Yes, this is it: the G-rated Disney movie by David Lynch. It’s the fact-based account of Alvin Straight (1920-1996), a 73-year-old veteran who in July 1994 drove a lawn mower from his Laurens, Iowa home to visit his estranged brother in Blue River, Wisconsin. The story, which attracted a great deal of media attention, was adapted for the 1997 opera THE SHOULDER, performed at venues in Iowa, New York City and Minnesota, followed by this film in 1999.
THE STRAIGHT STORY was first announced in 1995 (when Alvin Straight was still alive), with Paul Newman considered for the lead. The rights ended up in the hands of Lynch’s frequent collaborator (and future wife) Mary Sweeney, who produced, co-scripted and edited the film. Alvin was played by the 78-year-old Richard Farnsworth (1920-2000) in what was his final, and very likely best, film role.
Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek
Farnsworth, however, isn’t visible in the film’s opening scene, which is pure David Lynch—and so proves this film isn’t quite the departure many claim it is. Depicted is the side yard of the house where Alvin lives with his mentally impaired daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek), in which he suffers a debilitating fall that’s depicted by an offscreen thump. In the yard, meanwhile, his rotund neighbor Dorothy (Jane Galloway Heitz), completely unaware of what has just occurred, sunbathes while eating Hostess Sno balls.
Alvin, having severely injured a hip in the fall, refuses surgery. He also has emphysema (which incidentally took the life of David Lynch) and a poor diet, but, being an ornery sort, won’t change his ways. Upon learning that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has had a stroke, Alvin becomes determined to pay him a visit. Rose can’t drive Alvin, and he lacks a driver’s license, leaving him with one mode of transportation: his lawnmower, to which he attaches a homemade trailer. His initial attempt is cut short when the mower conks out after a few miles, forcing him to buy a new one from a John Deere dealer chum (Everett McGill).
Richard Farnsworth
Alvin meets several interesting people on his journey, starting with Crystal (Anastasia Webb), a teenager who’s running away from home. He convinces her to return to her folks by comparing a stick, which is quite easy to break, with a tied-together bundle of sticks, which can’t be broken, as “that’s family” (it’s also the Roman symbol for fascism).
He subsequently meets a woman (Barbara Robertson) who’s hit a deer on the road, which she claims is a weekly occurrence, and a group of bike riders who question Alvin about getting old. At one point the mower’s transmission breaks down, stranding Alvin for a time with the kindly middle-aged Danny (James Cada), who offers to drive Alvin to Lyle’s house. Alvin turns down the offer, claiming he wants to complete the journey “my own way.” Before that occurs Alvin has a conversation in a bar with a fellow veteran (Wiley Harker) about their respective experiences in “the trenches of World War II.”
By the time Alvin reaches his destination nothing has really been solved. He still has to find his way back, after all, and his lawnmower is shot (in reality Alvin’s nephew drove him back to Iowa). But life goes on.
Lynch’s love of small town America, previously showcased in BLUE VELVET (1986), was given a thorough, and perhaps definitive, airing in THE STRAIGHT STORY. Dissolve-heavy montages of wheat fields and grain harvesters (recalling the idyllic opening and closing scenes of BLUE VELVET) are inserted at several points in the film, which has a languid and unhurried—read: slow—pace that mimics the tempo of life in the American heartland, and the gait of the protagonist so engagingly incarnated by Farnsworth.
Also on display is Lynch’s love of eccentricity. Character detail, displayed by a host of quirky actors, dominates the film. Standout examples include the goofball twins who fix Alvin’s mower, played by Kevin and John Farley (the siblings of a famous deceased comedian bearing that last name), and a bartender played by Russ Reed, with whom Lynch was evidently so besotted he allowed Reed to completely dominate a climactic scene, with Alvin reduced to a supporting role.
Kevin and John Farley
THE STRAIGHT STORY’s major flaw is that, simply, it feels disappointingly conventional in its juxtaposition of wide and telephoto lensed visuals. That’s due largely to the fact that Lynch was graced with a budget that equaled his ambitions, jettisoning the cost-conscious ingenuity of his earlier films, and working with the veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis (of THE ELEPHANT MAN and DUNE), who wasn’t as inventive as BLUE VELVET’s D.O.P. Fredrick Elmes or MULHOLLAND DRIVE’s Peter Deming.
That being said, the film looks and sounds great, with layered sound design accomplished by Lynch himself (and best experienced in a big screen venue). It’s also tonally assured, with material that in the wrong hands could have turned out precious or cutesy. Lynch, however, keeps things reasonably hard-edged (the conversation about horrific WWII memories is particularly disturbing, and made me question the G rating), with special attention paid to the textures of rural America, which has never been portrayed more vividly.
Vital Statistics
THE STRAIGHT STORY
Buena Vista Pictures
Director: David Lynch
Producers: Mary Sweeney, Neal Edelstein, Alain Sarde
Screenplay: John Roach, Mary Sweeney
Cinematography: Freddie Francis
Editing: Mary Sweeney
Cast: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton, Everett McGill, John Farley, Kevin Farley, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph Carpenter, Donald Wiegert, Ed Grennan, Jack Walsh, James Cada, Wiley Harker, Anastasia Webb, Barbara Robertson, John Lordan, Dan Flannery