The Straight Story
“A true story that proves a little determination goes a very, very long way.”
Retired farmer and widower Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. He then has the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.
Genres
Drama
Studio
Les Films Alain Sarde
Language
en
Status
Released
How The Straight Story performed
Budget
$10.0M
Worldwide Gross
$6.4M
Gross Profit
−$3.6M
Return
0.6× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$924K
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~48/52, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (30% of the domestic run, typical for Drama) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Where to Watch
Cast
Alvin
Richard Farnsworth
Alvin
Rose
Sissy Spacek
Rose
Dorothy
Jane Galloway Heitz
Dorothy
Bud
Joseph A. Carpenter
Bud
Sig
Donald Wiegert
Sig
Nurse
Tracey Maloney
Nurse
Doctor Gibbons
Dan Flannery
Doctor Gibbons
Brenda
Jennifer Edwards
Brenda
Pete
Ed Grennan
Pete
Apple
Jack Walsh
Apple
Bus Driver
Gil Pearson
Bus Driver
Woman on Bus
Barbara June Patterson
Woman on Bus
If you liked The Straight Story
Paris, Texas
1984
A River Runs Through It
1992
Into the Wild
2007
Take Me to the River
2015
Dances with Wolves
1990
The Tree of Life
2011