Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780788822872 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC ISBN: 6305810109 Label: Walt Disney Video Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Walt Disney Video Release Date: November 07, 2000 Running Time: 112 minutes Sales Rank: 2053 Studio: Walt Disney Video Theatrical Release Date: 2000
Description: Based on the true story that captured the hearts of America, THE STRAIGHT STORY is one of those rare films offering powerful, uplifting entertainment for audiences of all ages. Directed by acclaimed director David Lynch (WILD AT HEART, MULHOLLAND DRIVE), this gentle, inspiring film celebrates the human spirit. Richard Farnsworth (MISERY, THE NATURAL) stars as Alvin Straight -- a no-nonsense man who has never been one to lean on others. Now at an age when his eyesight denies him the ability to drive and walking is accomplished only with the help of two canes, Alvin lives a quiet life with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek). But when the call comes that Alvin's estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton, THE GREEN MILE) has suffered a debilitating stroke, Alvin embarks on a dangerous and emotional journey to make amends. With little money, but plenty of patience and tenacity, he climbs aboard his 1966 John Deere lawnmower and plots the 260-mile course from his small Iowa town to Lyle's home in Wisconsin. Filmed along the actual route that the real Alvin Straight traveled in 1994, THE STRAIGHT STORY is a heartwarming and poignant drama chronicling Alvin's six-week odyssey and the many lives he touches along the way.
Amazon.com essential video: Throughout The Straight Story, 73-year-old Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) gazes calmly at the night sky, as if the stars were reflections of his own memories. Alvin's eyesight is bad and his daughter (Sissy Spacek) is slightly retarded and unable to drive, so he's traveling from Laurens, Iowa to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin on a riding John Deere lawn mower. It's slow going, so there's plenty of time to stop for the night and ponder the cosmos. Alvin's journeying to visit his ailing brother; they haven't spoken in years, and it's time to make peace. Along the way, he befriends a variety of nice folks, and you have to ask yourself... Is this really a David Lynch movie?
It's a miracle that this G-rated Disney film was made by a director whose work is often described as twisted and bizarre. But Lynch is too complex an artist to be labeled, and he brings charm, grace, and kindness to his fact-based telling of The Straight Story--not to mention a serenity rarely found in movies anymore. It's a film of moments--funny, odd, quietly spiritual--and this simple tale of a man, a lawnmower, and rural hospitality becomes a genuine Lynchian odyssey, unlike any film you've seen but as welcoming as a cup of lemon tea with honey. Best of all, it's a fitting tribute to the career of veteran stuntman-actor Farnsworth who, at age 79, plays Alvin Straight to sheer perfection, his face a subtle roadmap to a broad spectrum of emotional destinations. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - My Favorite Film
In 1999, one of the most unusual pairings in Hollywood history formed to make a film telling the story of Alvin Straight's odyssey: David Lynch and Walt Disney Pictures. Lynch, arguably one of film's more daring storytellers, the mind behind Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, is absolutely the very last filmmaker I would ever have believed to team with Disney, except perhaps David Cronenberg. His films often navigate the darkest waters of the human experience with an unflinching eye for images both disturbing and nightmarish, and so naturally the idea that he'd done a film for Disney, a G ... Read More
Rating: - a rewarding film
this film is for those who enjoy having time slowed down to a crawl.if you're hyper-active or simply have been intergrated into the Americanized form of cut-a-second entertainment,you will die of boredom if you watch this.story,acting,directing,score,and location are all top-notch;if you allow yourself to get lost in your lack of ritalin or fail to notice the beauty of subtle,small-town life you'll fall asleep or turn it off because "nothing's happening"(the neo-Americanized aspects of small-towns was left out so as not to interfere with the chilled atmosphere).something's happening in this seemingly ... Read More
Rating: - Something different
David Lynch is an auteur known for such strange and brilliant films as "Mulholland Drive" and "Blue Velvet". "The Straight Story" is warm, tender, and normal. Further proof of the genius that is David Lynch.
Rating: - POOR AUDIO
We purchased three videos to be given to friends and the sound quality, unless the camera is close to the subject, cannot be heard. I am very sorry I purchased the videos.
Rating: - boring waste of time
this is the most boring slow moving movie i've ever watched. it's like if i was watching paint drying or grass growing for 2 hours! avoid like the plauge!
- 
- 