Synopsis

When 73-year-old Alvin Straight learns that his estranged brother Lyle has suffered a stroke, he decides to visit him before it is too late. Unable to drive and unwilling to depend on others, Alvin sets out from Iowa on a riding lawn mower, towing a small trailer. His slow journey across the Midwest becomes a quiet passage toward reconciliation, memory, and forgiveness.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is based on Alvin Straight's real 1994 journey from Laurens, Iowa, to Mount Zion, Wisconsin, made on a 1966 John Deere riding lawn mower.

• Screenwriter and producer Mary Sweeney discovered Straight's story in a 1994 newspaper account and developed it into the screenplay with John Roach.

• The production followed much of Straight's actual route through Iowa and Wisconsin, with filming timed to coincide with the autumn harvest season.

• Although released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner in the United States, the film received a G rating and is an unusually contemplative adult drama for the studio's mainstream theatrical catalog.

• The movie premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, where it drew strong critical attention. Richard Farnsworth later received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

• Angelo Badalamenti's score uses restrained, pastoral textures that complement the film's unhurried pace and expansive Midwestern landscapes.