← All Movies
The Straight Story
In Laurens, Iowa, elderly Alvin Straight is found lying on his kitchen floor after a fall. His daughter, Rose, takes him to see a doctor, who admonishes him to give up tobacco, improve his diet, and use a walker, all of which he rejects. When Alvin's brother, Lyle, suffers a stroke, Alvin decides to visit him, even though they have not spoken in ten years.
Lyle lives in Mount Zion, Wisconsin, 240 miles away. As neither Alvin (due to his age) nor Rose (due to an unspecified disability) has a driver's license, Alvin decides to make the trip on his riding mower. His plan surprises his family, friends, and neighbors. The mower soon breaks down, forcing Alvin to accept a ride from a passing tour bus and call for help. However, he is determined to continue the trip, and buys a used 1966 John Deere 110 lawn tractor to continue his journey.
Alvin meets a variety of people on the road. He shares his dinner with a young girl hitchhiker, who ran away from home out of fear that her family would be upset with her pregnancy. Alvin reflects on the importance of family, noting how he lost half of his kids and how Rose lost custody to her children after a fire occurred in her house while she was out, later remarking that a bundle of sticks tied together is harder to break than a single one; the next day, she leaves him the former as thanks. Several passing RAGBRAI cyclists are amused to see him on the highway and welcome him to their campsite. He speaks with some of the cyclists about growing old. He also meets a distraught woman who hit a deer during her commute and tearfully rants about how she repeatedly hits deer despite her prayers. Alvin respectfully cooks and eats the deer.
Alvin's tractor begins to fail, throwing his journey into jeopardy. His transmission fails as he travels down a steep hill, but he manages to stop. Danny, a local, invites Alvin to camp in his backyard until the tractor is repaired. He offers to drive Alvin to Mount Zion, but Alvin declines, preferring to travel his own way.
Running low on cash, Alvin calls Rose to send him his Social Security check. Two bickering local mechanics overcharge him for fixing his tractor, but he cannily bargains the price down. A fellow veteran invites Alvin for a drink, and they exchange traumatic stories about their experiences in World War II. Alvin, a sniper during the war, declines a beer but confesses that he is still haunted by killing an American in a friendly fire incident, becoming an alcoholic when he returned home but is now sober.
After crossing into Wisconsin, Alvin chats with a Catholic priest who knows of Lyle and his stroke. The priest states that Lyle never mentioned a brother; Alvin admits that he wants to make amends. Although the exact cause of the brothers' estrangement is never stated, Alvin says that anger, vanity and alcohol were involved.
Alvin finally arrives in Mount Zion. To steel himself, he drinks his first beer in years. His tractor stalls just short of Lyle's dilapidated cabin, but he persists. Lyle invites Alvin to sit together on the porch; asking if Alvin rode the tractor all the way just to see him. Alvin quietly confirms this as Lyle's eyes well up with tears. The two men sit together silently and gaze up at the stars.