Summary Capsule
Four boys go on an adventure through the wilderness to find one ripe cadaver
Justin's Rating: Just like my childhood, only totally different
Justin's Review: This is perhaps one of the greatest movies about childhood ever. I don't lie. Except when there's a fierce round of poker on the line. Still, Stand By Me manages to catch the essential tone of being a kid in all those strange and wonderful ways. Sure, it's set in 50s Maine, but some things about being a kid don't change no matter what era you grow up in. Instead of most kid movies, where children constantly trounce adults and always are wise and witty, SBM sees the world through your average (real) kid's eyes. Adults can lack understanding and unsympathetic to a child's world. Bullies can harbor some of the cruelest thoughts and actions known to man. And being childish is, well, a good thing.
Four friends -- leader Chris (River Phoenix), writer Gordie (Wil Wheaton), insane Teddy (Corey Feldman), and chump Vern (Jerry O'Connell) -- hear about a dead body off in the woods. They embark on a quest to find it, dodging bad dude Ace (Keifer Sutherland) and his gang on the way. Instead of the yellow brick road to follow, they take the train tracks through the woods. Instead of muchkins, there are... shoot, this analogy is breaking down rather quickly. Um, LOOK! What's that?
Welcome to the third paragraph! While stuff does happen on their way (including a memorable bridge crossing with a train), most of this movie is not about the trip itself. The narrator (Richard Dreyfuss) lets us in on the small details of childhood, such as their intense fear of a mythical junkyard dog trained to sic balls. He notes how each of the kids has been shaped by their family and past, and how they have little hope to rise above their assumed stations in life. Gordie in particular has a wrenching story, since his much-beloved older brother (John Cusack in flashback cameos) has died, and his parents are subtly shifting the blame onto Gordie.
What else rules about being a kid? How about trying the forbidden things behind parents' backs. Or swearing with a smile. Or coming up with creative insults about each other's mother. Or spitting. Or fantasizing about being in a TV show or a movie. Or singing songs at the top of your lungs, wildly off-key. But most of all it has to be about friends, sharing a strange and unabashedly fun relationship with each other. There are many little moments in this film that made me smile and laugh, not only because I've never seen them in any other movie, but because they just remind me of something from my childhood. Although there wasn't anything in here about Star Wars action figures, and those factored in huge into my childhood.
This is from Stephen King's novella "The Body", supposedly written about some of his childhood experiences. Not only is it a great story, but the actors are top rate, all of them. All four lead actors play around with the subtleties of their past (being branded as a thief, pushed aside in your family, being a loser, being a nutjob) with skill... and it's amazing to see that all of these guys grew up to be fairly famous actors: Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: Next Generation), River Phoenix (Sneakers, Last Crusade, before his death), Corey Feldman (Goonies, Lost Boys), and Jerry O'Connell (Scream 2, Jerry McGuire). Their performances are utterly believable, and practically carry the film.
It's a movie about childhood, and a movie about growing up. There's a bittersweet tone through the entire film, about how things do change, how friends do come and go, and how sometimes the good guys don't always win (Gordie never gets his hat back, for example). But dude, those leeches will give me willies for the rest of my life.
 1986 Rated R Adventure Comedy Director
Starring
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The names of all the towns (except Castle Rock) in the movie (set in Oregon) are real places in Maine, where author Stephen King grew up and lives.
When Ace and Eyeball meet up with Gordie and Chris, the plate glass window identifies the place they have just exited as "Irby's Billiards", named after first assistant director Irby Smith.
Corey Feldman and director Rob Reiner tested thirty different laughs before deciding upon the one for Teddy Duchamp. The laugh happens to be similar to that described in King's story.
Wil Wheaton's grandfather starred in "Wagon Train", so Wil's grandmother asked that Wagon Train somehow be worked into the dialogue, and it was.
The Topps baseball card in Gordie's brother's room was not available until after the film was set.
1980s cars visible in the background of the junkyard.
The Movie Store!
Stand By Me: Movie [VHS]
Stand By Me: Movie [DVD]
Stand By Me: Soundtrack [CD]
Intermission!
Although set in Maine, Stand By Me was shot in Oregon and Northern California.
Official and Not-So-Official Websites
Erica's Stand By Me Site
Groovy Quotes
Teddy: This is my age. I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once.
Chris: Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life.
Chris: How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?
Teddy: Hey, I'm French, alright?
Chris: Your garbage cans are knocked over and your dogs pregnant.
Teddy: Hey, I said I was French.
Gordie: Do you think I'm weird?
Chris: Definitely.
Gordie: No man, seriously. Am I weird?
Chris: Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird.
Narrator: Finding new and preferably disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother was always held in high regard.
Grown Gordie: [voiceover] It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant.
Chris: I'm never gonna get out of this town am I, Gordie?
Gordie: You can do anything you want, man.
Chris: Yeah, sure. Give me some skin.
Gordie: I'll see ya.
Chris: Not if I see you first.
Chris: C'mon Teddy, act your age!
Teddy: This is my age!
DVD Review
This is a moderately packed special edition, with a featurette, a couple trailers (including one for The Karate Kid), a music video, and director Rob Reiner's commentary. I liked Reiner's commentary, because he spent some time talking about how it's different to motivate and direct child actors, and how during the train scene he actually had to get Wil and Jerry scared to act terrified on the tracks.
Soundtrack Review
This is a great compilation of 50s tunes, including Everyday, Let the Good Times Roll, Come Go with Me, Lollipop, Yakety Yak, Great Balls of Fire, and Stand by Me.
If you liked this movie, try these:
The Shawshank Redemption
IT
The Goonies
