A big part of the enjoyment that comes with exploring the great outdoors is doing it your own way, not the way that everyone else thinks you should. This fierce sense of outdoor independence dominates "The Straight Story," a big screen adventure that also focuses on some of the most gorgeous areas of the United States.
The late, great actor Richard Farnsworth stars as Alvin Straight, the real life Iowa farmer who rode a lawn mower nearly 300 miles to visit his ailing brother in Wisconsin. Not a person who liked to take charity from anyone, Straight spent a good portion of the summer of 1994 traveling the back roads at a blazing 5 miles per hour. At night, the proud and stubborn Straight would cook and camp out under the stars, paying for supplies out of his own pocket. When a kindly husband and wife offered Alvin the use of their telephone, he left cash by the phone to pay for the call. Most people would have given up along the way and accepted a ride or a bus ticket, but the stubborn Straight kept on going like a true outdoorsman.
Director David Lynch, known for such edgy material as "Blue Velvet," makes "The Straight Story" a virtual love letter to the great outdoors. As he shows Alvin Straight's long journey from Iowa to Wisconsin, Lynch captures some unspoiled wilderness on film.
Part biography and part documentary, "The Straight Story" is a film that will entice viewers to explore the great outdoors, but make sure to gas up your car and not the riding mower before hitting the road.
