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The Straight Story

The Straight Story

Drama · Adventure · 1999

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. 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.

Movie details

The Straight Story

“A true story that proves a little determination goes a very, very long way.”

1999 Drama · Adventure 1h 52m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

8.0 / 10

106.3K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

95 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

86 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a severe stroke. 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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Straight Story?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

David Lynch

Written by

John Roach · Mary Sweeney

Richard Farnsworth

Richard Farnsworth

Alvin

Sissy Spacek

Sissy Spacek

Rose

Jane Galloway Heitz

Jane Galloway Heitz

Dorothy

J

Joseph A. Carpenter

Bud

D

Donald Wiegert

Sig

T

Tracey Maloney

Nurse

Dan Flannery

Dan Flannery

Doctor Gibbons

Court is in session

Put The Straight Story on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.