The Straight Story
A determined widower embarks on a cross‑state trek aboard his trusty lawn mower to reach his ailing brother before it’s too late, battling distance, bureaucracy and his own limitations along the way.
“A true story that proves a little determination goes a very, very long way.”
Synopsis
Alvin Straight, a retired farmer and widower, discovers that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Determined to reconcile with him before it's too late, Alvin sets out to visit Lyle in Wisconsin. However, Alvin is stranded in Iowa with no car and no driver's license.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 47+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Mary SweeneyShot by Freddie FrancisScored by Angelo BadalamentiDesigned by Jack Fisk
Box Office
1999 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.6× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$6.4M
US & Canada: $6.2M — 97% of worldwide · International: $215K (3%)
Opening weekend: $92K — 1% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $130K — 2% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 7 theaters
Also known as
- Eine wahre Geschichte – The Straight Storyde
- The Straight Story - Eine wahre Geschichtede
- Une histoire vraiefr
- Una storia verait
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Cast & Crew
47 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Supporting cast
25Barbara June Patterson
as Woman on Bus
Everett Mcgill
as Tom the John Deere Dealer
Anastasia Webb
as Crystal
Matt Guidry
as Steve
Bill Mccallum
as Rat
Barbara E Robertson
as Deer Woman
James Cada
as Danny Riordan
Sally Wingert
as Darla Riordan
Barbara Kingsley
as Janet Johnson
Jim Haun
as Johnny Johnson
Wiley Harker
as Verlyn Heller
Randy Wiedenhoff
as Fireman #1
Jerry E Anderson
as Fireman #2
Kevin Farley
as Harald
John Farley
as Thorvald
John Lordan
as Priest
Garrett Sweeney
as Boy in Truck
Peter Sweeney
as Boy in Truck
Tommy Fahey
as Boy in Truck
Matt Fahey
as Boy in Truck
Dan Fahey
as Boy in Truck
Russ Reed
as Mt. Zion Bartender
Leroy Swadley
as Bar Patron
Ralph Feldhacker
as Farmer on Tractor
Harry Dean Stanton
as Lyle
Directors
2Writers
2Producers
2Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- The Criterion ChannelStream
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