Intrada announces a reissue of Angelo Badalamenti's charming and bittersweet score to The Straight Story. Directed by David Lynch, The Straight Story furthered their partnership that had previously included Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and the acclaimed Twin Peaks. The score focuses on two primary themes. At the core of the score is one of his most poignant melodies, "Rose's Theme," reflecting a deeply caring daughter mischaracterized as "slow,” a tender guitar and strings expressing the unbearable loss of a woman who’s had her children taken from her after being unfairly blamed for a kitchen accident. For the character of Alvin, Badalamenti keenly tunes in on his earnest, sagebrush appeal with a theme that features a sly fiddle-and-guitar rhythm that goes from a leisurely stride to a gentle canter. It's all part of a lovely work for a lovely and earnest story.
This latest CD release of the score features the same contents as previous releases (which already ran longer than the score in the film proper), but with the addition of in-depth liner notes by Daniel Schweiger as well as updated packaging including newly created key art. The album will also be available digitally.
The story involves 73-year-old Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth). Though poor eyesight had prevented him from getting a driver’s license, nothing would stop him from seeing his estranged brother, Henry, who’d suffered a stroke. Setting out on a lawnmower strong enough to tow a trailer, Straight determinedly rode 240 miles at a top speed of five mph over the course of six weeks, traveling from his hometown of Laurens, Iowa, over the Mississippi to Henry’s residence in Mount Zion, Wisconsin.
