The Straight Story

The Straight Story (stylised as the Straight story) is a 1999 biographical road drama film directed by David Lynch. It was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime filmmaking partner and collaborator, who also co-wrote the script with John E. Roach. It is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's 1994 journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawn mower. In contrast to Lynch's usual work featuring surrealist imagery and adult themes, The Straight Story was produced and marketed as a family-friendly mainstream feature and was the only Lynch film to receive a G rating from the MPAA. Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) is an elderly World War II veteran who lives with his daughter. When he hears that his estranged brother has suffered a stroke, Alvin makes up his mind to visit him and hopefully make amends before he dies. Because Alvin's legs and eyes are too impaired for him to hold a driver's license, he hitches a trailer to a thirty-year-old lawn tractor, which has a maximum speed of 5 miles per hour (2.2 m/s; 8.0 km/h), and sets off on the 240-mile (390 km) journey from Laurens, Iowa, to Mount Zion, Wisconsin. The Straight Story was released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States and select international territories. The film grossed $6.2 million in a limited theatrical release in the United States and sold 516,597 tickets nationwide during France's theatrical release. The film was a critical success; reviewers praised the intensity of the character performances, particularly the realistic dialogue which film critic Roger Ebert compared to the works of Ernest Hemingway. It received a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and Farnsworth received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the oldest nominee in the category at the time.