Jack Walsh | Through the Shattered Lens

Released in 1999, The Straight Story is one of the greatest films ever made about America.

Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) is an elderly veteran of World War II. He lives in Iowa, a kind but rather taciturn man who doesn’t have time for doctors and would rather live on his own terms. That said, when his daughter (Sissy Spacek) finally does manage to drag Alvin to a doctor, he’s told to stop smoking and to start using a walker to get around. Alvin refuses, though he does start using two canes. Alvin is an old man. He’s lived a long time and, in his opinion, he knows best about what he needs to do.

For instance, when Alvin hears that his long-estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton), has had a stroke, Alvin decides that he need to go Wisconsin to see him. The only problem is that Alvin can barely see and he can’t walk and there’s no way anyone is going to give him a car or even a driver’s license. His solution is to ride a lawnmower from Iowa to Wisconsin.

It’s based on a true story and if The Straight Story sounds like a film that will make you cry, it is. Richard Farnsworth was terminally ill when he was offered the role of Alvin and he accepted because he admired Alvin’s determination to live life his own way. As portrayed in the film, Alvin is not one to easily betray his emotions. He grew up as a part of that stoic generation. He saw his share of violence and death while he was serving during World War II and one gets the feeling that his attitude has always been that, if he could survive that, he can survive anything. (The closest Alvin gets to becoming openly emotional is when he meets another veteran in a bar and it becomes obvious that the two of them share a bond that, as people who seen and survived war, only they can really understand.) Farnsworth so completely becomes Alvin Straight that it’s easy to forger that he was a veteran actor who had a long career before starring in The Straight Story. Alvin may not show much emotion but Farnsworth communicates so much with just the weariness in his eyes and his slow but determined gait that we feel like we know everything about him.

The film follows Alvin on his way to Wisconsin. Along the way, he meets various people and, for the most part, they’re all good folks. Even the runaway hitchhiker (Anastasia Webb) turns out to be a kind soul. When Alvin momentarily loses control of his lawn mower, a group of stranger run out to help him. They don’t know who he is or why he was riding his lawnmower down the street. All that matter is that, at that moment, he’s a person who needs help. The Straight Story celebrates both the beauty and the people of America. It’s one of the most sincere and life-affirming films ever made, one that contains not a trace of cynicism and which is all the better for it. And while many people might be shocked to discover that this film was directed by David Lynch, the truth of the matter is that a strong love for America and Americana runs through all of Lynch’s films. Lynch was an artist who believed that people could surprise you with their kindness and that’s certainly the case with The Straight Story.

The Straight Story was the only one of David Lynch’s films to receive a G-rating. It was also the only film that Lynch made for Disney. It’s interesting to look at Lynch’s filmography and see this heartfelt and deeply touching film sitting between Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. But The Straight Story really does feature David Lynch at his best. It also reveals him as a filmmaker who could do something unexpected without compromising his signature vision. There’s a lot of beautiful, Lynchian images in The Straight Story. But there’s also a lot of heart.

The 1998 film A Simple Plan reunites Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton. After previously playing adversaries in One False Move, they played brothers here. However, it’s not just the cast that makes A Simple Plan feel like a spiritual descendant of One False Move. Both One False Move and A Simple Plan deal with greed and violence. Both One False Move and A Simple Plan take place in a small town where everyone thinks that they know all there is to know about each other. Both One False Move and A Simple Plan feature Paxton as a man who turns out to be something more than what the viewer originally assumed. Perhaps most importantly, both One False Move and A Simple Plan are meditations on guilt, greed, and community.

A Simple Plan takes place in Minnesota, in a world that seems to exist under a permanent layer of snow and ice. While out hunting, Hank (Bill Paxton), his well-meaning but dim-witted brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton), and their redneck friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) stumble across an airplane that has crashed in the woods. Inside the airplane, they find a dead pilot and a bag containing 4 million dollars. At first, Hank says they should call the authorities and let them know what they’ve found but he rather easily allows Jacob and Lou to talk him out of it. Instead, they agree that Hank will hide the money at his house until spring arrives. They also agree to not tell anyone about the money but, as soon as he arrives home, Hank tells his pregnant wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda) everything that has happened.

Needless to say, this simple plan quickly get complicated. Sarah is soon telling Hank that he should not trust Lou and Jacob. The local sheriff (Chelcie Ross) saw Hank and Jacob leaving the woods after discovering the plane and may (or may not) be suspicious of what they found. Alcoholic Lou starts to demand his share of the money early. As things start to spiral, Hank finds himself doing things that he would have never thought he would ever do. Or, as Sarah puts it, “Nobody’d ever believe that you’d be capable of doing what you’ve done.”

And then, one day, a mysterious FBI agent (Gary Cole) shows up and says that he’s looking for the plane. Except that, according to Sarah, he’s not really with the FBI…

It’s appropriate that A Simple Plan takes place in a world that appears to be permanently covered in snow because it is a film that is both chilly and chilling. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton are both perfectly cast. (Thornton received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Paxton undoubtedly deserved one.) Bridget Fonda turns Sarah into a small town Lady MacBeth and Gary Cole, Brent Briscoe, and Chelcie Ross are all memorable in smaller roles.

(Brent Biscoe, in particular, is a redneck nightmare.)

The next time that you want to contemplate the evil that is done in the name of money, why not start off with a double feature of One False Move and A Simple Plan?