Director: Bill Forsyth
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Peter Capaldi, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay
Knox Oil and Gas of Houston is far removed from the North Sea oil it desires – and the sleepy Scottish seaside village it wants to buy and replace with a refinery. So Knox sends its ace dealmaker (Peter Riegert) to negotiate. He finds cheerful future millionaires, awesome northern lights, a lusty innkeeper, a stubborn beachcomber and a mermaid with webbed toes.
Forsyth’s touch is perfect: whether showing us a tycoon (Burt Lancaster) with his head in the stars or bridging generations at an all-night ceilidh dance.
37 on the BFI’s Top 100 British films