Visiting the Aberdeenshire village of Pennan is a pilgrimage for many movie fans, but it’s much more than just a film backdrop, writes Jonathan Melville.
Most film fans have a cinematic bucket list they’re slowly working their way through, whether it’s meeting a beloved actor, watching a classic on the big screen, or visiting a location from their favourite movie.
I’ve been able to tick off a few of mine (visiting Scaramanga’s island from The Man with the Golden Gun, and touring the studios of Muppet-maker Jim Henson in Los Angeles were highlights), but I’d somehow managed to miss out on one of the biggest – visiting the backdrop to 1983’s Local Hero.
I’d known for a long time that the Highland village of Ferness, pinpointed in the film by oil billionaire Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) as being the perfect site for his latest refinery, was two locations stitched together by movie magic: Camusdarach Beach on the west coast of Scotland, and Pennan in Aberdeenshire.
In 2013, I’d hosted a 30th-anniversary screening of Local Hero in Mallaig, alongside writer-director Bill Forsyth and his associate producer, Iain Smith.
We’d sat in the Screen Machine mobile cinema on a rainy November evening and watched Local Hero for the umpteenth time, along with 80 fans, revelling once more in the stunning scenery, and reliving Mac’s (Peter Riegert) journey from Houston to Scotland, that always ends with him leaving the place he’s grown to love.
Visiting nearby Camusdarach the next day, I realised that the small house beside the beach had once been covered by a fake church for the scene where the villagers, under the guidance of Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson), discuss their plans to get as much money from the Americans as possible. One half of my Local Hero bucket list had been ticked off, but it would take almost another decade before I’d finish the job.
Driving into ‘Ferness’ felt cinematic
By the spring of 2022, I was in the final stages of writing a book on the making of Local Hero, my love of the film pushing me to dig into its history and talk to the men and women who had worked on it in the summer of 1982.
As I don’t own a car and rarely drive, getting from Edinburgh to Pennan had always been a problem. When a filmmaker friend offered to give me a lift, I jumped at the chance to finally visit the place that had welcomed Hollywood into its midst 40 years before.
Arriving in Pennan on a chilly May morning, we soon found ourselves looking down upon the village we knew so well, even though we’d never stepped foot in it. Driving down the steep hill, just as Mac and Danny (Peter Capaldi) had done all those years ago, was like entering the film. I half wondered if we’d encounter a dog on the road as the car rounded the corner and headed to the phone box that Mac uses to call his boss back in Houston.
Sadly, the movies lie. The phone box wasn’t where we expected, and Gordon Urquhart’s hotel wasn’t quite what we thought it would be.
Instead, I stood in front of two houses that had been joined together to make one building. The window from which Gordon and Stella (Jennifer Black) greet Mac and Danny belonged to a lady who kindly offered me a cup of tea, before explaining how Denis Lawson had spent time in her front bedroom, waiting for the cameras outside to start rolling.
Pennan is much more than just Local Hero
I took a wander along the front and met Shona from the Coastal Cuppie coffee and cake shack, who told me that Local Hero is still a major draw for tourists, but that surfers looking to ride the waves around the village are just as common as film buffs.
Much as I hope fans will use the 40th-anniversary as an excuse to visit Pennan and its phone box for a photo opportunity, I also hope they can put a few pounds into the local economy
I also met Fiona McRae, better known as Focal Hero Pennan, who sells merchandise featuring her award-winning photos of the village. She told me that, despite the number of permanent residents in Pennan dropping to just 10 over the years, there’s still a strong community spirit and a desire to harness the memory of Local Hero to raise money for good causes as its 40th-anniversary approaches in 2023.
I’d come to Pennan to visit a piece of cinematic history, but I left realising that it’s far more than just another box to tick. Residents deserve to capitalise on a film made four decades ago, but it’s clear that Local Hero doesn’t define them or their home.
Much as I hope fans will use the 40th anniversary as an excuse to visit Pennan and its phone box for a photo opportunity, I also hope they can put a few pounds into the local economy by buying a scone at the Coastal Cuppie and a few calendars from Fiona.
Spend too much time there and, as Happer comments at the end of Local Hero, you might just grow to love the place.
- You can watch Local Hero at Inverness Film Festival on November 6, preceded by a conversation between Jonathan and actor Jimmy Yuill
Jonathan Melville is a film journalist, script reader and author
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