Rent The Straight Story (1999)

Come on, admit it… - The Straight Story review by JM

…you’re here because you saw on the poster “Walt Disney Pictures presents A Film by David Lynch”.  Never saw that coming!

And, you know what? It’s great, even in spite of its problems (yes it has).  The one and only Richard Farnsworth is quietly commanding as Alvin Straight, a retired farmer who decides one day to go see his brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) when he suffers a stroke. Trouble is Alvin isn’t exactly a picture of health himself and unable to drive, so he buys a sit-and-ride lawnmower and makes the journey to his brother. A simple story indeed. Straightforward, if you’ll excuse me!

I’ll freely admit I often pass on films like this but, when I saw it, I’ll admit also that the Disney connection intrigued me but I like Richard Farnsworth too.  He absolutely carries the film and kept me in it when I might otherwise switched off. Terrific Frederick Elmes widescreen visuals (with the odd visual gag thrown in) helped draw me in - the Midwest never looked so beautiful on film as it does here, no contest.  Same goes for frequent collaborator Angelo Badalamenti, who provides a country-tinged soundtrack that worked its magic on me.  Again, their collective efforts helped keep me watching…

Which is just as well. The original story is intriguing (based on actual events) but not an unblemished package.  A real problem is the episodic nature of it. The great Sissy Spacek plays his mentally handicapped daughter but she’s gone in a few minutes. The pregnant girl Alvin meets? POOF!  The family that helps him?  Gone by sundown!  I can find films like that a little problematic, in that I need characters to hang my hat on, to give a damn about and the supporting characters are gone like that. 

But that’s me. YOU might feel differently about that. But I will say, in the final summation, that THE STRAIGHT STORY is a touch flawed but there’s too many good things in it for me to dismiss it and it’s an eminently watchable film for all that.  That’s my take on it.  Recommended.

An Unhurried Heartbeat on a Riding Mower - The Straight Story review by griggs

No screaming radiators, no red rooms—just one man, a tractor, and the road. Yet The Straight Story might be the most Lynchian of the lot. The unease here doesn’t come from mystery or menace, but from the ache of time, regret, and the miles that grow between siblings. Richard Farnsworth’s Alvin Straight—played with a grace that borders on the saintly—makes the slowest road trip imaginable feel urgent and quietly profound.

Lynch's precision is everywhere: in the rust on a barn wall, the rustle of cornstalks, the awkward warmth of small-town interactions. Every encounter, no matter how brief, feels like a shared breath. There's wonder here too—in the cinematography, in the stillness, and in the film’s faith in decency. A lesser director might have reached for sentiment; Lynch just listens.

This is the rare kind of film that trusts silence and knows that big emotions often arrive in small vehicles.

Interior Journey - The Straight Story review by Steve

This seems rather conventional for a surrealist like David Lynch; as if Dali painted a pastoral watercolour, just to show he could. Even so, it's about an elderly WWII veteran who undertakes a long cross country trip by lawn mower to see his estranged brother, which still makes for a fairly outré road movie.

And there are classic Lynchian riffs, like the opening tracking shot which recalls Blue Velvet (1986).  Plus a score by Angelo Badalamenti. This is slow moving- naturally- and sensitively observed Americana about old age and the condition of the vast US interior, which reaches a gratifyingly understated conclusion. 

There's a minimalist performance from Richard Farnworth as Alvin Straight who made the real-life journey from Iowa to Wyoming. Which is a great state for parties... A mostly amateur support cast plays a generation soon to be lost to living history. 

Credit is due to John Roach and Mary Sweeney for the bittersweet script, with a glimmer of the absurd. Freddie Francis contributes some expansive photography of the great midwest without straying far from the highway. It presents an idea of American individualism which never resorts to waving the flag. RIP.