Don't Make a Scene: The Straight Story

The Story: "I read the news today. Oh boy"

We lost David Lynch. I didn't like everything he did. But, the stuff I did like I liked...a lot. He WAS, truly, a visionary and no, nobody made movies like him. And there's one particular movie of his I LOVE. I love it a lot.

The Straight Story.

It's almost a punch-line. A David Lynch film. Released by Disney. Rated "G." Completely oxymoronic. But that was everything Lynch did, really. He could bore you to tears and then make your jaw drop and convince you you'd seen the work of a master-craftsman. Because he was in his way. Always his way. He saw and thought things nobody else did (which you'd think would be emblematic of any director, but it's not). He was also an experimenter. An innovator. A dreamer.

And The Straight Story was unmistakably a Lynch film. The pacing was his—off-kilter and lingering, but then, he'd slice-and-dice a dialogue scene so it didn't feel there was any editing at all. He made you notice "stuff". And he embraced the odd and the beautiful, sometimes in the same shot.

I'd been wanting to do this scene for awhile and it's always been in the back of my mind, but the time was never right. Now, given his passing, it's almost a cliche to post it and Lynch would have hated that. I also notice there's been an up-tick in the views of a previous scene from The Straight Story. What can I say? We mourn alike.

 

In that scene and this one Lynch ends it with a shot of the stars from the vantage point of the subject of the movie, farmer Alvin Straight. It's in the script, no big deal. It happens a couple times in The Straight Story...Lynch had used such a shot to end The Elephant Man.

 

Except, the stars move. We travel through them—drift, really (not some hyper-drive or warp-speed thing)—leisurely. The perspective of the viewer would be to have them stand still. But, Lynch takes you farther, artistically, contemplatively, discretely...and all-too inexplicably. There's something holy and transcendental about it, something you can't nail down, put your finger on, or even adequately speculate on...for fear of ruining the effect it has on you.

 

Is it looking to God? Is it seeking a higher power? Is it a Universal Bond expressed by the stars, eternal? Is it ending the way Rod Serling used to end every "Twilight Zone" episode...with a crane up to the stars, those eternal watchers, non-committal, with no easy answers?

 

I don't know. I don't care. But, it's beautiful. And it speaks to me deep in my alligator brain, that place Lynch the director loved to tickle.

 

We're gonna miss that.

 

The Set-up: 73 year old Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) has driven 240 miles—from Laurens, Iowa to Blue River, Wisconsin—to visit his estranged, but ailing bother, Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton). Because of Alvin's own health issues—bad eyesight from diabetes, emphysema—he does not have a driver's license, So he's ridden his 1966 John Deere tractor (with a trailer for camping gear) to get there. It has taken six weeks. And his long journey is at an end. He's just pulled into his brothers driveway at his address, unsure of what he'll find.

 

Action.

 

208 EXT.--MAGIC HOUR LYLE'S FRONT YARD 

Alvin dismounts...

...and slowly walks toward the front door of the house. 

He stops in the yard and calls out. 

ALVIN Lyle!

Getting no response he calls again, softer.

ALVIN Lyle.

CUT TO: 209 EXT.--MAGIC HOUR LYLE'S HOUSE 

Close on the screen door. 

A pause...then we hear Lyle's voice from inside. 

LYLE Is that you Alvin? 

We hear a rhythmic bumping noise from inside. 

CUT TO: 210 EXT.--MAGIC HOUR LYLE'S YARD 

Alvin starts moving toward the front porch. 

Lyle comes out the front door using a walker. 

It makes the bumping noise. 

As Alvin climbs the few steps 

he and Lyle stand very close...

and take a good look at each other

...at the old men they have become. 

LYLE Sit yourself down Alvin. 

They move slowly to the two chairs set up on the porch. 

They are situated about five feet apart on either side of the screen door. 

Lyle is on the right and Alvin on the left. 

CUT TO: Lyle looking out at the lawnmower and trailer in the yard. 

LYLE (cont'd) Did you ride that thing all the way here to see me? 

CUT TO: Alvin nodding his head. 

ALVIN I did Lyle. 

We stay on Alvin's face for a while. 

CUT TO: Close shot of Lyle. He is crying. 

CUT TO: Alvin...tears are running down his cheeks. 

He turns with a crying smile to Lyle. 

PAN UP TO: 211 EXT.--NIGHT SKY 

A sky full of stars. 

Music plays. 

The End

 

The Straight Story

Words by John Roach and Mary Sweeney

Pictures by Freddie Francis and David Lynch

The Straight Story is available on DVD from Walt Disney Home Video. 

Martin Scorsese:

 

 

Amen.