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The Straight Story
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Straight Story | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover for The Straight Story |
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| Directed by | David Lynch |
| Produced by | Pierre Edelman Michael Polaire Mary Sweeney |
| Written by | John Roach Mary Sweeney |
| Starring | Richard Farnsworth Sissy Spacek |
| Editing by | Mary Sweeney |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures (USA} FilmFour (UK) |
| Release date(s) | 21 May 1999 |
| Running time | 112 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Straight Story is a motion picture, released in 1999 and directed by David Lynch. It is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's journey across Iowa on a lawnmower. The film was written, edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner/editor.
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Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) is a sickly, elderly man who lives with his adult daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek). When he hears that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke, he makes up his mind to go visit him and hopefully make amends. The trouble is that Alvin's legs and eyes are too impaired for him to drive a car, so he hitches a trailer to his 30-year-old riding lawnmower and sets off on the 240-mile journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.
The film is the story of Alvin's six-week journey across rural America, the people he meets, his impact on their lives, and theirs on his. It is a modern odyssey of a man dealing with his own mortality and the lasting bonds of brotherhood.
Richard Farnsworth earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Alvin Straight, the oldest person ever to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. He was terminally ill with cancer during the shooting of the film, and committed suicide the following year, aged 80.
The film was shot along the actual route taken by Alvin Straight, and scenes were shot in chronological order. There are also no chapter marks on the DVD release, as David Lynch wanted the film to be watched as a whole.
It is the only film he didn't write (written by close associate, Mary Sweeney). Many critics and fans were pleasantly surprised that a director that often deals in bizarre, abstract, and disturbing imagery opted to make such a simple, sweet film based on a true story. The result, however, is undeniably Lynchian, using his trademark slow, dreamy pace and visually dark scenes to create a sense of peace instead of dread.
The title of the film can be taken as a double meaning: as well as referencing Alvin's surname, it can also refer to it being a straightforward story, as opposed to the complex, interweaving, mysterious plots of Lynch's previous films.
- The Straight Story at the Internet Movie Database
- The Straight Story at All Movie Guide
- The Straight Story at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Straight Story at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
| The work of David Lynch |
|---|
| Feature films: Eraserhead • The Elephant Man • Dune • Blue Velvet • Wild at Heart • Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me • Lost Highway • The Straight Story • Mulholland Dr. • Inland Empire TV series: Twin Peaks • American Chronicles • On the Air • Hotel Room Other work: Short films • Industrial Symphony No. 1 • Rabbits • Darkened Room • Dumb Land • The Angriest Dog in the World |