The Straight Story

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The Straight Story

G

1999

1h 51m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

116 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) learns one day that his distant brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) 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.

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Critics Consensus

With strong performances and director David Lynch at the helm, The Straight Story steers past sentimental byways on its ambling journey across the American heartland.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Mar 12

4/5

The Straight Story is a heartwarmer of the sort that Lynch arguably hadn’t attempted since his version of The Elephant Man in 1980, and this was without that element of the grotesque.

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Kat Sachs

Chicago Reader

04/25/2025

Sometimes a director’s best film and maybe even their most characteristic, if you really think about it, is the one you might least expect, as can be the surprising nature of auteurism.

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Dan Kois

Slate

01/21/2025

When the movie’s end arrives, it’s a scene of cosmic beauty, accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti’s ethereal score—pure cinematic liftoff, a triumph of writing, direction, acting, casting, all the things that make a movie take flight.

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Josiah Teal

Battle Royale With Cheese

Feb 15

Rather than nightmarish dreamscapes or avant-garde nightclubs, the dreams of The Straight Story are as simple as the open road. And through the open road, Lynch reveals a sweetness seldom seen in his canon.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Feb 10

4/5

…The Straight Story is a very untypical David Lynch movie in that it’s a straight, rather than a twisted tale, but it’s unmistakably Lynchian from soup to nuts…marries a wholesome, folksy charm with a stark insight into mortality…

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Jack Hawkins

HeyUGuys

Feb 9

4/5

The Straight Story may be understated to a fault, but it resists everything that is cloying, cliched and trite with superlative naturalism.

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Mickey B

@Mickerdoo 9h

The only thing slower than Alvin’s mower was the rate of storytelling. Excruciatingly slow for a fluff piece story.

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Allen C

@Allenair77 Jul 18

Kind of slow in some parts, but definitely worth the watch. Great acting if that’s what you like. It’s a must see.

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John F

@RT84127024 Mar 23

Lynch never fails to amaze me, making a movie so radically different from his other works, yet you can see the common threads if you look hard enough. Farnsworth is terrific as a scarred WWII vet whose ghosts haunt him, almost as punishment for surviving the war. Meanwhile, Spacek's character is a bit off-putting but generally the supporting cast of characters Alvin meets during his trip, and the anti-climatic scene with his brother at the end sums up the moral quite well that life is more about the journey than the destination. It's incredible to think that this film is a "minor" entry into Lynch's filmography.

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Les N

@Vegas628 Mar 17

The real story was more interesting than the movie! What was Sissy Spacek trying to do? What a ham.

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Robert H.

@Rpharland Feb 27

I hope viewers get to see this. David Lynch is something else. I got to see when I was supposed to, I guess. Don’t be a twig. Acting superb, mood exquisite: a true meditation. Should be a staff recommendation.

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Reinis T

@Tutiblaster Jan 25

Such a moving story and exactly the slow pace of a movie that let’s you escape from the daily mess. Feels like I’ve spent the whole weekend in the plains of USA.

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Director

Richard Farnsworth

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Synopsis

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) learns one day that his distant brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) 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.

Director: David Lynch
Producer: Neal Edelstein, Mary Sweeney
Screenwriter: John Roach, Mary Sweeney
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co: Asymmetrical Productions, Walt Disney Pictures, CiBy 2000, Channel Four Films, Le Studio Canal +, Les Films Alain Sarde
Rating: G
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 21, 1999, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 11, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.2M
Runtime: 1h 51m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital