Your Recommendation for Today
The Straight Story is a miracle, and like all miracles, it’s inexplicable. The true story on which the 1999 film is based is itself both charming and baffling. An elderly man named Alvin Straight drives a John Deere tractor from Iowa to Wisconsin to visit his stricken brother. That’s the entire story; it’s a gold-mine for local-news fluff, because it’s heartwarming without asking too much of viewers to smile at the image of someone who could be your grandpa making a quintessentially American road trip.
The film inspired by this story has the same basic arc, in that we follow Alvin Straight (played by Richard Farnsworth, who garnered an Oscar nomination for this performance, his final film role) as he makes the lengthy trek on a slow-moving vehicle in the heartland of America. But The Straight Story is about a lot more than just the quirky image of an old man making a long trip on a tractor. There are so many truly stunning elements to The Straight Story, which make it both very special and very strange. It’s a David Lynch film. It’s rated G. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures. All of these things are true. None of these things seem possible.
Lynch’s fondness for small-town America is well-documented, though often at a skewed angle. Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet are enough proof that Lynch’s imagination is sparked by the local diner, picket fences, clapboard windows, and more. But those are pieces of culture about the darkness lurking at the edges of those American images. The Straight Story, as the title implies, is a much more straightforward portrait of the Midwest.
There is darkness in The Straight Story, but it’s more direct and personal. We never learn the details of why Alvin and Lyle Straight (Harry Dean Stanton) had a falling out as brothers; it’s only when Alvin learns that Lyle has suffered a stroke that he decides to travel and see his brother for the first time in ten years. But what Alvin shares of his past, whether in memories of his years serving in World War II, or of how he and Lyle were close before becoming like Cain and Abel, the pain and sadness etched in Richard Farnsworth’s face is enough to communicate a deep well of loss that dialogue couldn’t hope to match. (There’s a scene in the final third of the film in which Alvin and a fellow veteran sit at a local bar and swap stories that is genuinely gut-wrenching.)
Today, you can stream The Straight Story on Disney+. Because, as I mentioned, this movie is from Walt Disney Pictures. I don’t really understand why, to be honest. 1999, as many film critics will tell you, was a great year for films, but not in the way that most years always have great films. It’s a year boasting some of the best work from filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Michael Mann, Spike Jonze, and more. Touchstone Pictures, as I mentioned earlier this week, had some truly remarkable titles, too. But then, here comes Walt Disney Pictures, premiering The Straight Story at the Cannes Film Festival before releasing it in the States in the fall.
Like I said. This movie is a miracle. It’ll break your heart. Go watch it.