''Restless Natives'' is a 1985 Scottish adventure comedy film, directed by Michael Hoffman.

Plot

The story follows the adventures of two Scottish youths from the Wester Hailes district of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, played by Vincent Friell and Joe Mullaney, who, in rebellion to their drab lives in urban Scotland in the mid-1980s, become modern highwaymen. Donning masks of a clown and a wolf-man and riding a Suzuki GP 125 motorbike, they waylay and hold up with a toy gun tourist coaches in the Highlands, but in the process becoming a tourist attraction themselves. Having acquired substantial amounts of money, they proceed to become modern-day Rob Roys, doling it out to the poor of their city by scattering it on bike rides through its streets, attracting national media attention and pursuit by the police. In the end, after escaping the police, they try to hold up another coach, but it is not driven by a woman as it first seems but by a man (

Ned Beatty Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 film and television roles. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest ac ...

) who has been pursuing them. The police catch up and they are arrested. But a man representing the Secretary of State for Scotland releases them because they have increased Scottish tourism by 15%. He instead organises a fake crash to explain the highwaymen's demise, with their real identities still unknown.

Themes

''Restless Natives''—as suggested by its title—has underlying themes beyond its superficial presentation as a light social comedy film. It was produced at a time of high unemployment in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, with Scotland being particularly affected by post-industrial economic blight, and being governed from London by a Conservative party that the Scottish electorate had rejected in the recent

1983 United Kingdom general election The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party (UK) ...

. The main storyline's premise reflected the frustration of mid-1980s Scottish working class youth, using the freedom facilitated by a motorcycle to escape into revitalizing open vistas of the landscape of the Scottish Highlands. The production was a part of a group of small-budget cinematic productions, along with titles such as '' Gregory's Girl'' (1981) and '' Local Hero'' (1983), that brought stories of contemporary life in Scotland to a global cinema audience. The film acquired cult status, being regarded as a homemade expression of local Scottish cultural pride, becoming a minor media source of insurgent Scottish cultural identity, subliminally juxtaposed to Britishness, and feeding into the developing proto– Scottish Nationalist movement in the arts, with its distinctive soundtrack from the band

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music inc ...

, whose music dealt with the same themes.

Music score

The soundtrack features music from the band

. This music was not released on an album but was combined into two lengthy tracks, each featuring various pieces of music and clips of actors from the film's audio, which appeared on limited edition formats of two Big Country 12" singles. The soundtrack was released on CD for the first time on the 1998 Big Country collection ''Restless Natives & Rarities'', where it is presented as a single 35-minute track.

Production

The screenplay won a film script writing competition held by

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

before it was optioned for production.'On the side of the Angels', Malcolm, Derek. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 27 June 1985.

Reception

The film performed well at the box office in Scotland, but commercially failed in other markets.

References

External links

*
Dear Scotland: You have been watching... Restless Natives (review)

The Skinny: Cult Movie Column - Restless Natives
{{Michael Hoffman 1985 films 1980s adventure comedy films Scottish comedy films Films set in Highland (council area) Entertainment in Scotland Arts in Scotland 1985 in Scotland Scottish comedy Films directed by Michael Hoffman Films shot in Edinburgh Films set in Edinburgh British road movies EMI Films films 1985 comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s British films English-language adventure comedy films Films shot in Scotland