Bill Forsyth Movies
Consistently described as quirky and droll, Scottish filmmaker Bill Forsyth mastered the art of the unexpected with the release of his first film, That Sinking Feeling, the episodic moral tale of an unemployed band of urban Glasgow youths trying to unload a stolen shipment of kitchen basins. As with his subsequent films, the story is a comedy with the underpinnings of a moral tale from which the film's youthful protagonists will learn a lesson or two about life.Forsyth entered the film industry at age 17 after he was hired as the assistant to a documentary filmmaker. From this director, Forsyth was able to learn about all aspects of film productions. In the late '60s, Forsyth briefly attended the national Film School and then worked as an assistant editor at the BBC before returning to Glasgow to break ties with the documentary director. By that time, Forsyth decided he wanted to make more personal films. His sophomore effort, Gregory's Girl (1980), followed the offbeat romance between a painfully shy local football (soccer) hero and the young woman who joins his team. The director's third film, Local Hero (1983), is his best-known film and exemplifies Forsyth's original style. A gentle comedy rich with melancholy undertones, it is the story of a Texas oil tycoon who endeavors to buy a small Scottish coastal village that sits atop a vast reserve of untapped oil in the North Sea. Forsyth's first American film, Housekeeping, starring Christine Lahti as an eccentric wanderer who profoundly impacts the lives of her two nieces, is similarly laced with humor and pathos. His most ambitious and yet least successful film is Robin Williams' vehicle Being Human, an ambitious but uneven and snail's-paced look at romance through the ages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1998
- NR
Gregory Underwood is an idealistic teacher whose head is full of the columns of the liberal magazines he religiously reads. He feels he is a citizen of the world, but he does most of his living inside his head. Voluptuous music teacher Belle is crazy about him and determined to engage him in an adult relationship. But Gregory is infatuated with one of his brighter students, Frances. Inspired by Gregory's teaching, Frances gets involved in a campaign against global injustice and in particular against a suspected arms dealer and local businessman, Fraser Rowan. When she tries to get Gregory involved, his moral pomposity is put to the test. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gordon Sinclair, Carly McKinnon, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
Five fables, each set in a different historical era, make up this quirky comedy from director Bill Forsyth. Each tale features Robin Williams as a basically decent but troubled average man named Hector. Beginning with the Bronze Age, where Hector struggles for survival against barbarians, the film proceeds through Roman times, the Middle Ages, and the 16th century, concluding in the present day, where Hector is a divorced father attempting to reconcile with his children. The film clearly intends to draw parallels between these stories in order to illustrate the universal nature of human experience, though the segments themselves vary widely in tone, from broadly comic to philosophically reflective. Additionally, some may find the film's attempts at creating a fantasy atmosphere rather cloying, while others may be charmed by the project's determined oddness and whimsicality. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, John Turturro, (more)
In this comedy (which claims a strong pedigree -- it was written by John Sayles and directed by Bill Forsyth), Burt Reynolds plays Ernie, an aging career burglar who knows just about everything there is to know about breaking and entering. One night, Ernie has stealthily slipped into a home only to discover someone else is already there -- Mike (Casey Siemaszko), a guy in his early 20's who likes to sneak into other people's houses so he can raid their refrigerators and watch their televisions. Ernie is taken aback by Mike's recklessness, but is impressed by his skills; he's convinced the kids has the makings of a first-class thief, and offers to make him his protege. Mike agrees, and soon the two are working together, with Ernie trying to explain the importance of playing it as safe as possible while Casey follows every youthful impulse to make some fast money and throw it away just as quickly. Breaking In marked a change-of-pace role for Burt Reynolds, in which he acknowledged his age and played a character role instead of an action hero; the results garnered him some of the best notices of his career. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Housekeeping is the film in which Christine Lahti invites a guest into a living room half-submerged in water. This is hardly the oddest moment in this characteristically quirky Bill Forsyth film (his first American production). When their grandmother dies, Idaho pre-teens Sarah Walker and Andrea Burchill are watched over by their late mother's sister (played by Ms. Lahti). This strange young woman has throughout her life made unconventionality a life form. The girls are at first embarrassed by their loopy aunt, but when Burchill moves in with another family, Walker draws closer to the older woman. They hit the road, where Lahti has spent most of her life, and experience several picaresque episodes before the more sober-sided Burchill informs the authorities about their vagabond lifestyle. Threatened with losing custody of Walker, Lahti makes an effort to clean up her act, but by this time her niece has become just as endearingly unpredictable as she. Director Forsyth adapted his script from a novel by Marilynne Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine Lahti, Sarah Walker, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Writer/director Bill Forsyth's follow-up to his best film, Local Hero, is another comic exploration of a man undergoing a personal crisis. In Local Hero, the American played by Peter Riegert finds himself enchanted by the people and ambience of a Scottish village he has been dispatched to purchase for an oil company. In Comfort and Joy, Alan (Bill Paterson) is a Glasgow radio disc jockey whose air name is the chirpy Dickey Bird. After Maddy, his girlfriend (Eleanor David), walks out on him at Christmas, he's spurred to re-evaluate his life. Looking for more meaningful work than spinning pop tunes and offering inane chatter to his geriatric listeners, Alan decides to make a radio documentary. He chances upon a local rivalry between two ice cream companies, who are sabotaging each other's trucks in an effort to monopolize the market. Attracted to Charlotte (C.P. Grogan), the daughter of one of the company owners, Alan finds himself playing peacemaker rather than documentarian. That this cold war takes place in the dead of a bitter Scottish winter is only one of Forsyth's many sly touches. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, (more)
Bill Forsyth's whimsical tale of sweet-natured corporate rapacity features standout performances by Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert. Lancaster plays Texas billionaire Felix Happer, who would rather gaze at the stars than worry about his multi-national oil company. Happer dispatches Mac MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) and Danny Oldsen (Peter Capaldi) to the small Scottish fishing village of Ferness to negotiate buying the entire town so Happer can drill for oil in the North Sea. Much to Mac's surprise, the entire town is happy to sell itself for big money, and the local innkeeper, Gordon Urquhart (Denis Lawson) -- who is also the town's accountant and mayor -- works with Mac on the negotiations. But a wrinkle appears in the deal when Ben Knox (Fulton Mackay), an old man who lives in a shack on the beach which has been owned by his family for centuries, refuses to sell. His reasons? "Who'd look after the beach then? It would go to pieces in a short manner of time." The deal stalls so seriously that Happer travels to Ferness to oversee negotiations as Mac and Danny are seduced by the charm of the Scottish town. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, (more)
The sophomore film of Scottish director Bill Forsyth was his first international hit, a typically quirky comedy set amongst colorful Scottish teenagers. Gregory (John Gordon Sinclair) is a normal, gangly, hormonally-challenged student who, like his pals, has begun to discover the charms of the opposite sex, particularly those of Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), the new girl in school and a talented soccer player. Dorothy joins the team, and Gregory instantly becomes smitten with her. Gregory's affections are a given in spite of the fact that Dorothy is a better player than most of the boys on the hapless team, and her presence inspires a great deal of angst and embarrassment. Gregory is prepared to go to humiliating lengths in order to win Dorothy's attention, but it doesn't quite work out as he anticipates. The winner of a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, Gregory's Girl was followed 18 years later by a sequel, Gregory's Two Girls (1999). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, (more)
- 1979
- PG
Bill Forsyth displays some of the fey quirkiness that would distinguish his later, better-known directorial efforts in 1979's That Sinking Feeling. The film details the misadventures of four aimless Scottish youths, who impulsively steal a shipment of stainless-steel sinks. Once they've made off with their booty, the boys have quite a time unloading it on prospective buyers. Much of the humor is verbal, which can be a trial for viewers unwilling to decipher the cast's thick Glasgow accents. That Sinking Feeling was released in the U.S. only after the success of Forsyth's 1980s efforts Gregory's Girl and Local Hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Buchanan, John Hughes, (more)
