PANEL 149    Scotland at the Movies

‘The name’s Bond, James Bond.’ Immortal words, uttered by Sean Connery, they established him as one of the most famous film actors of all time. Other Scots, such as Ewan McGregor, Brian Cox, Kelly Macdonald, Tom Conti and Tilda Swinton, have followed. Behind the camera, Alexander MacKendrick, Bill Forsyth and Lynne Ramsay have directed memorable work. And one of the most commercially successful films of all time, Braveheart, told the story of a Scottish hero – William Wallace. Definitions can be elusive. Many films have been made in Scotland but can Alfred Hitchcock’s wonderful The 39 Steps be called a Scottish film? It was adapted from a novel by John Buchan, a Border Scot but directed by an Englishman and had English actors in lead roles. Even Peggy Ashcroft played a crofter’s wife. Perhaps one of the very best was Local Hero, written and directed by Bill Forsyth in 1983. It starred Americans, Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, but also Denis Lawson and Fulton Mackay. But what it portrayed was very Scottish – a Lowlander’s use of imagined Highland attitudes to create a modern fairy tale. And, with its superb dialogue and acting and a haunting theme by Mark Knopfler, it was very successful.

 

Panel stitched by:

Boatie Blest Stitchers

Jackie Berg

John Berg

Carmel Daly

Jon Gerard

Bernie Goslin

Agnes Greig

Marion Harkin

Lucy Hyde

Shelly Jones

Gareth Jones

Jennifer Nesbit

Bill Peach

Martine Robertson

Joyce Souness

Stitched in:

Port Seton