What he's unwilling to admit is that the name was chosen by his grandfather while emigrating from Hungary, assuming that it sounded American. Mac is initially unwilling he's used to closing these sorts of deals long distance ("I'm more of a telex man" he keeps insisting) but the company wants him to negotiate in person, assuming his Scottish background will give him an edge. It's a big deal, and one in which the company CEO Felix Happer (Burt Lancaster) has taken a personal interest. He's a corporate acquisitions hotshot who's been given the task of acquiring a whole village on the Scottish coast to demolish for a massive refinery for their offshore drilling operations. The film begins on a freeway snaking through Houston, Texas, and "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) in his Porsche 903 on the way to work at Knox Oil. Forsyth might have been sent south to make another comedy with British actors instead of Scottish teenagers to test his mettle, but the early '80s were a boom time for cinema, especially in the UK, and Forsyth got his big break while Duran Duran were still making hit singles. You would have known that Forsyth had real talent if you'd seen his next picture, Gregory's Girl (1980), another small film that became a hit on the festival, indie and repertory cinema circuits despite the thick Glaswegian accents that required re-dubbing for American audiences. You'd never have imagined he'd pull this off just four years earlier if you'd been in the small but enthusiastic audience for That Sinking Feeling, his ultra-low budget debut feature (made for a reported $10,000 literally a kitchen sink film) about a group of no-hope unemployed Glasgow teenagers with a dopey plan to steal a bunch of stainless steel sinks. The film was Forsyth's entry into the big leagues, with American actors and a big Hollywood star. Forsyth walks a very fine line with Local Hero, the 1983 film that might be his masterpiece, and if you're a fan who already knows how the film ends, the way he negotiates that tightrope is a huge part of the drama. It's both a blessing and a curse by the age of forty we learn not to trust charming people (charm is the polished walnut veneer that disguises a sociopath) and charm in art is more often than not the extra spoonful of sugar that turns compelling into cloying. Prior to its opening, newspaper reports noted that the kiosk would be designed in such a way as not to become an eyesore but rather would be “built of reinforced concrete, with glazed panels, and is designed so as to present a pleasing appearance and be in harmony with the surrounding buildings.The word "charming" is used more than any other to describe Scottish director Bill Forsyth's comedies. “If the experiment succeeds many more kiosks will be erected in various parts of the city” the paper noted. P Mulligan, Chief Engineer to the Post Office. The Irish Times reported that the inauguration of the scheme was due to the initiative of Mr. The kiosks were concrete, similar to those in use in the UK at the time and were available to use at all times. One contemporary newspaper report noted that Stockholm had in excess of 500 such public telephones at the time, so perhaps like our first escalator (which we featured here recently!) we were a bit behind once more. The Grattan statue at College Green, the location for Dublin's first public telephone kiosk.ĭublin’s first telephone kiosk was installed in May of 1925, next to the Henry Grattan statue on College Green.
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