You know David Lynch. You know the red curtains, the backwards-talking dwarves, and the severed ears in the grass. He’s the guy who turned a small-town murder into a cosmic nightmare with Twin Peaks. So, when he decided to make a G-rated movie for Disney about an old man on a lawnmower, people thought he was pulling a prank.
Honestly, it sounded like the setup to a joke.
But David Lynch and The Straight Story wasn't a joke. Released in 1999, it remains one of the most jarring entries in his filmography precisely because it isn't jarring at all. It’s a quiet, slow-motion odyssey through the American Midwest. There are no demons. No alternate dimensions. Just a 73-year-old man named Alvin Straight who needs to see his brother.
The True Story Behind the Mower
The movie is based on the actual life of Alvin Straight. In 1994, Alvin found out his brother Lyle had suffered a stroke. They hadn't spoken in ten years. A decade of silence is a long time, especially when you’re pushing eighty.
Alvin lived in Laurens, Iowa. Lyle was in Blue River, Wisconsin. That’s about 240 miles.
Here was the problem: Alvin’s eyes were shot, so he couldn't get a driver’s license. He didn't trust buses or planes. He was stubborn. He was old-school. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He hitched a wooden trailer to his 1966 John Deere lawnmower and started driving.
It took him six weeks. He topped out at five miles per hour.
Lynch’s longtime collaborator Mary Sweeney read about this in the New York Times and spent years trying to get the rights. When Lynch finally read the script, he didn't see a "Disney movie." He saw a story about the end of life and the weight of the past. He called it his "most experimental movie," which sounds crazy until you actually sit down and watch it.
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The experiment wasn't about weirdness; it was about sincerity.
Why Richard Farnsworth is the Heart of the Film
You can't talk about this movie without talking about Richard Farnsworth. He plays Alvin with a dignity that’s almost painful to watch. He was 79 at the time, making him the oldest person ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar at that point.
But there’s a layer to his performance that most people didn't know while filming.
Farnsworth was dying.
He had terminal bone cancer during the shoot. The paralysis in his legs that you see on screen? That wasn't acting. He was in constant, agonizing pain. Lynch actually offered him a specially cushioned seat on the tractor just so he could finish the scenes. Farnsworth took the role because he admired Alvin Straight’s grit. He wanted his final performance to mean something.
He died by suicide a year after the film came out, unable to bear the pain of the cancer any longer. Knowing that makes his scenes—especially when he talks about the "worst part of being old"—nearly impossible to get through without a lump in your throat.
Lynchian Tropes in Plain Sight
Is David Lynch and The Straight Story actually "Lynchian"? Fans argue about this all the time. On the surface, it’s sunshine and cornfields. But look closer.
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The movie starts with a slow pan across a quiet house until we hear a loud thud from inside. It’s Alvin falling. It mirrors the opening of Blue Velvet, where a man has a stroke while watering his lawn. Lynch is obsessed with the fragility of the human body. He’s obsessed with what happens when the "normal" routine of life breaks.
Then there are the characters Alvin meets:
- The woman who hits a deer every single day on her way to work and is losing her mind over it.
- The pregnant runaway who learns about the "bundle of sticks" metaphor for family.
- The twin mechanics who argue like a bickering comedy duo.
These people are quirky, sure, but Lynch treats them with a massive amount of empathy. Usually, Lynch uses the mundane to hide the monstrous. Here, he uses the mundane to reveal the sacred.
The Sound of the Midwest
Angelo Badalamenti, the guy who gave Twin Peaks its haunting, jazzy vibe, did the score here too. But instead of synths and finger-snapping, he used acoustic guitars and fiddles.
It’s sweeping. It’s lonely. It sounds like the wind blowing through a wheat field at dusk.
Lynch also insisted on filming the movie in chronological order along the actual route Alvin took. That’s almost never done in Hollywood because it’s a logistical nightmare. But Lynch wanted the actors and the crew to feel the journey. He wanted the seasons to actually change on camera. By the time Alvin reaches Wisconsin, the light has changed. The world feels colder. The stakes feel higher.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often call this a "departure" for Lynch. That’s a mistake.
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If you look at The Elephant Man, you see the same core. Lynch has always been a filmmaker of extreme emotions. Usually, those emotions are fear, lust, or confusion. In The Straight Story, the emotion is regret.
Alvin isn't a saint. He talks about his drinking days and his "nastiness." He talks about the trauma of being a sniper in WWII—a secret he’s carried for decades. He’s not traveling 240 miles because he’s a nice guy; he’s doing it because he needs to atone. He’s "clearing the deck" before he dies.
The ending is arguably one of the greatest in cinema history. There are no big speeches. No "I love you" or "I’m sorry." Just two old men sitting on a porch, looking at a beat-up lawnmower and then looking at the stars.
Harry Dean Stanton plays the brother, Lyle. He’s on screen for maybe five minutes. But his face—weathered, shocked, and eventually softening—tells the whole story of their lives.
Actionable Insights for the Lynch Fan
If you've avoided this movie because it's "too normal," you're missing out on his most vulnerable work. To get the most out of David Lynch and The Straight Story, keep these things in mind:
- Watch it for the pacing. In a world of 2-second edits, this movie breathes. Let the slow movement of the mower settle your brain.
- Pay attention to the stars. The movie is bookended by shots of the cosmos. It reminds us that Alvin’s "small" journey is part of something much bigger.
- Look for the "industrial" sounds. Even in this pastoral setting, Lynch uses the hum of the tractor and the roar of passing trucks to create a specific sonic texture.
- Notice the silence. The most important things in this movie are said when no one is talking.
Next time you’re scrolling through a streaming service and see that Disney logo on a David Lynch film, don't skip it. It's a masterclass in how to tell a story with nothing but a horizon and a heavy heart.