Jason KingStand by Me (1986)
June 4th 2008 09:40
Stand by Me (1986) $16.50
I re-rate this film after watching it this afternoon while sick under a doona. The best ever film of self realisation and coming to the end of a period of one's lives. A time we all fought to stop that time. A time when friendships were THE most important things in life and the electricity bill or my new plasma meant little compared to knowing your friends were there.
Stand by Me is a coming of age film set in 1959. It portrays a journey embarked upon by four 12 year-old boys across the woodlands near their hometown to see the dead body of another boy who was close to their own age. The film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, a freelance writer. It describes how his friend Vern overheard his older brother discussing the body of a missing boy after accidentally coming across it in the woods with his friend.
The lead characters go on a journey into the woods to find the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries in the woods. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "Lard-Ass") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
The film contrasts the four main characters, who are depicted as well-meaning and relatively virtuous, with a gang of bullies led by a local hood, "Ace" Merrill.
The characters were all at the start of their careers and all have done quite well. Will Wheaton (Gordie), the narrator and author is great in this. IN FACT before I go on I won't mention how good the acting is because they are all SUPERB!!!!! But Will went on to star in Star Trek and has now a multitude of TV credits under his belt plus a brilliant film Toy Soldiers. River Phoenix would have been the best actor in the world and up until he died he went from strength to strength. In this film he was the best friend anyone could ever have wanted. Loyal, strong, determined and true to his word. Someone that would take a bullet for his mates. Chubby little Jerry O'Connell grew into quite the man. After all the fat jokes from the film he turned into one spunky monkey and became quite famous thanks to the TV show Sliders. Eccentric Corey Feldman was a teenage sensation who was total IT boy in every 80's film. Unfortunately due to a massive drug habit with another Corey (Haim) his career slid downwards and he has since been relegated to B Movies. Funnily enough he has reunited with Corey Haim for a "pretty much" straight to DVD sequel of The Lost Boys. Which leads me to the next character, Ace Merrill (the cheap dime-store hood) played by Kiefer Sutherland. I was so shocked - I think sub consciously he was already channeling Jack Bauer for this film. I was waiting for some major torture scenes and OMG - some better hair dye!!
This film makes you laugh, cheer, yell and cry. I cry a lot in films, I have even been caught crying in film trailers (LOL) but this has some very sad moments. The one scene towards the end when Gordie breaks down and Chris hugs him gets me every time, it makes me bawl. My friends from when I were young would NEVER cry in front of each other and would never have offered support from a hug - heck that would have been gay! Something to avoid at all costs when you are young.
Trivia: 1) While practicing his lines, Jerry O'Connell was incredibly impressed that, as an 11-year old, he was being allowed to swear. 2) To keep in character while off-camera, Kiefer Sutherland often picked on Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. HE IS JACK BAUER 3) The movie is based on a short story called "The Body" by Stephen King from a book of short stories called "Different Seasons" which also includes "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" which became The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and "Apt Pupil" (Apt Pupil (1998)). 4) At the insistence of director Rob Reiner (an avid non-smoker who campaigned for anti-smoking laws in California), the cigarettes smoked by the boys were made from cabbage leaves. 5) When they were filming the scene where Gordie and Vern are about to be run over by the train, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O' Connell did not look scared enough; In frustration Rob Reiner yelled at them to the point where they started crying and that's when they were able to film the scene. 6) # In the scene where Gordie and Chris race each other through the junkyard, Wil Wheaton could run faster than River Phoenix but Wheaton's character was supposed to lose. Wheaton had to fake a fast run when running slow so that Phoenix's character would win. AWESOME trivia thanks to IMDB.
Thankyou Stephen King for writing the short story and thankyou Rob Reiner for ending up directing this film and thanks to all the actors and I will miss you forever River - you were the greatest. I am not the most eloquent writer and my emotion and passion for films makes up for my lack of cool words and for lack of a better final description all I can say is it's fucking brilliant. Don't rent this one - BUY IT - it's a total keeper.
This is a PERFECT film worth the total of $16.50.
I re-rate this film after watching it this afternoon while sick under a doona. The best ever film of self realisation and coming to the end of a period of one's lives. A time we all fought to stop that time. A time when friendships were THE most important things in life and the electricity bill or my new plasma meant little compared to knowing your friends were there.
Stand by Me is a coming of age film set in 1959. It portrays a journey embarked upon by four 12 year-old boys across the woodlands near their hometown to see the dead body of another boy who was close to their own age. The film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, a freelance writer. It describes how his friend Vern overheard his older brother discussing the body of a missing boy after accidentally coming across it in the woods with his friend.
The lead characters go on a journey into the woods to find the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries in the woods. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "Lard-Ass") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
The film contrasts the four main characters, who are depicted as well-meaning and relatively virtuous, with a gang of bullies led by a local hood, "Ace" Merrill.
The characters were all at the start of their careers and all have done quite well. Will Wheaton (Gordie), the narrator and author is great in this. IN FACT before I go on I won't mention how good the acting is because they are all SUPERB!!!!! But Will went on to star in Star Trek and has now a multitude of TV credits under his belt plus a brilliant film Toy Soldiers. River Phoenix would have been the best actor in the world and up until he died he went from strength to strength. In this film he was the best friend anyone could ever have wanted. Loyal, strong, determined and true to his word. Someone that would take a bullet for his mates. Chubby little Jerry O'Connell grew into quite the man. After all the fat jokes from the film he turned into one spunky monkey and became quite famous thanks to the TV show Sliders. Eccentric Corey Feldman was a teenage sensation who was total IT boy in every 80's film. Unfortunately due to a massive drug habit with another Corey (Haim) his career slid downwards and he has since been relegated to B Movies. Funnily enough he has reunited with Corey Haim for a "pretty much" straight to DVD sequel of The Lost Boys. Which leads me to the next character, Ace Merrill (the cheap dime-store hood) played by Kiefer Sutherland. I was so shocked - I think sub consciously he was already channeling Jack Bauer for this film. I was waiting for some major torture scenes and OMG - some better hair dye!!
This film makes you laugh, cheer, yell and cry. I cry a lot in films, I have even been caught crying in film trailers (LOL) but this has some very sad moments. The one scene towards the end when Gordie breaks down and Chris hugs him gets me every time, it makes me bawl. My friends from when I were young would NEVER cry in front of each other and would never have offered support from a hug - heck that would have been gay! Something to avoid at all costs when you are young.
Trivia: 1) While practicing his lines, Jerry O'Connell was incredibly impressed that, as an 11-year old, he was being allowed to swear. 2) To keep in character while off-camera, Kiefer Sutherland often picked on Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. HE IS JACK BAUER 3) The movie is based on a short story called "The Body" by Stephen King from a book of short stories called "Different Seasons" which also includes "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" which became The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and "Apt Pupil" (Apt Pupil (1998)). 4) At the insistence of director Rob Reiner (an avid non-smoker who campaigned for anti-smoking laws in California), the cigarettes smoked by the boys were made from cabbage leaves. 5) When they were filming the scene where Gordie and Vern are about to be run over by the train, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O' Connell did not look scared enough; In frustration Rob Reiner yelled at them to the point where they started crying and that's when they were able to film the scene. 6) # In the scene where Gordie and Chris race each other through the junkyard, Wil Wheaton could run faster than River Phoenix but Wheaton's character was supposed to lose. Wheaton had to fake a fast run when running slow so that Phoenix's character would win. AWESOME trivia thanks to IMDB.
Thankyou Stephen King for writing the short story and thankyou Rob Reiner for ending up directing this film and thanks to all the actors and I will miss you forever River - you were the greatest. I am not the most eloquent writer and my emotion and passion for films makes up for my lack of cool words and for lack of a better final description all I can say is it's fucking brilliant. Don't rent this one - BUY IT - it's a total keeper.
This is a PERFECT film worth the total of $16.50.
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Stand By Me is a massive sentimental favourite for me too.
River Phoeinix is amazing in it and Jerry O Connell really had a lot to offer back then. (In every way) Corey is also focused. Keifer is just plaoin awesome, shame they had to remove everything that made him an interesting performer to create the dull lifeless Jack Bauer.
Like you, the screenplay and music clinch what is a controlled and emotional look at life and death through adolescent eyes.
Loved reading the review