The Straight Story
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Straight Story is a 1999 internationally co-produced biographical road drama film directed by David Lynch. The film was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner and co-worker. She co-wrote the script with John E. Roach. The film is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's 1994 journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawn mower. Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) is an elderly World War II veteran who lives with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek), a kind woman with an intellectual disability. When he hears that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke, Alvin makes up his mind to go visit him and hopefully make amends before he dies. Because Alvin's legs and eyes are too impaired for him to receive a driving license, he hitches a trailer to his recently purchased thirty-year-old John Deere 110 Lawn Tractor, having a maximum speed of about <abbr title="8.0 km/h">5 miles per hour</abbr>, and sets off on the <abbr title="390 km">240 mile</abbr> journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.
