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The Straight Story
- 150 statements
- 28 feature instances
- 9 referencing feature instances
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The Straight Story is a 1999 film from Walt Disney Pictures and directed by David Lynch, starring Richard Farnsworth (in his final film role) in the eponymous role along with Sissy Spacek and Harry Dean Stanton.The film is based on the true story of a man named Alvin Straight. Straight, an elderly World War II and Korean War veteran living with his brain-damaged daughter Rose, hears that his estranged brother Lyle has had a stroke. Disappointed that he's never made up for the incident that (he was drunk at the time) led to their split, he decides to reconcile with Lyle before one of them dies.Unfortunately, Straight is almost blind and half paralyzed, which leaves him unable to walk long distances or get a legal driver's license. Unwilling to let life end this way, he hitches a trailer to his riding lawnmower and proceeds to tackle the 240 mile journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin so that he may make amends with his sick brother.David Lynch directs the sweetest, gentlest movie you could imagine.Not to be confused with Straight Story, a Greek movie about straight couples in a gay world. | |
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Cool Old Guy | |
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Cool Old Guy: Alvin himself. Not only did he travel all the way to see his dying brother on a lawn mower, he's a nice man who deeply cares about the people he meets. | |
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Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer | |
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Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Harry Dean Stanton plays Lyle in the final two minutes of the film. | |
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Verbal Tic | |
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Verbal Tic: Rose Straight has difficulty speaking and forces her words out in short bursts. This causes people to assume she's mentally challenged, but Alvin assures us she's perfectly intelligent. | |
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Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism | |
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Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Strongly Idealistic. The film shows that despite all odds (being half blind and half paralyzed, no drivers license, very little money to travel), determination and love can take you a long way (quite literally). | |
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Epunymous Title | |
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Epunymous Title: The title is a pun on the main character's surname. | |
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Blatant Lies | |
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Blatant Lies: The doctor tells Alvin he's dying (not in so many words, but still). When Alvin's brain damaged daughter asks how it went: | |
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| The Straight Story / int_49d59be9 | type |
Scenery Porn | |
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Scenery Porn: The natural beauty of the region is on full display. | |
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Meta Twist | |
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Meta Twist: By the time this film was made, pretty much the only way David Lynch could be strange and weird was by making an unstrange, unweird, flat-out straight and sane film | |
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The Sons and the Spears | |
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The Sons and the Spears: Used as a metaphor for family, with Alvin convincing the pregnant teenage runaway to go back home to her family, who will eventually understand. Within Alvin's own narrative, it reinforces his plot-driving need to reconnect with his estranged brother. | |
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| The Straight Story / int_7a143509 | type |
Shell-Shocked Veteran | |
| The Straight Story / int_7a143509 | comment |
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Alvin. He mentions in one of his stops that he's still haunted by the memories of the time he shot a Hitler Youth in World War 2. | |
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Eagleland | |
| The Straight Story / int_7a265daa | comment |
Eagleland: Flavor 1. Without irony. All these white-picket fence communities filled with nice neighbors willing to help each other out, even a strange old man riding a lawnmower across the countryside. | |
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Signature Style | |
| The Straight Story / int_831164fe | comment |
Signature Style: If you pay attention during a David Lynch movie to anything other than the abstract weirdness, you'll be amazed how much this actually does resemble his previous work, despite the fact Lynch didn't even write the movie: Small Quirky Town (Laurens, Iowa), quirky characters (Woman who accidentally runs over Deer) and a score by Angelo Badalamenti are just a few to list. | |
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You Answered Your Own Question | |
| The Straight Story / int_8fb11f42 | comment |
You Answered Your Own Question: Dorothy: "What's the number for 911?" | |
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Double-Meaning Title | |
| The Straight Story / int_a4905771 | comment |
Double-Meaning Title: The man's name is Alvin Straight, but calling the movie "The Straight Story" makes joking reference to the fact that David Lynch is "playing it straight" and telling a coherent, mainstream "story" instead of screwing with your head as usual. On top of that, it's just a very simple, straightforward movie. | |
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Based on a True Story | |
| The Straight Story / int_a90fff3 | comment |
Based on a True Story: The film was based on an actual event from 1994, the biggest difference being some characters added for dramatic purposes and Henry's name change to Lyle. Alvin himself would live two more years after taking the journey, and Alvin in real life would try this again, but was talked out of it that time. | |
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Informed Flaw | |
| The Straight Story / int_af2547c9 | comment |
Informed Flaw: Alvin's alcoholism to an extent. In the film he's been reformed for years, but the movie makes it very clear the toll that hard living has had on him. Also, averted in Real Life - Richard Farnsworth really was half-blind and half-paralyzed. Indeed, the actor committed suicide shortly after the film rather than bear extremely painful and obviously terminal bone cancer. | |
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Mind Screw | |
| The Straight Story / int_bef696dd | comment |
Mind Screw: Averted because The Straight Story is as straightforward as its title suggests. It's a notable example because David Lynch is known for creating and directing bizarre, surreal works. | |
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Campfire Character Exploration | |
| The Straight Story / int_c633ea76 | comment |
Campfire Character Exploration: Provides the setting for An Aesop subplot. Alvin passes a young female hitchhiker who later approaches his campfire and says that she could not get a ride. In conversation, Alvin astutely deduces that she is pregnant and has run away from home. Alvin tells the hitchhiker about the importance of family by using the metaphor of a bundle of sticks that is hard to break. The next day Alvin find that his hitchhiker friend has gone but left him a bundle of sticks tied together, implying that she plans to return home to her own family. | |
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Child Soldiers | |
| The Straight Story / int_c9c756a8 | comment |
Child Soldiers: Invoked by Alvin, who mentions having to kill German soldiers during the war who couldn't have been more than seventeen. | |
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| The Straight Story / int_ce6555f0 | type |
Lighter and Softer | |
| The Straight Story / int_ce6555f0 | comment |
Lighter and Softer: Big time compared to the rest of David Lynch's filmography. The worst thing that happens in the film is Alvin recounting some war stories, (and even then they aren't graphic.), Alvin shooting his broken lawnmower with a shotgun after it breaks down for the first time, and Alvin falling on the floor due to his age (while his neighbors worry about him, Alvin reassures that he's fine). | |
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GoshDangItToHeck | |
| The Straight Story / int_d0b60f23 | comment |
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Not in the movie, but a meta-example. Richard Farnsworth was going to turn down the film because he didn't like the language in Blue Velvet. Only after several personal assurances by Lynch and the other writers that the film would contain no cursing did he agree to do it. | |
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Avoid the Dreaded G Rating | |
| The Straight Story / int_dec54a8c | comment |
Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: Averted, despite the fact the film has a few 'Damns', 'hells', and even smoking, something that would get the film a PG-13 alone in the 21st Century, it retains a G rating. Might be one of the last cases of a G rated film actually meaning for 'General Audiences.' | |
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No Antagonist | |
| The Straight Story / int_e0aed924 | comment |
No Antagonist: Every character who appears in the film is a good person in some sense of the word; the closest we ever get is the fact that there are some people who try to talk Alvin out of the journey, and even then they're just concerned for his safety. | |
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Determinator | |
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Determinator: Alvin Straight's biggest flaw, oddly enough. His life would probably be better if he stopped drinking when his brother wanted him to and listened to his doctor. Still, you have to say something for a man who's blind and barely able to walk who is able to make it across the country to visit his brother. | |
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Ghibli Hills | |
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Ghibli Hills: The camera spends a lot of time caressing the landscape as Alvin travels. | |
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Rousseau Was Right | |
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Rousseau Was Right: There is not a single character in this movie to be actually unpleasant. More or less everyone is a saint. | |
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Cain and Abel | |
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Cain and Abel: Alvin and Lyle, even suggested by Alvin himself. | |
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The Straight Story |
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