The Straight Story( 1999)

TV-MADrama

77%

User
Score

A true story that proves a little determination goes a very, very long way.

Overview

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

Top Billed Cast

Richard Farnsworth
Alvin
Sissy Spacek
Rose
Jane Galloway Heitz
Dorothy
Joseph A. Carpenter
Bud
Donald Wiegert
Sig
Tracey Maloney
Nurse
Dan Flannery
Doctor Gibbons
Jennifer Edwards
Brenda
Ed Grennan
Pete
Jack Walsh
Apple
Gil Pearson
Bus Driver
Barbara June Patterson
Woman on Bus
Everett McGill
Tom the John Deere Dealer
Anastasia Webb
Crystal
Matt Guidry
Steve
Bill McCallum
Rat
Barbara E. Robertson
Deer Woman
James Cada
Danny Riordan
Sally Wingert
Darla Riordan
Barbara Kingsley
Janet Johnson
Jim Haun
Johnny Johnson
Wiley Harker
Verlyn Heller
Randy Wiedenhoff
Fireman #1
Jerry E. Anderson
Fireman #2
Kevin Farley
Harald
John Farley
Thorvald
John Lordan
Priest
Garrett Sweeney
Boy in Truck
Peter Sweeney
Boy in Truck
Tommy Fahey
Boy in Truck
Matt Fahey
Boy in Truck
Dan Fahey
Boy in Truck
Russ Reed
Mt. Zion Bartender
Leroy Swadley
Bar Patron
Ralph Feldhacker
Farmer on Tractor
Harry Dean Stanton
Lyle

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Review 2Discussion

A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Sun Feb 21 2016

I want to thank you for your kindness to a stranger. An absolute delight. From director David Lynch, The Straight Story finds the famous purveyor of the oblique on wonderfully mellow form. Story finds a superb Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight, an old boy long in the tooth who sets off across America on his lawn mower to visit his estranged brother. You see, he doesn't have a driving licence, so lawn mower is the viable form of transport. Lynch and writers John Roach & Mary Sweeney have offered up a wry and astute observation of Americana. The journey Alvin takes involves him meeting a...