Rockets Galore

The post-World War II British government wants to build an out-of-the-way rocket base on a tiny Scottish island over the objections of the inhabitants, some of whom will be evicted.

Remember when an overreaching government trampling over people's liberties was the boogie-man, before it became "corporations" (with no line drawn between big businesses and small groups of private citizens who band together corporately as in "Americans United"?) By the 1980s a similar plot was hatched, more cleverly, in "Local Hero" where the Businessman was not only the Big, Bad Wolf, he was (wait for it) an American! And the height of a corporation trying to raid a country is "The Coca-Cola Kid" with Eric Roberts and Gretta Scacchi, though all they wanted to displace was a local beverage of choice whose company was run by a crotchety old man (Bill Kerr).

This tale is Compton MacKenzie's own follow-up to TIGHT LITTLE ISLAND (a.k.a., "Whisky Galore") set on the same island with some of the same cast. But just because the same mind lies behind a sequel doesn't mean it's as good.

It has good moments, such as when a couple of residents mistake a boiling tea kettle for a rocket about to crash on them. And when a German scientist who went to Britain after the war and says things like "We British--!" But don't expect a lot of fast-paced car chase hilarity. It's not that sort of flick.

Mostly, it's a light-handed meditation on how far the government could and should dictate people's lives and how far is too far in protecting its citizens (the mention of an Orwellian "Ministry of Protection" is reminiscent of the French Revolution's Department of Pubic Safety--which was charged with lopping off heads).

In real life, the government, any government would win. In this flick--but that would be a spoiler.

Some very good performances, plus a few names like Donald Sinden and Gordon Jackson--not big stars, perhaps but known in America.