Director Bill Forsyth's follow up to "Gregory's Girl", this delightfully observed comedy looks at the conflict between a Texas oil company and the canny residents of a Scottish fishing village, whose land is needed by the Americans for their North Sea oil base. The village which doubled for the film's 'Ferness' was the delightful North-east fishing village of Pennan.

Director: Bill Forsyth
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Dennis Lawson, Peter Capaldi, Fulton Mackay, Jenny Seagrove, Jennifer Black

In the oil-capital of Houston, Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) guides his globe-spanning organisation with an eccentric touch. He's delighted at their North Sea development plan, crucial to which is the siting of an enormous oil refinery in place of the fishing village of Ferness. To smooth negotiations, Mac MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) gets lobbed across the Atlantic, all on the strength of his supposed Scottish connection.

Arriving in the United Kingdom on his hush-hush mission, Mac teams up with his local contact Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi). Together they intend to wave the wand of big money over Ferness' deeply rooted inhabitants, since they'll no doubt be reluctant to relocate. Fortunately there's an ally, the hotel-keeping lawyer Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson). He's the perfect intermediary, ready to strike a deal with Mac and generally trusted by an in-situ population. He might even talk Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay) around, convincing him to swap a beach shack for a chateau. Thus the harsh beauty of Scotland is left free to work its magic on Mac, a process encouraged by director Bill Forsyth.

The finest of the whimsical Scottish films whose off-beat appeal kick-started the British film industry's revival in the mid 1980s
A heart-warming slice of Caledonian charm

Running Time: 111 minutes,
PAL Format
Classification:  PG