Local Hero

Glen Ferris was fortunate to receive the hospitality of the current owner and his daughter to the Ben Nevis distillery warehouse where a substantial amount of filming was done for this movie. Glen was afforded a personal tour to include areas not usually available to the public where he was able to take photographs and learn interesting facts connected to the filming, all of which he is kindly sharing with us.

Happer’s Office and Kitchen were actually sets built in one of the warehouses. The sets themselves were built within a surrounding light wall that had a massive translucent photo of the Houston skyline so that from on set, through the windows, it looked like a Houston skyline. The wide photo transparency was lit according to the time of day the action was taking place.

Apparently, Burt Lancaster was very tight for time and as a result this ‘set up’ afforded more filming time and consistent colour timed shots than had costly location shooting be used. To further support his schedule he stayed in Glenfinnan whilst filming, using his own Jet Ranger helicopter, that seen in the film, to shuttle him to and from the set.

Happer in his Kitchen
Happer’s Office
The Houston skyline
Now we know how Happer’s analyst pasted obscenties on the windows so high off the ground, about 4 feet!
The warehouse used for filming.

Glen also learned facts regarding the church shown in the film. The church in the film was a model based on Our Lady of the Braes – Polnish Church that is about 8 miles from the film location and now a family home.

Screen capture of the ‘church’ used in the film.
The actual church building.

We thank Glen for sharing this with us and the Distillery owners for affording him the time for our benefit.