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.
Acting
Richard Farnsworth's final, devastatingly authentic performance
Cinematography
Freddie Francis turns Iowa highways into cathedral light
Direction
Lynch restraining his surrealism finds deeper strangeness in the ordinary
Director
David Lynch
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Richard Farnsworth was dying of cancer during filming; he took the role knowing it would be his last and insisted on doing his own stunts.
This remains Lynch's only film with a 'G' rating and the only one he didn't write, yet critics argue it's his most spiritually authentic work.
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Reactions from the web
I adore every frame. The fact it's a Lynch film makes it all the sweeter. And that score! Swoon.
@SANITIZEDINC 27
this seems like the movie everyone who can't go to the states should watch
@echolot 15
Thank you beloved David Lynch. 💙💚🧡🤍💛❤
@jordanad4404 15
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