The Straight Story | 
| Director: David Lynch
Actors: Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter, Donald Wiegert, Richard Farnsworth
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $10.53
You Save: $9.46 (47%)
New (45) Used (13) from $9.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  219 reviews
Sales Rank: 3730
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 112
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: DISD20452D
UPC: 717951010117
EAN: 0717951010117
ASIN: B00004Z4SD
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
Release Date: November 7, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: ******BRAND NEW****** ** Over 1.5 million orders shipped worldwide and more than 500 000 items in stock, BUY FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE, ESTABLISHED SINCE 1998 - INETVIDEO ~~~
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Product Description
the straight story chronicles a trip made by 73-year-old alvin straight from laurens iowa to mt. Zion wis. in 1994 while riding a lawn mower. The man undertook his strange journey to mend his relationship with his ill estranged 75-year-old brother lyle. Based on a true story. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/14/2003 Starring: Richard Farnsworth Sissy Spacek Run time: 112 minutes Rating: G Director: David Lynch
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 214 more reviews...
 I do not understand many of these reviewers November 25, 2008
So many people are surprised my this movie. The fact that David Lynch could make a simple, straightforward, sweet story has left many surprised and dumbfounded. Have all of you forgotten about ELEPHANT MAN??? He portrayed John Merrick with a sweet and sensitive disposition. In the end David served up one of the most sad but poignant endings more so than the straight story. I'm only surprised that he never made more of this style. He is equally adept at this style as he is to his bizarre plot provoking mind twisted movies.
If you have the slightest hint of impatience then this movie then this is not for you. If not then you in for a gem. Richard Farnsworth performance as Alvin Straight is nothing short of brilliant. It's a sad shame too many people missed it.
This movie is a beautiful portrait of simple america portraying it's ideals, folkways and convictions. Something we should be reminded of more often.
My Favorite Film August 9, 2008
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-rated film at that, I could scarcely believe it. And I absolutely had to see for myself what could come of this most unexpected collaboration.
The Straight Story opens with Alvin Straight (played to perfection by the late Richard Farnsworth, an actor and former stuntman whose career dated back to the 1930's), who lives in Iowa and has just learned that his estranged brother Lyle, who lives in Wisconsin, has suffered a stroke. Alvin decides that it's time to put their feud behind them and wants to visit his brother and make peace while there's still time. The problem is that Alvin no longer has a driver's license because of his failing eyesight, and his pride is too strong to allow someone to drive him or take a bus. So Alvin attaches a small trailer to his John Deere riding mower and sets off on an epic journey.
As with most road movies, much of the story is told through Alvin's encounters with people he meets along the course of his travels. Upon meeting a hitchhiking young runaway (who has a big secret she's scared to disclose to her parents), Alvin offers these words, remembering a lesson he would often give to children:
"I'd give each one of 'em a stick, one for each one of 'em, then I'd say, 'You break that.' Course they could real easy. Then I'd say, 'Tie them sticks in a bundle and try to break that.' Course they couldn't. Then I'd say, 'That bundle... that's family.'"
As the story progresses, it is through these seemingly random encounters that we learn more of Alvin's story, and how he came to be the man who is determined to complete this journey. Alvin Straight appears on the surface to be a fairly simple man, but just beneath the surface lies a different person: a man who has made mistakes and while he accepts responsibility for them, he is still haunted by the things he has done and seen over the course of a lifetime. Little by little, we are allowed to see the person inside and in doing so, we learn perhaps a little about ourselves as well. Alvin is a proud man, and yet he is the first to admit that his pride has cost him dearly over the years. He is not a perfect person, and it is clear that he struggles daily with his demons.
It is rare that a filmmaker has the confidence with actors and the trust in the audience to allow moments of quiet; moments in which the story, the emotions, and the story are told only by the actors, and yet this film is largely comprised of soft, quiet scenes that propel the story far better than any soundtrack or flashy camera tricks ever could. As Alvin grows ever closer to his destination, his encounters with strangers become more complex and in the process we learn of the heartbreak and devastation he has endured over the course of his life. In a way, Alvin's journey is one of redemption, and not only in regard to mending fences with his brother. In one incredible scene, Alvin recounts his experiences of a war many years past and I dare anyone who sees it to not shed a tear for the innocence that was brutally torn from him and the impact those nightmares still have upon him.
The film itself is paradoxical; on one hand, it is a simple film with a simple story and a small cast. On the other hand, however, it is an emotionally rich and complex film that, despite the G-rating, never panders to the audience, instead trusting that Alvin's odyssey is largely a voyage of the soul and that the truths to his humanity are so universal that there is simply no need to explain them.
In a time when so-called "family" films rely too heavily on weak stories supplanted by excessive effects work and toilet humor, The Straight Story stands high above all others, offering a story of quiet dignity, the power of perseverance, and in the hands of a truly amazing cast, it works flawlessly. And in the end we learn, as is often the case, that it is the journey and not the destination in which the greater truths are often found.
a rewarding film June 11, 2008
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-small film,and it's big:this is lynch's statement about our continued disconnection with ourselves/environment due to industrialization.it's also his way of telling us that 1950's lifestyles are still alive and are not extinct as they are in the cities.very cool.
Something different June 7, 2008
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.
 POOR AUDIO April 29, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
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