A (2:57)

The Straight story, David Lynch, 1999. Richard Farnsworth.

B (3:01)

Yes, the straight story, 1999, with the screenplay by Mary Sweeney, who was a big producer of his movies, and his former wife. And John Roach, this guy John Roach, who apparently wrote the Straight Story and that's it. He had one movie in him and it was the great story. And Angelo Dalamenti, who did all the other David lynch movies, he did the music for this one as well. So in part one, we do the general take on the movie. Mike, I've seen this movie a hundred times. I urge it upon you. You finally saw it, what do you got?

A (3:29)

I didn't want to see it for the same reason that a lot of people didn't want to see it, which is that we love David lynch and he's known for a fragmented reality. The thing that David lynch does outside of, say, Eraserhead or some of his, his early stuff is, is he shows you things that look like genuine Americana. They look like Norman Rockwell, but then of course, there's a dark underbelly underneath that Norman Rockwell you can think about, for example, the opening scenes of Blue Velvet. David lynch will take you through the town and then you get those weird beetles or cockroaches in the dirt. And those seem to be very much his preoccupations. So for him to do something that Norman Rockwell could have painted and then that's it. It's a very difficult concept to understand. You really kind of have to wrestle with it for a second and go like, David lynch made a movie and Disney produced it. Are you sure? But yes, we're sure. And I think just to kind of jump into it, what's going on in this movie, or what it strikes me is going on in this movie is, you could call it Lynchian synthesis. It's a non fragmented reality. It doesn't, it doesn't mean like, let me show you a light scene and a dark scene, A light scene and a dark scene. What if a certain kind of maturity, like his maturity as a director, Richard Farnsworth, maturity as an actor. Mary Sweeney's maturity as a writer. What if those things were synthesized so that the light and the dark or the things that are sublimated in other David Lynchian universes could be openly discussed or carried around in regular daytime? What would that be like? So you think of, like, Richard Farnsworth's character knowing that he's gonna die. It's like, if I don't do this thing, I will be dead before my next opportunity to do it. Which is very anti Lynchian. But at the same time, this is maybe the most David lynch movie that I've ever seen that he made. So I know that if you're not really familiar with his work, that probably this opening thing gambit here doesn't make sense. But, Dan, what do you make of anything I just said?

B (5:43)

I totally understand why you didn't want to watch it. Apparently, my. My word in good name was not enough to make Mike press play, but he finally did. I just want to say to the listeners out there, it took Mike as long to press play and watch this movie as it does for Alvin straight to ride the lawnmower to his brother's house. Longer. Maybe a little longer. Anyway, what you said about Blue Velvet is true, but I think that people say that about David lynch all the time. Like there's this Norman Rockwell exterior and this. This dark underbelly. Blue Velvet's the only movie where that really happens. And all the other David lynch movies, everything's already. Twin Peaks is not a. Is not a white picket fence town.

A (6:17)

It's weird Drive.

B (6:19)

Well, that's, you know, Hollywood. No one thinks of Hollywood like that. I was going to say that Hollywood.

A (6:23)

Thinks of Hollywood like that.

B (6:25)

That's true. But I was going to say that generally. I understand what you're saying about all the other things, but generally all the places David lynch picks to start his movies are already pretty weird. Like Twin Peaks is weird long before Laura Palmer's body washes up. And, you know, Inland Empire is certainly weird. And they all are Lost highway certainly is, and maybe the Planet Arrakis and Dune. But more importantly, here's what I want to open up with. What you said about how strange it is that this is a David lynch movie. And that's certainly true, right? Like a David Lyn Disney movie. Like, you have to. As a. It works, right? You have to raise an eyebrow, though. Like, you have to raise an eyebrow about this, right? Like we've done the Elephant man, we've done Mulholland Drive. And if you. If you have somebody who's very sensitive about watching movies. And you want to spin a wheel of David lynch movies, this might be the only one that person can take.

A (7:17)

That's the free space.

B (7:18)

Yeah, it's the free space in bingo. But here's what I think about this movie. Here's what I think upon watching it again, and about David Lynch. And this is. I'm saying this with absolute fist pounding on the table. This is his best movie by a mile. This is absolutely his best movie. I'm going to say why? I'm going to say why. I could see her eyebrow going up. Here's why. And it does. It doesn't mean I don't. I don't like the other ones. I've seen every David lynch movie except Dune. I've seen every one of them. I have been rereading Ulysses lately. Ulysses is a great novel. We both love it for all the right reasons, right? But I think that Ulysses is like Mulholland Drive. I think that the Straight story is like Dubliners or Portrait of the Artist's Young man, right? He's made movies that are more technically interesting and that do more dipsy doodles and do more things with the viewer. But I think the Straight story is much more moving. I think it's much more of a gut punch in the way that I think Dubliners is more moving than Ulysses, at least to me. I mean, this is just one guy's opinion, right? But if you said to me which work by James Joyce shows the most innovation and the most artistic flair and things that I would say Ulysses, right? And when you read Ulysses, you're always aware that you're reading it, right? There's all the style. He's constantly calling attention to himself that you're reading a book. When you watch Mulholland Drive, when you watch Inland Empire, when you watch Lost highway, you always, always are reminded you're watching a movie.

A (8:41)

He shows off.

B (8:42)

He shows off. And I don't even mean, like, that's a bad thing. Like, it's great. Like, we love Mulholland Drive. It's awesome. We're definitely gonna see that again. James Joy shows off all throughout Ulysses, everything he knows about literature, language. And he shows off so much that, as he said, it's going to take generations for people to catch up with him. But I think in the straight story, it's much more honest. And I don't mean that the other ones are lies. I mean, it's, like, straightforward. It's a gut punch. I don't think there's anything in his other movies that are like, when the two guys are in the bar telling their stories about being in the war and where you can barely. Barely, at least I could barely keep it together on my couch. I'm like, oh, man. Right. The things that drain me emotionally in his other movies are like the reveals or the surprises or the frightening things, like in Mulholland Drive with the two old people chasing her around. But here I just think that there's something direct about it and that if someone said to me, what do you think is his best movie? I'd say it's this one.

A (9:39)

I think this is definitely top three. I think the only contender above this one for me is the Elephant man, but for very similar reasons. I think that the Elephant man takes place in another almost Lynchian synthesized world. Where you want, right, The. The British society says, keep the freak show over here. And David lynch says, no, I can do them both at the same time and meld them together. And I think that the ability to make those characters lovable works extra in the Straight Story because they are inherently lovable. And there's no one whose life is untouched by tragedy or fragmentation. But he says, that doesn't mean that I have to present it in a fragmented way. And there's even like a dark night of the soul where he's literally in the graveyard outside the church, right? And the priest comes out because it's the night before the thing that he's gonna have to do. And he's thinking about it. If this were any other movie by David lynch, all that material would be presented differently or it'd be sublimated or it would be like a beach ball. You just like push it under the surface of the water. Push it, push it. And then eventually it would explode. But it's so deftly and beautifully handled that the technique of this movie almost seems to be staying out of the way.

B (10:59)

That is very well said, Michael. Excellent. The technique stays out of the way. And the fun of Ulysses and the fun of Mulholland Drive is the technique is right in your face, right? Like, we love the jump scare in Mulholland Drive because he says, I'm going to tell you there's a jump scare. I'm going to lead you up to it and then you're still going to scare you, right? So he's always calling attention to himself. Let's. Let's talk about this for a couple of seconds. So you just gave me an idea. Alvin Straight, John Merrick, very, very similar, right? Both outsiders, they're both People that no one takes them seriously. But both of those movies, the reason I love the Straight Story and now you're making me think about the Elephant Man. They're both about like at least the Straight Story, Emersonian self reliance. Like you're going to do. You're going to try to do your own thing and the world's going to go after you and the world's going to tell you you can't dance with, you know, her at the ball. And the world's gonna tell you you can't drive that lawnmower. But David lynch is really interested in these people who want to go ahead.

A (11:53)

The people who are not unaware of the way that they're perceived, but they're unashamed of the way that they're perceived or that they're aware enough of it to do the things that they want to do with it. They're both really beautiful. They're both beautiful in the way the use of black and white in the Elephant man and the texture of the film is very similar to the way that he uses the ne. Natural landscape.

B (12:18)

Yeah.

A (12:19)

In the Straight Story. So you, I mean, you can imagine trying to do a silhouette. I mean, even I'm looking at the movie poster right now, which is the silhouette of the trailer. Right. But. And it all seems very obvious, but the way that you handle it is not obvious. I mean, if this, if watching this movie doesn't make you want a sausage and to set something on fire and to sit outside for a minute, then there's something wrong with you because that's part of the urge of the movie.

B (12:47)

And there's also something wrong with you. If you watch this movie and don't feel at times I'm a very petty person. Didn't it? Does that make you feel like you're three, three inches tall?

A (12:57)

Because all momentum mori should do that. And that's really what this movie is.

B (13:02)

Right?

A (13:02)

Right. This movie says you. However much time you think you have left, it's less. And it's going to feel like even less than that. And I think that the compression of that movie is like the compression of life. And you think that you have plenty of time to go, but then you kind of. You run your cursor over the runtime and there's only five minutes left.

B (13:24)

The guy, when he gets caught up in the bicycle race, the guy says to him, hey, Alvin, what's the worst thing about being old? Do you remember what he says?

A (13:32)

Remembering being young.

B (13:33)

Yeah. Remembering when you was young. So this movie. You're right. This is a memento mori. This is the equivalent of having a skull on your desk that you're gonna look at every day. And he tells the priests in the graveyard, he says, you know, this, this trip is a hard swallow of my pride. And so you watch this movie and you think about all the grudges you have and all the things and you're like, ah, it's fine, it's fine.

A (13:52)

It's like, it's like the anti Hamlet, right? Because you don't have to ask to, like, by the time you got saying done, saying to be or not to be, you'd be dead anyway. So there's no, there's no time to reflect. There's only time to do. Even if what you're about to do doesn't make sense.

B (14:07)

There's so much more to say about this movie. But before we get to part two and our favorite moments, I cannot resist this. I have to give you a quick short answer quiz on air. Are you ready?

A (14:17)

Ready.

B (14:17)

And I think you're going to know the answer because I have an answer for this. But I want to see if your answer is the same as mine. You ready? Here's what I want to know. Here's your question 1. Explain why, in a worse universe, Clint Eastwood would have played Alvin.

A (14:32)

Well, first, Clint Eastwood is known for playing characters that say very little. But I think that Clint Eastwood's version of saying very little is part of machismo or something that's being deliberately withheld from the world. Whereas Richard Farnsworth is laconic, but he's laconic in a wise way that like, I've spent my language and now I don't, I don't have that much. I've, I've gone beyond the need to talk so much. Like, it's like when he has the beer right before he goes to see his brother, he said, I don't drink no more and I haven't had a drink for 20 years or something. But he said, right now I'm going to have a cold beer because he's come all that way. And so I think if you. There's nothing wrong with Clint Eastwood movies. I like Gran Torino just as much as the next guy or something like that. But there's something about a grumpy Alvin straight that doesn't work because he's gone beyond the need to be annoyed and funny.

B (15:34)

That is exactly what I thought too, is that in a worse universe, Clint Eastwood play Alvin because then he would carry all his Clint Eastwood charisma. And again, like we love Clint Eastwood, but that's. You couldn't do both. Old people as they are portrayed in movies are always either the subject of fun, like grumpy old men or something, or everyone becomes Yoda. But. But Richard Farnsworth comes across as a regular person who's had a lot of experience and isn't as tough as Clint Eastw. And he said everything he's got to say, right? What do you want that grabber for Alvin? Grabbing. Grabbing. So I think that I really admire the fact that Richard Farnsworth plays this guy instead of a more notable figure.

A (16:14)

This episode is brought to you by Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels and music are made for each other.

B (16:20)

They share a rhythm in the craft.

A (16:21)

Of making something timeless while being a part of legendary nights.

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From backyard jams to sold out arrangements, there's a song in every toast. Please drink responsibly.

A (16:31)

Responsibility.org, jack Daniels and Old no. 7 are registered trademarks.

B (16:34)

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A (16:36)

Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee. Welcome to Only Murders in the Building the official podcast.

B (16:43)

Join me, Michael Cirill Creighton as we go behind the scenes with some of the amazing actors, writers and crew from season five.

A (16:49)

The audience should never stop suspecting anything. How can you not be funny crawling around on a coffin?

B (16:56)

No, that's true. Catch Only Murders in the Building Official podcast now streaming wherever you get your podcasts and watch Only Murders in the Building streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers terms apply. So welcome back to our conversation about the straight story in part two. We always talk about our favorite moments this time around. Mike, what grabbed you?

A (17:20)

I like any moment that has to see Spacek in, in it in this movie and I think for similar reasons that I liked her in Badlands. It's almost, there's something going on with the, with the atmosphere of this movie, with the way that the outdoors is portrayed, alternative lifestyle is portrayed. It's. It almost feels like the challenge is to do Badlands with a very similar background but without any despicable characters and trying like, it's like Badlands without irony and, and it totally works. It's kind of like. And you know, I love Badlands, but part of what, part of what makes it work is Terrence Malick's irony, but also love of the backdrop. And David lynch is like, I could do it, but I could do a version that kids could watch and it would be just as charming and it would be just as funny and I get the same sort of shots.

B (18:19)

Just watch me and Just as beautiful.

A (18:22)

It's like the shadow movie of Badlands where somebody leaves home to go out into the great outdoors to begin their great adventure. But it is actually a great adventure. But it's bigger in their minds than it is in real life.

B (18:36)

I love Sissy Spacek in this movie because this movie's all about family. What is a family? He gives the girl the bundle of broken of steak. She can't break it. And he's his defense of Rose. And you find out that when she sees the kids by the sprinkler, she's.

A (18:48)

Looking at what she's thinking about, what she's thinking about.

B (18:50)

Right. Like it's so good. And again, like all. None of this should work. Right. Talk about to use one of our favorite pod things. This movie should. Should not work on paper or definitely doesn't. It works too well on paper. Right. It seems like. It seems like the movie I thought Manchester by the Sea was until you actually turn it on. And the whole sissy space character, I think is great because she's the voice of everyone else in that town. When she's like, dad, you're, you know, you're this many years old. When you walk, you're all bent over. She has to take him to the doctor. So she's kind of like, I keep saying, no, no, no, you can't do this. And she's motivated by love. She doesn't think he's crazy like his friends in the True Value store, but she is a reminder to him of his age and about what he can't do. And the movie's about him rising above that.

A (19:34)

That's actually the motivator because the closer you are to death, the less opportunity you have to make these things right.

B (19:40)

Right. And she's also, like, before we talked about David lynch movies, when you think about it, she's a great David lynch character. Like somebody who's outside of the mainstream. A little off. Right to. How about the fat lady with the cucumbers on her eyes? She's right out of David Lynch. The guys in the hardware store out of David Lynch. So he still loves people that aren't just boring, regular, run of the mill human beings.

A (20:01)

There's still grotesques in this movie and they run alongside your average Joe's. But again, I think the Lynchian synthesis is to have them not serve as counterpoint to one another, but to share the stage with one another. Yeah, that's. That's. I think what this movie has in common, say with the Elephant man, is that that when they have to share the stage and do scenes with one another. Then it's not ironic commentary, it's actual life. And. And what's your moment?

B (20:29)

There's one part where he's. He pulls into a cow shed to get out of the rain, and he gets in there just in time, and then it starts to pour, and he just sits there and waits out the rain. Why did I pick that moment? Because, first of all, like you said before, this movie shows you what America looks like, or big parts of America. Like, you get to see flyover country, and you get to see it's beautiful. You really want to see what America looks like? Ride a lawnmower. Like, go and look at it. How about that part in the beginning where he starts driving like he'll never get past the grotto, and you see them driving, and all of a sudden the camera goes up, and then it goes back down, and you realize he's kind of like 30 yards. Like, that's it. Like, we're all like, let's go, let's go, let's go. But if you really want to see it, that's what he gets to do. And you get this whole idea that he's getting older and he wants to see what the country looks like. He wants to do this great last hurrah. I also was reminded of this. Is this. Is this story relates to it. My son in the military had to do survival training once in the middle of a desert, so to speak, in the great usa. And he was out there for a weekend by himself. And I said to him, wow, one of the hard things must be, you have to bring a book that, you know you won't be able to finish over the weekend with really tiny print or something. And he said, we can't bring a book. We're not allowed to bring a book. And I was like, really? You can't bring something to read? And he's like, no, dad. It's supposed to simulate what would happen if you were out there. I'm like, you're just out there with your own head for a weekend. He's like, yeah, now, of course, I get like, I have books in my car in case I get stuck in a parking lot somewhere, Right? But what would it be like to just empty out your head and just sit there and watch the rain? Like, he watches the thunderstorm with Rose earlier. And I think the movie, like, makes you appreciate that, whether or not I could sustain that. But I think that's just a great moment to sit there and look at the world.

A (22:17)

I also think, though, that that's part of the. The conflict of this movie. It's not a conflict less movie. It's just, it's. It's partially hidden like that. You know who the villain of Mulholland Drive is? The villain of the Elephant man are the weird circus people that want to abduct him. The villain of this movie is regret. And if you, when you. If you actually were forced to stop and you were forced to sit with yourself and think, that's when you. That's when you would come most face to face with the actual villain, the thing that's lurking behind this movie. Because it's not time. He's not afraid of mortality. He understands that he's going to die and he's okay with it. That's why he says to the doctor, like, I'm not changing my diet. No walker, right? No. No X rays. I ain't paying for no X rays. That mean you cannot scan me. You are not allowed to see what's going on inside of me. Only I am allowed to see what's going on inside of me. But it's not the fear of mortality. It's the fear of regret. It's the thing that you could X ray my head, but you couldn't see the regret 100%.

B (23:22)

And this movie asks us, right, like, okay, how far. What percentage of you would you want to go into the depths of right now, Right? How about I give you, like a 10 view into your. Into your soul? Like, okay, I could do 10%. I'm not that well. What if we go deeper? What if you just have to sit with your own self for a while? For as long as it takes you to be on that, that lawnmower or to wait out the rain? You comfortable knowing that much about thinking that much about yourself? Or would you rather distract yourself with your phone or a book or a movie? So let's talk about the ending and about all the things again that could have gone wrong. And we all know exactly, like, here we go. What are some things that could go wrong at the end?

A (24:03)

Well, the first thing is if they start, like, bickering like kids or they throw their arms around each other, both will be terrible. Both are terrible. Can we talk about the selection of. Okay, you got American character actor Richard Farnsworth to be the main character. You've not depicted the brother on screen. There's only 90 seconds left in the movie, and the brother has to come out. And who is it?

B (24:29)

Harry Dean Stanton.

A (24:30)

It's Harry Dean Stanton. Is that not perfect?

B (24:33)

It's beyond perfect. It's beyond perfect. You know, Richard Farnsworth, you know, he got his. He got his. He was a stuntman. He was like a horse wrangler for movies. He didn't even want to be an actor. David lynch, to his credit, was like, no, you're going to be this guy. And so to have Harry Dean Stanton come out with his walker. He knows he's got the walker because he had the stroke. And he's in that fallen apart house with his bad wool hat on. And as you remember, he comes out and says. When he looks at him and he looks at the lawnmower and he looks back at him and he says, did you ride that thing all the way here to see me? And then Richard Farnsworth almost cries. He's barely holding it together. And he says, yeah, yes, I did. And then the camera goes up to the stars and he says, I want to look at the stars again, like my brother, like we did when we were young. I mean, it's so good that you don't find out what they fought about. Right? All we're told is it was anger and vanity mixed with liquor. We don't know. Like, it's not like, oh, we had a plumbing business together and you weren't, you know, doing this. Like, we don't know. And it. Because it doesn't matter. And we don't need to see them hug because the fact that he did that thing with the mower, that is the gesture that I have swallowed my pride.

A (25:42)

Well, when he's in the graveyard at night and the priest comes out and he finds out that the priest heard about his brother at the hospital but hasn't heard anything since, again, you find out that the thing that he's praying for or acknowledging God about is not like, can you extend my life? Can you make me young again? Can I be healthy? Can I have whatever it's. Am I too late? It's a yes or no question. Am I too late? Am I too late? And the movie gives you just enough time to know that you're not late and the taste of what this movie could be, but not the full view of it. Because the thing that is the question has been resolved.

B (26:22)

And of course, it's such a great. David lynch knows how much he's got us in the palm of his hand that on the way to the shack, he makes the turn off and then the tractor breaks down and you're like, no way. Come on, man. So that's a great thing. And also your point about the graveyard and about the swimmers. Right. As he gets closer to his brother, at one point he says, I can almost feel him. Right. He gets closer, closer geographically. That's when we have to talk about this scene. That's, of course, what prompts the scene in the bar when he's drinking the milk of the other guys telling the story about being in Korea and each of this terrible story that they've apparently never told anybody. I mean, it's only like you said, like as he gets closer and closer to this big culmination that he's able to tell that story for the first time of how he shot his own guy. He shot the spotter. And then, of course, there's that great moment where after they each tell the story, you see them from the back. Like the camera views it from the back. You just see them. And that's the regular person's point of view. What's over there? Yeah. Two old farts sitting at a bar in the middle of the day. But then they have these unbelievably rich inner lives. And that's, of course, that's another big Lynchian thing.

A (27:31)

I still have to insist on the point that part of what's going on in other David lynch movies is that life is somehow separated from death and that they make an ironic counterpoint. But when you hear the story, it. It's the opposite of the normal Lynchian universe. It's not life and death. It's. I have been living with death.

B (27:50)

Yeah.

A (27:50)

And the only way to stop living.

B (27:52)

With death is to die. Die is to die. So I think that. I think that it does. It just. It just fires on all cylinders. It does everything right.

A (28:03)

It's. It's amazing that you could. This is the kind of movie that you could put on at your next Thanksgiving. And no matter how anybody feels about anything, everybody could watch this movie. And that's what's incredible about it.

B (28:17)

And if somebody said they didn't like it, I think that will be grounds for kicking them out of the table.

A (28:21)

I can't. How did he get away with it? Is what I want to know. How did he get away with it?

B (28:27)

Thanks for listening, everybody. We hope you enjoyed our conversation about the straight story. You could follow us on X at 15min film. You can follow us where else?

A (28:34)

Mike, Letterboxd.

B (28:35)

Follow us on letterboxd. Let us know what to watch next. We take requests, so keep them coming.

A (28:39)

We'll see you next time.

B (29:01)

Martha listens to her favorite band all the time in the car. Gym, even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much she got a seat close enough to actually see and hear them. Sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you More Expedia made to travel savings vary and subject to availability. Flight inclusive packages are atoll protected.