Retired farmer and widower 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. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
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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
Director
David Lynch
Tagline
"A true story that proves a little determination goes a very, very long way."
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Budget
$10,000,000
Revenue
$6,418,028
Production
Les Films Alain Sarde, Picture Factory, Le Studio Canal+, Film4 Productions
John Chard
February 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...
r96sk
October 11, 2020
Beautifully made film. It's a difficult one to describe. <em>'The Straight Story'</em> features a very touching, true life, story about Alvin Straight. It's a very simple premise but one that the film brings to life wonderfully. There's a crap tonne of heart, alongside some brilliant cinematography and a top notch score. Richard Farnsworth plays the role of Alvin expertly, it's an outstandin...
CinemaSerf
January 6, 2026
I’ve seen loads of road movies over the years, but never one that involved an elderly gent travelling from Iowa to the adjacent Wisconsin driving his lawnmower! “Alvin” (Richard Farnsworth) is a curmudgeonly seventy-something whose health and mobility are failing and who lives with his daughter “Rose” (Sissy Spacek) - a lady without her own problems to seek, too! When he learns that his estranged ...
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