Local Hero (1983 Film)

 (26 customer reviews)

Dire Straits notwithstanding, Mark Knopler's score for "Local Hero" is one of his most wonderful musical contributions. This film score is one of his finest, along with his scores for "Cal" and "Comfort and Joy". Did James Horner hear these Knopfler scores before his titanic "Titanic" score? I think so. But Horner was not able (or allowed) to communicate so simple and sweet a vision. "Local Hero" is one of the great films of the 80s, and so, too, is Mark Knopfler's score for that film.

In 1983, at the height of the Dire Straights' reign of pop music ("Money for Nothing"), Dire Straights lead song writer Mark Knopfler scored the soundtrack of a delightful "little movie that could" called Local Hero.

"Local Hero" (14 tracks, 43 min.) creates the atmosphere of the Scottish scene in which the movie is set, in which a US expat is sent to convince a small seaside town to sell their interest in a beach so that a "big bad" US oil company can explore ir for oil. The mostly instrumental soundtrack is superb from start to finish, creating a wonderful mood. The opener "The Rocks and the Water" sets the stage, just superbly brought of what the Scottish seaside is like. Knopfler's guitar virtuoso gets a workout in a couple of tracks, but it never deteriorates from the overall mood. Other outstanding tracks include "The Mist Covered Mountains", gently bringing in a local band playing a sorrowful yet hopefull tune, and "Stargazer", in which you can just see and smell the...Read more

Local Hero is one of my favorite film scores, and contains some of the best music Mark Knopfler has written. It is hedonistically enjoyable and bears repeated listening. The music is not anything like a Dire Straits album, but is beautifully evocative of the small town in northern Scotland where the movie is set.Mark Knopfler is clearly the main the main songwriter, but Alan Clark (a founding member of The Hollies) collaborates with Knoplfer on some tunes, and contributes a few short pieces of music of his own, including the hauntingly beautiful "Stargazer", which actually sounds like the Aurora Borealis. Gerry Rafferty ("Baker Street") contributes vocals to one track as well. I am left with the impression that having other talented musicians to work with on this project (instead of sidemen) inspired Knopfler to create a great achievement not only in the music presented but in the quality of the audio production as well. Knopfler has not reached same...Read more