Hero

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Films, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to films and film characters on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale. Unknown This article has not been rated on the importance assessment scale.
Editing Guidelines Please remember these guidelines when editing a film article: If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film) For more information see: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films) When writing an article about a particular film, the general format should be a concise lead section, followed by a plot summary of no more than 900 words, production details, a cast list, a reception section, and references. Create an Infobox that tells all pertinent information about the film.

removed:

• Ferness Village and Ferness Beach, portrayed as being side-by-side in the movie, are actually on opposite sides of Scotland.

reason: stated earlier in the article

Contents 1 Happer's motivation 2 Unconfirmed Trivia 3 Knox, Knox. Who's there? 4 Brigadoon 5 Brigadoon again 6 Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi) 7 Mermaid like fin?

[edit] Happer's motivation

I watched the movie again. I don't agree that Happer has a strong need to name something after himself, but I'll leave it in, unless somebody else backs me up. Clarityfiend 08:46, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

This is a wonderul film which one can get more from every time one watches it. Another of the things that is special about it is that many scenes can be interpreted a number of ways. Here are a few points about Happer's desire to name things.

1. Many wealthy people like to have their names attached to things. This is not implicitly stated in the film but it is illustrated by the following points.
2. Happer tells Mac that he wishes his dad had thought to change the name of Knox Oil and Gas to Happer O&G when he bought it.
3. Any new comet discovered is named for the person who finds it and Happer has been looking for one for awhile.
4. You have to look close to see this one - When Happer leaves the office building after telling the police to "Shoot to Kill" his therapist a street sign that says Happer Blvd or Street can be seen behind him.
5. When Danny suggests that they call the science facility The Happer Institute it cements him as Happer's new right hand man in Scotland.

I can understand your interpretation Clarityfiend and understand that you may disagree with all of this.

To any fans of this film I strongly suggest that you go to the message boards at IMDb where fans of the film have found many interesting interpretations of things in it. One of my favorites is that the two women in the film are name Marina and Stella which is another way of saying the "Sea and the Stars".User:MarnetteD | Talk 17:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unconfirmed Trivia

I gleaned the following from IMDB threads:

The number of the phone booth is 01346 561210 (within the UK).

If anybody can substantiate, please add to the trivia section. Clarityfiend 21:13, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Knox, Knox. Who's there?

"it is strongly suggested that Ben Knox is related to the Knox family from whom Happer's father bought Knox Oil and Gas" I don't recall this at all. Can somebody refresh my memory? Clarityfiend 05:12, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi Clarityfiend. I have found this film to be a bit of a rorsacht (sp?) test - the way one interprests a given scene may have more to say about you than about the movie. I questioned this edit when I read it also - and I know you take special care over this page so I was interested in how you would react to it. I feel that it is simply presented as a coincidence in the plot of the film and, as I wrote above, each viewer will, in their won mind, interpret whether there is a connection or not. I think that we should either tone this entry down or remove it based on a lack of evidence. What do you think? Nice title to your entry by the way. MarnetteD | Talk 18:44, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't sure, since I've only seen it on TV, if some network idiot had cut a scene where all this was explained. But since that isn't the case, I'm going to weaken it and move it to trivia. Clarityfiend 19:40, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Brigadoon

I have always felt there to be more than a few parallels/allusions to the storyline of Brigadoon.

Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadoon tell me whether this seems a. not too speculative b. appropriate to Wiki, since I'm not aware of any citation that Forsyth was thinking along those lines, though it wouldn't be really be out of character at all!

It's a bit of a stretch. I've seen Brigadoon a couple of times and I never made the connection to Local Hero. The protagonists both long to return to isolated Scottish villages to the love they've found there, but that's about all the similarity I can recall. Without any sources, I can't see it meeting Wikipedia's criteria. Clarityfiend 20:54, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

I heard a reference to this on Radio 4 recently. Forsyth described the film as 'Brigadoon meets Apocalypse Now'. Found confirmation online http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/feature.jsp?id=111011&page=2

When I get time I will slip in a brief, referenced allusion to the whimsical surrealism of the film Billo72 17:49, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Brigadoon again

There is a village which emerges out of the mist (remember the car breaking down in the mist for no apparent reason after they find Trudy the rabbit). There is a general air of the odd and surreal (the bewitching Aurora and a real live mermaid in the sea). The hero falls for/has a crush on a local (Stella Urquhart). There is the phone call 'home' which no-one answers and there is no sign of anyone around to ever take the call in the final scene, which is reminiscent of the 'return' to Brigadoon. Was it all a dream?

I agree though, without a citation it's not Wiki material.

Please don't forget to sign your discussion by typing 4 tildes at the end of your sentence. You make some interesting points and while I don't feel the same way about the comparisons I appreciate reading them. Just a couple of points.

1. The car didn't actually break down. They simply felt that driving on the narrow, unknown (to them), roads, not being able to see and it being so late that they should wait for morning. No one fixes the car when they drive on the next day.
2. Ferness doesn't move around.
3. One last one that I don't expect you or anyone else to agree with is that I think that Mac might have felt like Frodo on his return to the Shire (the book now, not the movie).

"Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together." said Merry. "We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded." "Not to me" said Frodo. "To me it feels more like falling asleep again."

Cheers to all who enjoy this fine film. MarnetteD | Talk 22:00, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi)

I too love this film & have watched it many times, gaining something new from it each time. On again watching it today, I finally realized what had been nagging at me about the "Danny Oldsen" character. Peter Capaldi appears to either play the part deliberately using his facial resemblance and the now highly recognizable unique gait & awkward stances of Rowan Atkinson, right down to the fluttering fingers; or he does an amazingly coincidental "Atkinson" - or did Atkinson model his acting style on Capaldi? I find this intriguing as Rowan Atkinson was only just getting known in 1983 after beginning his career in "Not The Nine O'Clock News" in 1978 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_the_Nine_O%27Clock_News & only just beginning the first "The Black Adder" in 1983.

I've looked for anything that would indicate the two worked together, went to school together or are related, but can't find anything. Capaldi is Scottish, Atkinson English.

Does anyone else notice the resemblance? If anyone has or watches it again to check out my curiousity as to, what are to me anyway, quite remarkable resemblances I'd be really interested in opinions and comments.Mally 03:50, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mermaid like fin?

I have watched the film many times without seeing Marina's "mermaid-like fin". I know that she had webbed feet, but I wonder if this statement is actually correct? --82.41.42.96 10:53, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

I wondered about that too. I watched it quite recently and couldn't spot this. Perhaps somebody with the DVD could be bothered to freeze-frame it, and look, but otherwise, in the absence of a reference, we'd be best to remove the claim. – Kieran T ^(talk) 14:26, 11 March 2007 (UTC)