Counter-Currents
  • Archives
  • Authors
  • T&C
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
  • Webzine
  • Books
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Donate
  • Paywall
  • Crypto
  • Mailing List
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
    • Main feed
    • Comments feed
    • Podcast feed

LEVEL2

  • Webzine
  • Books
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Donate
  • Paywall
  • Crypto
  • Mailing List
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
    • Main feed
    • Comments feed
    • Podcast feed
  • Archives
  • Authors
  • T&C
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
Print
June 19, 2020 4 comments

The Straight Story

Trevor Lynch

1,483 words

When I saw Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, I was convinced that David Lynch is an essentially conservative and religious filmmaker, with a populist and mystical bent. Arguing that thesis was an uphill battle as his work got increasingly dark in the nineties. Many people interpreted Lynch’s portrayals of quirky, salt-of-the-Earth white Americans as parody, his mysticism as arbitrary weirdness, and his depictions of evil and violence as inconsistent with having a conservative and religious moral center. (They’d probably argue the same thing about Flannery O’Connor as well — and just as wrongly.)

Then came 1999’s The Straight Story, which reprises all the wholesome, life-affirming, and sentimental elements of Lynch’s earlier works without the darkness, terror, and demonic evil. The Straight Story is so wholesome, in fact, that it was rated G and released by Disney.

The Straight Story is the story of Alvin Straight (1920–1996), a small-town Iowan who at the age of 73 decided to visit his stroke-stricken brother 240 miles away in Wisconsin. What makes Straight’s journey interesting is how he did it. Alvin didn’t have a driver’s license because his eyes were bad. So he put a hitch on his riding lawnmower, hooked up a small trailer full of fuel, food, and camping equipment, and set out for Wisconsin, driving five miles an hour along the side of roads and camping in the fields at night. All told, the journey took six weeks, including breakdowns and repairs. (Then a nephew drove Alvin and his lawnmower back home.)

The basic characters and outline of The Straight Story are based on fact, but many of the details strike me as pure Lynch. Lynch did not, however, write the screenplay, although it was co-authored by his longtime collaborator (and third wife) Mary Sweeney. Perhaps Lynch was attracted to the project because it was already sufficiently “Lynchian.”

The entire cast of The Straight Story is white, and they are Lynch’s trademark quirky, good-hearted, small-town Americans.

Alvin Straight is beautifully portrayed by Richard Farnsworth, who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Alvin is a soft-spoken, gentle man who stubbornly tries to cling to his independence and dignity as old age and illness strip them from him. Farnsworth lived his role. He was suffering from metastatic prostate cancer while filming and took his life the next year at the age of 80. He brings Alvin to life with warmth and gentle humor. He is particularly powerful when relating sad memories, such as his daughter Rose’s loss of her four children, and his terrible guilt about accidentally killing a member of his own unit during World War II. But to me, the most touching scene is simply watching Alvin’s face as he silently overhears the bad news that his brother Lyle has had a stroke.

Sissy Spacek is wonderful as Alvin’s slightly “special” (perhaps autistic) daughter Rose. Everett McGill, of Dune and Twin Peaks fame, plays Tom, a John Deere salesman. Harry Dean Stanton (Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Inland Empire, Twin Peaks: The Return), has an almost wordless role as Alvin’s brother Lyle. The rest of the cast are local Midwesterners, and they are uniformly excellent.

As Alvin makes his journey, he dispenses bits of wisdom to the people he meets.

In one scene, he camps with a surly teenage runaway girl who slowly warms to him. Alvin intuits that she is running away because she is pregnant and urges her to return home. She can only think of the enmity of her family, but Alvin suggests there is strength in family as well, using a very concrete and primal metaphor: the fasces. An individual twig can be broken, but tie them together in a bundle, and they become strong. The next morning, the girl is gone. But she communicated her decision by leaving a bundle of sticks.

In another scene, Alvin and a fellow WWII veteran share painful memories of friends they lost. But the Germans are not dehumanized. In fact, Alvin mentions that at the end of the war, “We were shooting moon-faced boys.” The war is simply presented as a senseless waste of life, which it was.

The Straight Story is a warm and sentimental portrait of the American Midwest and its people. Lynch filmed it on location, on the actual route Alvin took. He also filmed every scene in the order in which it appears. In short, Lynch took Alvin’s journey. The Straight Story contains Lynch’s most beautiful nature photography. It is set during harvest time, with rippling fields of ripe grain, vivid sunsets, and autumn leaves, all suffused with gold.

Yet, despite its seeming straightforwardness, Lynch characterized The Straight Story as his “most experimental movie” thus far. To my eyes, it is an experiment in being naïve and spontaneous. One scene plays gently with movie conventions. We see Alvin driving his tractor down the road away from us, then the camera slowly pans up to the beautiful blue sky — then slowly back down to Alvin, who, of course, has only gone a few more feet. Whenever I saw this scene in a theater, it always provoked gales of good-natured laughter, because if this were any other movie, and Alvin were riding anything other than a lawnmower, he would be just a dot in the distance.

There are many Lynchian touches beyond the affectionate portrayals of quirky and sometimes grotesque Midwesterners. Lynch’s trademark depiction of technology as an ominous and dehumanizing force — using loud mechanical thrumming and screeches — is used to good effect with a grain elevator at night and also huge semi-trucks looming over Alvin and his vulnerable, hobbit-scale technology.

When Alvin’s brakes give out and he comes hurtling down a hill, the sequence is viscerally real. Like Alvin, we feel out of control and jarred to our bones. Yet the backdrop of a burning building gives the scene an apocalyptic and surreal quality.

When Alvin sees a deer killed by a hysterical female motorist, he of course uses it to replenish his supplies, cooking it over a fire — while surrounded, somehow, by lawn statues of deer out in the middle of nowhere.

Lynch is a director who believes in the reality of the supernatural. (See, especially, my review of Lost Highway.) There is only one scene that suggests such powers in The Straight Story, and it is masterfully handled. The real Alvin Straight’s tractor conked out just short of his brother’s house, and he was towed the rest of the way by a local farmer. In Lynch’s film, when Alvin’s tractor conks out, a man on a much bigger tractor pulls up.

We see the whole thing from a distance, too far to clearly hear the dialogue. Lynch has used the same technique in two earlier scenes of the movie. We also get no closeup of the farmer’s face. He seems to simply suggest that Alvin try starting his tractor again, and lo, it works. The big tractor then pulls in front and leads Alvin to the driveway of his brother, pointing to the turn, then continues on with a wave goodbye. The big tractor/little tractor contrast, the uncanniness of the distance, and the lack of any explanation for why Alvin’s tractor started again all suggest a bit of well-deserved divine intervention, after a wonderful demonstration of American ingenuity, independence, and self-help.

Another outstanding feature of The Straight Story is longtime Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti’s beautiful score, which is the best thing he has composed since his iconic music for Twin Peaks.

The Straight Story received universal acclaim from critics and Lynch fans, but it did not break out of those circles to become a box office success, nor is it well-represented on home video. The DVD has no extras, and the only Blu-ray I could find is Japanese. The CD of the soundtrack and the book of the script are also long out of print. The Straight Story is long overdue for a critical reappraisal — and a Criterion Collection Blu-ray with all the trimmings — for it is truly one of Lynch’s finest works.

The Straight Story is a film about American pluck and ingenuity, the importance of family, the necessity of forgiveness, and growing old with independence and dignity. If you have conservative and populist tastes, love Americana, and are looking for a wholesome, artful, and deeply touching story you can enjoy with your whole family, see The Straight Story. It is the last film most people would expect from David Lynch, but it comes straight from his heart.

If you want to support our work, please send us a donation by going to our Entropy page and selecting “send paid chat.” Entropy allows you to donate any amount from $3 and up. All comments will be read and discussed in the next episode of Counter-Currents Radio, which airs every Friday.

Don’t forget to sign up for the twice-monthly email Counter-Currents Newsletter for exclusive content, offers, and news.

 

Related

  • The Searchers

  • The Father

  • Galaxy Quest:
    From Cargo Cult to Cosplay

  • A Clockwork Orange

  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

  • Fahrenheit 451

  • Is “Short Time Preference” Really Such a Problem?

  • The Hunt

Tags

AmericanaDavid LynchDisneyfamilymovie reviewsthe MidwestThe Straight StoryTrevor Lynch

Previous

« Our Boy Bezmenov:
Soviet Subversion Strategies in America

Next

Brigitte Bardot’s B. B. »

4 comments

  1. HamburgerToday says:
    June 19, 2020 at 7:42 am

    The Straight Story is my favorite Lynch film. It’s a meditation on life and death.

  2. Ben says:
    June 20, 2020 at 11:34 am

    I saw this movie in a theater in Everett, Washington, when it came out. I cried, and when the movie ended and people were filing out of the theater, I could hear women sniffing and blowing their noses.

  3. Stronza says:
    June 21, 2020 at 9:15 am

    If only Lynch could make more uncontrived movies – The Straight Story proves he is capable of it. A film or TV series doesn’t have to be filled with “bits of stuff” flung randomly around, each bit somehow representing something “deep” and other wordly. I can’t believe that purportedly intelligent folks are impressed by all that crackling electricity in Mulholland Drive, for one little example. This is “deep”?

Comments are closed.

If you have Paywall access,
simply login first to see your comment auto-approved.

Note on comments privacy & moderation

Your email is never published nor shared.

Comments are moderated. If you don't see your comment, please be patient. If approved, it will appear here soon. Do not post your comment a second time.

Recent posts
  • Irreconcilable Differences:
    The Case for Racial Divorce

    Greg Johnson

  • Humorous Masquerades:
    The Rise of Anglo-Franco Melodrama

    Kathryn S.

  • Tonight’s Livestream:
    Greg Johnson & Fróði Midjord on Network

    News Item

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 337
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

    5

  • Peak Redpill

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    15

  • Darwin & Conflict

    Morris van de Camp

    2

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 336
    Interview with Jared Taylor

    Counter-Currents Radio

    10

  • The Worst Week Yet:
    April 11-17, 2021

    Jim Goad

    16

  • The Searchers

    Trevor Lynch

    20

  • Fundraiser Update, this Weekend’s Livestreams, & A New Way to Support Counter-Currents

    Greg Johnson

    3

  • Two Nationalisms

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    45

  • A Robertson Roundup: 
    Remembering Wilmot Robertson
    (April 16, 1915 – July 8, 2005)

    Margot Metroland

    15

  • Remembering Dominique Venner
    (April 16, 1935 – May 21, 2013)

    Greg Johnson

    11

  • I’m Not a Racist, But. . .

    Jim Goad

    45

  • The Father

    Steven Clark

    5

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 335
    Dark Enlightenment

    Counter-Currents Radio

    11

  • Are We Ready For “White Boy Summer”?

    Robert Hampton

    33

  • Can the Libertarian Party Become a Popular Vanguard?

    Beau Albrecht

    17

  • Every Phoenix Needs Its Ashes

    Mark Gullick

    24

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 334
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

    2

  • If I Were Black, I’d Vote Democrat

    Spencer J. Quinn

    14

  • The Silence of the Scam:
    The Killing of Dr. Lesslie

    Stephen Paul Foster

    7

  • Proud of Being Guilty:
    Fighting the Stigma of Lawfare in Sweden & Winning

    HMF Medaljen

    6

  • The Halifax Grooming Gang Survivor

    Morris van de Camp

    22

  • Get on the Right Side of the Paywall

    Greg Johnson

    12

  • The Worst Week Yet:
    April 4-10, 2021

    Jim Goad

    13

  • Forthcoming from Counter-Currents:
    Jonathan Bowden’s Reactionary Modernism

    Jonathan Bowden

  • Remembering Prince Philip

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    16

  • Remembering Jonathan Bowden
    (April 12, 1962–March 29, 2012)

    Greg Johnson

    7

  • Today’s Livestream:
    Ask Counter-Currents with Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Frodi Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

  • Paywall Launch, Monday, April 12th

    Greg Johnson

    10

  • Galaxy Quest:
    From Cargo Cult to Cosplay

    James J. O'Meara

    13

  • Biden to Whites: Drop Dead!

    Spencer J. Quinn

    22

  • Politicians Didn’t Invent Racial Divisions

    Robert Hampton

    7

  • London: No City for White Men

    Jim Goad

    51

  • Republicans Should Stop Pandering to Blacks

    Lipton Matthews

    18

  • Quotations From Chairman Rabble
    Kenneth Roberts: A Patriotic Curmudgeon

    Steven Clark

    6

  • Remembering Emil Cioran
    (April 8, 1911–June 20, 1995)

    Guillaume Durocher

    5

  • An Interview with Béla Incze:
    The Man Who Destroyed a BLM Statue

    Béla Incze

    15

  • Heidegger’s History of Metaphysics, Part Six:
    G. W. Leibniz’s Will-to-Power

    Collin Cleary

    12

  • The Importance of Survival Skills

    Marcus Devonshire

    22

  • The Oslo Incident

    Greg Johnson

    2

  • Mihai Eminescu:
    Romania’s Morning Star

    Amory Stern

    1

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World & Me

    Beau Albrecht

    21

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 333
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

    5

  • The Worst Week Yet:
    March 28-April 3, 2021

    Jim Goad

    18

  • Murder Maps:
    Agatha Christie’s Insular Imperialism

    Kathryn S.

    29

  • A Clockwork Orange

    Trevor Lynch

    21

  • Easter Livestream:
    Ask Counter-Currents with Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Frodi Midjord

    Greg Johnson

    1

  • Our Big, Beautiful Wall

    Greg Johnson

    4

Recent comments
  • Eh, hard to feel bad. I don't think he's guilty but LEO's have proven themselves to be incredibly...
  • All our options are Jewish?
  • The white middle class is traditonally use to a certain level of comfort. What they have done over...
  • The side addicted to chaos is intent on burning it down. This coaliton isn't made up of engineers,...
  • As for Chattanooga, I'd try to avoid cities. I've been to Nashville several times, and it has some...
Editor-in-Chief
Greg Johnson
Our titles
  • White Identity Politics
  • Here’s the Thing
  • Trevor Lynch: Part Four of the Trilogy
  • Graduate School with Heidegger
  • It’s Okay to Be White
  • Imperium
  • The Enemy of Europe
  • The World in Flames
  • The White Nationalist Manifesto
  • From Plato to Postmodernism
  • The Gizmo
  • Return of the Son of Trevor Lynch’s CENSORED Guide to the Movies
  • Toward a New Nationalism
  • The Smut Book
  • The Alternative Right
  • My Nationalist Pony
  • Dark Right: Batman Viewed From the Right
  • The Philatelist
  • Novel Folklore
  • Confessions of an Anti-Feminist
  • East and West
  • Though We Be Dead, Yet Our Day Will Come
  • White Like You
  • The Homo and the Negro, Second Edition
  • Numinous Machines
  • Venus and Her Thugs
  • Cynosura
  • North American New Right, vol. 2
  • You Asked For It
  • More Artists of the Right
  • Extremists: Studies in Metapolitics
  • Rising
  • The Importance of James Bond
  • In Defense of Prejudice
  • Confessions of a Reluctant Hater (2nd ed.)
  • The Hypocrisies of Heaven
  • Waking Up from the American Dream
  • Green Nazis in Space!
  • Truth, Justice, and a Nice White Country
  • Heidegger in Chicago
  • The End of an Era
  • Sexual Utopia in Power
  • What is a Rune? & Other Essays
  • Son of Trevor Lynch’s White Nationalist Guide to the Movies
  • The Lightning & the Sun
  • The Eldritch Evola
  • Western Civilization Bites Back
  • New Right vs. Old Right
  • Lost Violent Souls
  • Journey Late at Night: Poems and Translations
  • The Non-Hindu Indians & Indian Unity
  • Baader Meinhof ceramic pistol, Charles Kraaft 2013
  • Pulp Fascism
  • The Lost Philosopher, Second Expanded Edition
  • Trevor Lynch’s A White Nationalist Guide to the Movies
  • And Time Rolls On
  • The Homo & the Negro
  • Artists of the Right
  • North American New Right, Vol. 1
  • Some Thoughts on Hitler
  • Tikkun Olam and Other Poems
  • Under the Nihil
  • Summoning the Gods
  • Hold Back This Day
  • The Columbine Pilgrim
  • Taking Our Own Side
  • Toward the White Republic
  • Reuben
  • The Node
  • The New Austerities
  • Morning Crafts
  • The Passing of a Profit & Other Forgotten Stories
  • Gold in the Furnace
  • Defiance
Distributed Titles
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
Copyright © 2021 Counter-Currents Publishing, Ltd. The Straight Story

Paywall Access





Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.