David Lynch made some bizarre and strange movies, but he was not a cynic. A cynic could not have made The Straight Story, the G-rated movie Lynch directed for Disney, which was released in 1999. I saw it when it was in theaters and recently watched it again.
The movie is based on the story of Alvin Straight. In 1994, the 73 year old Straight, living in western Iowa, learned that his brother Lyle, across the Mississippi in the hill country of Wisconsin, 240 miles away, had suffered a stroke. Alvin had been estranged from his brother for a decade, during which they had no contact, but decided he needed to see him. As he says "It's a hard swallow on my pride to do this trip. I just hope I'm not too late". Not having a driver's license and refusing to travel by bus or have someone drive him, Alvin decided to ride a lawn mower the entire way - a journey which took five weeks. The movie is about that journey.
It's a calm, reflective tale that Lynch spins. The movie was filmed along the same route Alvin rode and captures the land and people of the region and its small towns. And Lynch clearly adores and admires the movie's characters. There is no antagonist in the film, you saddle up and, with a bit of patience, enjoy the ride and Alvin's encounters along the way, including with a runaway pregnant teenager, a revealing conversation with a fellow WW2 veteran in a Wisconsin bar, and the legendary grabber scene.
There are a couple moments of Lynch's patented weirdness, most notably with Alvin's encounter with a woman motorist who has just hit a deer and goes off on an extended and very odd lament about hitting several deer over the prior two weeks on her commute to work.
The cast is impeccable. Richard Farnsworth plays Alvin with quiet, restrained dignity, a role for which he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor. What Farnsworth kept secret from Lynch and the rest of the cast was he was terminally ill with prostate cancer. The canes you see Alvin use in the film for support were actually needed by Farnsworth at the time, but he made up an excuse as to why he needed them. Farnsworth died a year after the film was released. Farnsworth's manner of speaking and attitude reminded me of my late father in law who was born in Nebraska and lived his adult life in Iowa, adding additional poignancy as I watched.
Sissy Spacek plays Alvin's daughter. Her back story, involving her children, is one of the few purely fictional aspects of the screenplay. Harry Dean Stanton plays Alvin's brother and their reunion scene at the film's end is perfect. There are also many smaller roles cast perfectly but one deserving highlighting is James Cada as Danny Riordan who helps Alvin when his lawn mower breaks down and develops a relationship with him. Cada conveys that Midwestern decency and straight forwardness that I've seen over the years, having spent a lot of time in Iowa and Wisconsin.
The score by Angelo Badalamenti is subtle, lovely, and underlines the movie's mood.
