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| Director: David Lynch
Actors: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter, Donald Wiegert
Studio: Walt Disney Video
List Price: $14.99
Buy Used: $0.50
You Save: $14.49 (97%)
New (4) Used (28) Collectible (8) from $0.50
Rating:  218 reviews
Sales Rank: 4405
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Rating: G (General Audience)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6305810109
UPC: 786936114140
EAN: 9780788822872
ASIN: 6305810109
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
Release Date: November 7, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: tape only comes in rental box with no art work GREAT ITEM SHIPPED WITH TRACKING INFO SHIPPED FROM OREGON Used - Acceptable
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 218
 The Straight Story - Life on a Lawnmower March 24, 2006
Jared Schritz (Milwaukee, WI USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I first saw The Straight Story in a film class last year. I am a fan of David Lynch and was surprised not to have heard of the film. What I expected and what I got were too very different things. Normally Lynch is known for challenging the viewers sense of reality and normality, Eraserhead challenged the conception of family and fatherhood. The Straight Story seems to be an American validation of these things.
The Straight Story is a very touching film about an aging man, Straight, who recieved news that his estranged brother had a stroke and may be in his final days. Being self-sustaining, but having the eyesight of a bat, Straight is forced to pack up a trailer, attach it to a riding lawnmover, and drive several states to visit his brother before it is too late.
The real power of the film is in its pacing, the people and stories Straight meets along the way, and the beauty of the American heartland. He emparts a lifetime worth of wisdom to people who need it, and is able to reflect and come to peace with his own life.
I found Straight to embody something about the American cowboy still alive today. He wants his autonomy andto blaze his own trail. Through his slow travel he is able to soak in his surroundings in the way that a person on horseback can. He throughly believes in honor, family, brotherhood, paying your own way, and that anyone you meet can be a trusted friend. A man with stubborn grit and heart.
Great film. Great male lead by Richard Farmsworth. Great supporting roles such as Sissy Spacek. Great Direction by David Lynch.
not a reviewer January 1, 2001
bruce martin (Santa Clara, CA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
So I felt compelled to write a review here. Not especially my style. I have little to say except that this will be only the third video I have purchased. Little in film moves me enough to wish to spend money to buy the video. Simply put, this film just makes me happy. The acting is superlative. The story is simple and unencumbered, yet so engaging. And yes, I am one of those people that have grown tired of exploitative sex, violence and language. This film has a way of putting you into an introspective mode. I live in the "Silicon Valley" area. It is expensive and full of self-centered individuals...maybe I have been like that too. So, seeing this film, with all its peace, serenity, and genuineness of story made me think about a greater good (sounds so corny I guess)I might consider for my life. One of more serious concern for those I love. And one side note: The musical score is so beautiful and blends in naturally with the entire film. This is my humble submission to the reviews. Thank you.
Love's Highway October 30, 2002
R. Dicicco (Boston, MA United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
There are very few films that I gush over, and this is by far close to the top of my list. I'm not into tons of verbage describing the film's plot, neither am I in the habit of offering any verbose or superfluous words in writing a review on it. Having said that, this film is a gem. I watched this alone, by accident, while channel surfing one evening. At film's end, I ended up bawling like a baby. That hardly, if ever happens. This story is so unique, with so much care taken into making it that you would have to be blind not to recognize the true genius of it all. It has just about every emotion that we have inside us wrapped like a gift sitting under a Christmas tree waiting to be opened. This film will stay with me forever. The best advice I can give is just to see the damn thing! If it doesn't move you, then I am truly sorry.
A thoroughly enjoyable film about age and redemption March 12, 2000
a writer (USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Who would have expected David Lynch, the director of films from the bizarre underbelly of America (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks) to come up with such a beautifully simple movie about the need for redemption in life, and do it without corniness or coarseness? Yet, Lynch has created one of the most touching movies I've seen in a long time - while avoiding the saccharine effects of Hollywood fare. "The Straight Story" is literally a straight story, about an old man named Alvin Straight. As a "road movie" it runs a straight line from start to finish, but along the way Lynch throws in some of his best scenes, pacing and dialogue, which keep the movie from being too maudlin or flat. Alvin Straight, a retired Iowa farmer in the receding twilight of his life, sets out to see his ailing brother, whom he's not seen or spoken to in years, in Wisconsin. He can't drive and won't take the bus, so he hitches up a makeshift trailer to his battered tractor and makes the journey, at 15 mph, across the heartland to see his brother. Cue the heart-swelling scenes of Iowa cornfields and the uplifting music by Lynch pal Angelo Badalamenti. But none of it plays predictably. Straight encounters some unique people on the road - some who might seek his help and wisdom, some who could help him - and it's in this context that Lynch works his quirky magic. The old cliche about life being a journey gets an elegant and charming makeover. Alvin reveals, through conversations with strangers, that he's led a tumultuous and cantankerous life; but even now, his stubbornness both drives him and keeps him on the straight path to his brother's doorstep. We know that 10 years of bad blood have separated the two men; will Straight's brother finally accept him once he arrives? Will Straight own up to his past mistakes? Will the film end on a falsely-derived feel-good ending? Lynch avoids the traps skilfully and gives us some very interesting characters along the way. Richard Farnsworth plays Straight beautifully: a mixture of quiet stubborness mastered by resignation. His weathered face says a lot. Sissy Spacek gives a deft performance as Straight's mildly retarded daughter. She has a life full of her own regrets and mistakes: she tries to be strong and helpful for her aging father, yet we learn she has children of her own somewhere, taken away by the state long ago. There are other characters who play small but interesting roles: a young runaway girl who shares a roadside camp with Straight; a barman who offers Straight a beer and a painful memory; a family straight out of a Norman Rockwell tableau, and, in a classic Lynchian scene, an unhinged woman motorist who hits a deer and flips out in front of the bemused Straight. The dialogue is right on target, being neither contrived nor melodramatic. In one scene, shot from a middle distance, we see Alvin talking to someone, but we can't quite hear them. Rather than mike it so that every line is audible, Lynch chose instead to keep the viewer outside. That and the somewhat off-kilter camera angles makes the look and tone of "The Straight Story" so refreshing: not everything has to be explained or conventional. Lynch isn't putting heroic words in Alvin's mouth, nor is he saying that being old and decrepit is somehow noble. There are no weird, malevolent or supernatural beings here. Lynch has (for once - maybe not for the last time) given us a look at real life, the way it meanders along with no seeming purpose, but whose little events add up to something greater.
Lynch shows soft side with cohesive "Straight Story" September 20, 2000
Steven Tracy Moore (Tampa, FL United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Picture this: The best Disney, G-rated, heart-warming movie about life's regrets, remorse, and making amends is a little film that most never saw when it entered theaters almost a year ago.....and it's directed by David Lynch? David Lynch, who made his debut into filmaking with the disturbing and strange "Eraserhead", has always been labled as an auteur of the strange and surreal. He came closest to commercial success with the Academy Award nominated "Elephant Man" and "Blue Velvet", but no film he's ever made has been able to tap into the sensibilities of middle-America. "Straight Story" is that movie. Departing from the surreal images we've come to expect in a David Lynch film, he directs this moving story about a man's journey to visit his ailing brother in a "Straight" manner. Instead of focusing the camera on disturbing images of evil lurking within human nature, Lynch gives us beautiful shots of the roadways of middle-America and the pastures and fields that line these highways. Along the way, Richard Farnsworth's character (in an Oscar-nominated performance) meets different people who, like him, are on a journey. As the movie proceeds, we come to learn that the real journey is that of Farnsworth's character which is revealed in pieces throughout the film as he shares his life's regrets, sorrows, and pains. Lynch takes his time with this film, slowly unraveling the motives of the main character. Suffice to say it's not for the Micheal Bay crowd. Be patient. You will be digesting this movie long after viewing. Enhancing this beautiful film is stunning cinematography and a wonderful score featuring a violin solo. Yes, a violin. This a complete departure for Lynch, but a film equal to his greatest works.
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