The Slice: The Slice: ‘Local Hero’ feels right at home here

According to something I read, today is the 25th anniversary of the first appearance of the movie “Local Hero.”

Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s on at least a few people’s lists of all-time favorites. It’s on mine.

The meandering story of a Houston oil man sent to buy up a seaside Scottish village that his company intends to turn into a refinery complex, the film is really about how this guy finds himself.

It’s quite charming.

At first out of step with everything about the quirky community he has been sent to erase, the oil man eventually embraces the people and the pace. By the end, he wants nothing more than to stay.

I mention this because “Local Hero” makes me think of the Inland Northwest.

OK, we don’t have any eccentric seaside villages around here. But we do have lots of places where men and women from elsewhere have attempted to reinvent themselves.

Of course, some of these characters are nuts or worse. No sense denying that.

Still, for years now, many others have viewed the Spokane area as a second-chance destination where an authentic life, an existence full of meaning, could be lived.

Some have viewed our region as offering a sane alternative to big-city America.

Our geography is a big part of the attraction. If you want to get lost, there are plenty of trees to hide behind.

Or if you just want to live a mainstream life that’s not all sirens and merge lanes, that option exists, too. Theoretically anyway.

Economic realities can crush starting-over dreams. And not everyone finds Inland Northwesterners to be especially welcoming.

But some transplants have found their Scottish village here. Congratulations.

And happy birthday, “Local Hero.”

“Slice answers: Several readers said that not only do they not require their pets to vacate a chair but they also noted that the people in the household will move if the animals make clear that they want to claim a spot currently occupied by a human.

“Feel free to top this by submitting your own overheard worn-out expression: So I’m standing in a grocery checkout line and the scruffy guy dealing with the cashier proved that it is possible to live a life unburdened by the need to come up with fresh material.

“Working hard or hardly working?” he asked her.

“Today’s Slice question: What did you do when you got to work and only then realized that your pants were split?