Best Scottish films you really should have seen by now

Published on Friday 21 August 2009 18:55

LOCAL HERO (1983) This is the only film, ever, anywhere, to make a star out of a red phone box. A young US executive tries to buy out locals to build a coastal refinery.

It is notable for an excellent performance by Denis Lawson, with delightful cameos from Burt Lancaster and Fulton Mackay.

The film made Pennan in Aberdeenshire into a destination for tourists, many of whom were bemused as to where the beach featured in the film had gone – it was filmed elsewhere.

In one classic moment, during the celebrations for a successful deal, a local asks for another 40-year-old malt.

Unruffled by the news that it is finished, he simply requests five eight-year-olds.

Gloriously silly, and a great advert for Scottish tourism.

WHISKY GALORE (1949) Compton Mackenzie loosely based this story on the real-life wreck of the SS Politician on a Scottish island, but that is hardly the point.

The islanders in the film use every trick in the book to "vanish" the whisky before Customs and Excise get it. This includes hiding it down drains and in prams.

The simple plot unfolds at a cracking pace, helped by a cast to die for, including Compton Mackenzie himself, Joan Greenwood, Jean Caddell, James Robertson Justice, John Gregson, Duncan Macrae and a breathtakingly young Ronnie Corbett.

Simply a joy.

ROB ROY (1995) Like Braveheart – which I promise not to mention again – this takes some liberties with history, but Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange make a credible couple ("Fine ye look tae me, Rob Roy MacGregor"), and the whole film is well constructed and beautifully shot, harking back to the kind of adventure that Errol Flynn might have made half a century before. This is oh so much better and the villains are deliciously horrid, too.

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969) This film does 1930s Edinburgh society and morals no favours, as Maggie Smith leads her charges along some alarmingly unconventional paths.

Her influence on the impressionable schoolgirls eventually comes back to damn her – truly a case of "the biter bit".

The film gave rise to several memorable lines, notably "my gels" and "crme de la crme".

It is, ultimately, a vicious little film which is therefore a delight to watch.

TRAINSPOTTING (1996) A notorious film – rightly so – on the dark underbelly of Scottish life including drugs, alcohol, sex, theft and violence as well.

Ewan McGregor (Renton) and Robert Carlyle (Begbie) give remarkable performances, though the rest of the cast is not far behind them.

It divided critics at the time, which is always a good sign, and is well on the way to becoming a classic.

"Choose life" said the publicity, but we all knew that they couldn't.

Unpleasant and unmissable.

LOCH NESS (1996) Scientist Ted Danson goes to the famous loch to disprove the Nessie legend, but – surprise, surprise – falls under the spell of the place.

This is the nearest Scotland has come to its own Plan 9 from Outer Space. It is a truly awful film, with a ludicrous script, cardboard acting, cardboard special effects and enough sugar to make all of Clackmannanshire into jam.

But, if you have a few drams before you watch, it becomes an absolute hoot.