Stephen King Cinema: Stand By Me (1986)

I first saw this in 2011 and I had three points of reference going into it. One, I'd seen a little bit of it years before on the 1986 episode of one of VH1's I Love the 80's specials (I can't remember which one it was but I know it was either the first or second), although I didn't pay much attention to it, as I was waiting for them to talk about other things I was more interested in at the time. Second, I'd heard Corey Feldman mention it on one of the special features on the Friday the 13: Crystal Lake to Manhattan DVD set, where he talked about how it's kind of odd for him to look back on his career, which, in its prime, was full of various high-profile, prestigious movies like The Lost Boys and The Goonies, and see Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter among them. Third, and most notably, a person who I was fairly close to at the time often talked about Stand By Me and what a great movie it was. The latter was what really got me interested in seeing it, especially when it got a new Blu-Ray release in 2011 for its 25th anniversary. I picked up that Blu-Ray that very summer and when I watched it, a rare thing happened... it instantly became both one of my favorite Stephen King movies and one of my favorite movies in general (the very same thing happened around that same time, when I first watched both The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile). Everything about it worked for me: I loved the story, I loved the characters, the ending, coupled with the title song, was memorable and heartwarming, and, most significantly of all, it made me nostalgic. It made me think back to when I was around the same age as the kids, the times I spent with my childhood friends, how much fun we used to have just being in each other's company, and the antics we'd get up to, as well as reflect on how we did drift apart as we got older. That feeling has always come back just as strong as ever whenever I revisit the film, making it a very special part of my collection, so I had to take time out from writing my October Fest reviews to talk about it.

Gordon Lachance, a successful writer, has just read in the newspaper about the murder of his childhood friend, attorney Chris Chambers. It inspires him to write a memoir about a significant event that occurred while he was living in the town of Castle Rock, Oregon in 1959, when he was twelve years old. On a hot Friday afternoon, young Gordie is hanging out in a clubhouse with Chris and another friend of theirs, Teddy Duchamp, when the fourth member of their little group, Vern Tesslo, asks them if they want to go see a dead body. He explains he overheard his big brother, Billy, talking with his friend, Charlie Hogan, about reporting their finding the body of Ray Brower, a kid who's been missing for three days, at Back Harlow Road outside of town; Billy wants no part of it, as he knows it means they'll have to reveal to the cops that they got out there by stealing a car. Chris tells his friends that, if they report finding the body, they'll become local heroes and the four of them decide to go look for it. For Gordie, it's a way to get away from his home and his parents, who are still so grief-stricken over the recent death of his older brother, Denny, that they barely pay any attention to him, with his father not approving of his hobby of writing stories or his friends. The boys set out at around noon and, along the way, find themselves caught up in various misadventures, some humorous and others more serious. They also enjoy themselves as kids should, but also admit to and face their own private demons, as well as the fact that their lives will be changing soon as they prepare to entire junior high. As the trip goes on, Gordie grows more and more determined to find the dead body for his own personal reasons. And, to top everything off, the leader of the gang Billy and Charlie are a part of, Ace Merrill, also learns of the body and decides to claim it and get the credit at any cost.

As far as I'm concerned, Rob Reiner can go to his grave knowing he directed two of the greatest Stephen King adaptations ever, the other one, of course, being Misery. In fact, Stand By Me was a very significant film in his career, one because, while This Is Spinal Tap would go on to become a cult classic, and his second movie, The Sure Thing, did do quite well both financially and critically, it was his first to really achieve major success and critical acclaim. Second, and more significantly, he's said it was the first movie he did that reflected his own sensibilities as a filmmaker and person, as the previous two were more akin to what his father had done. In fact, he's said that the movie being as embraced by audiences as it was a huge relief on his part, as he didn't know what he was going to do if they didn't like it. Finally, and most importantly of all, he could connect to the story and specifically to the character of Gordie, whom he made into the story's main focus when he took over from the original intended director, Adrian Lyne. I haven't seen a lot of Reiner's movies (stuff like The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and A Few Good Men aren't my thing), but even then, I don't see any of them affecting me the way Stand By Me did. As I've said, I really like Misery too, but he really caught something indelible here. It's small wonder he and Stephen King developed a really close relationship following this, as it was a very personal work for King and he felt the movie was the first truly good adaptation of any of his stories.

It's hard to believe that Wil Wheaton's character of Gordie Lachance was originally more of a spectator as, while all four of the protagonists are critical, the story really does rise and fall with him. As soon as you get into his character, you truly feel for him and what he's going through, with his parents still reeling from his older brother's death several months before, to the point where he's become virtually invisible to them. Moreover, his strained relationship with his father, who's never approved of his hobby of being a story-writer, has only gotten worse since his brother's death, and he doesn't approve of his friends, whom he refers to as, "A thief and two feebs." Gordie comes to believe that his dad hates him and wishes that died rather than Denny. He's also grown to resent his penchant for writing, at one point calling it a stupid waste of time, and when Chris tells him he'll soon drift away from them when he begins taking college courses and meeting more intellectual friends, Gordie says he's not going to do it, as he doesn't want to be friends with "pussies." Chris, however, isn't having it, and tells Gordie that he doesn't want to stick with them, saying they'll only drag him down. He also tells him that his ire for his writing is coming from his dad and that it's a gift he shouldn't want to lose. And just as Chris tries to push him to realize his potential and not squander it, Gordie, in turn, tries to make Chris feel that he's worthy of taking the college courses with him and making something of himself, regardless of the reputation he has due to his family and his being made to look like a thief by a shitty teacher.

Throughout the journey, Gordie has several significant experiences, some of which serve as benchmarks in his life. For one, he learns that urban legends and myths aren't always what they appear to be when a "vicious" junkyard dog named Chopper turns out to be a small golden retriever who couldn't hurt a fly. Second, the morning after they spend the night in the woods near the train tracks, he has a quiet encounter with a deer that proves to be something so personal for him that he

doesn't tell the others about it and, in his narration, says this story is the first time he's spoken or written about it. Third, in a truly horrifying moment for him, he finds a leech on his private parts and is so horrified by what is probably his first sight of blood that he faints from it. Following that, Chris wonders if they should maybe turn around and go back, leading to an argument between him, Vern, and Teddy that Gordie stops with an angry scream, declaring he's not turning

back. He himself doesn't even know why, but he needs to see the body of Ray Brower. And when they finally do find it, seeing a dead body for the first time proves to be traumatic for Gordie, as it finally makes him face the reality of his brother's death, as well as how he believes his father views him, as he'd had a dream the night before that his father said it should've been him. He breaks down crying, saying his father hates him, but Chris insists, "He just doesn't know you," and tells him he's going to be a great writer some day. When Ace

Merrill and his gang show up to take the body and get the credit, Gordie shows how much he's changed in just a couple of days by using one of Chris' guns to fire a warning shot before training it on Ace. Though Ace goes to call his bluff, Gordie shows he's not kidding by pulling down the hammer and telling him he just plans to shoot him, rather than his whole gang. With that, the gang leaves, vowing revenge, but neither Gordie nor Chris take Ace's threats seriously. Moreover, as he was never big on the idea anyway, Gordie decides they're not going to get the credit for finding the body either, telling Teddy it's not a good way for them to become local heroes, and has them cover it up before they head back and tip the police off anonymously.

In the bookends, we see that, as an adult, Gordie (Richard Dreyfuss), is indeed a successful writer, as well as a father to his own son. However, even though he lost touch with Teddy and Vern not long after the incident with the body, and hadn't seen Chris in nearly ten years, the news of Chris' recent murder at the beginning of the movie hits him hard and makes him reminisce about this significant moment in his life and write about it. When he sees his own son, who's about the same age he was at the time, talking with his friend, it prompts him to end his story with the line, " I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?"

Even though he comes from a bad family, with a really bad, alcoholic father, River Phoenix's Chris Chambers is actually kind of the kid the other three would like to be: cool, charismatic, good-looking, and, despite his background, quite smart. He's the most laid-back of the main four, and the one who comes up with the idea of finding Ray Brower's body and becoming local heroes and celebrities as a result. But, most importantly, he's just a really good kid, one who looks out for his friends. He especially looks out for Teddy Duchamp, who tends to pull irrational stunts and is prone to volatile outbursts due to his mental instability, and Gordie, who he knows is going through a rough time due to his brother's death and his parents ignoring him. He sees Gordie's inherent potential and wants nothing more than for him to fulfill it by taking college courses rather than taking shop with him and the others, saying they'll only hold him back. When Gordie, at one point, says he doesn't want to be a writer, Chris knows it's due to his dad's influence and tells him, "Wish the hell I was your dad. You wouldn't be goin' around talkin' about takin' these stupid shop courses if I was. It's like God gave you something, man. All those stories you can make up. And he said, 'This is what we got for ya, kid. Try not to lose it.' Kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look out for them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it, then maybe I should." A big motivation for Chris to push Gordie like this is because he wants him to have what he feels he can't because of his family's reputation. When he and Gordie have a heart-to-heart talk in the woods at night, Gordie mentions that he could take the college courses with him but Chris tells him, "They won't let me... It's what everyone thinks of my family in this town. It's what they think of me. I'm just one of those low-life Chambers kids." It's then that Chris admits that, while he did steal the milk money like he's accused of, he felt bad about it and tried to give it back, only for the teacher to spend it on herself and him to still be suspended. Even worse, he adds, "Just suppose that I told this story. Me, Chris Chambers. Kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think that anyone would've believed it?... And do you think that that bitch would have dared try something like that if it had been one of those douchebags from up on the view, if they had taken the money?...  Hell no! But with me?... I'm sure she had her eye on that skirt for a long time. Anyway, she saw her chance, and she took it. I was the stupid one for even trying to give it back." Still hurting from such a betrayal, Chris breaks down crying and, as Gordie comforts him, he says, "I just wish... that I could go some place... where nobody knows me."

Chris goes through just as much of an arc as Gordie does. Initially, when he was arguing with Gordie about his dad's influence on him, he says Denny was the one his dad favored, but when Gordie, after finally see Ray Brower's corpse, breaks down crying about his brother and says his dad hates him, Chris tells him, "He doesn't hate you... He just doesn't know you." That's when Ace and the gang show up, but Chris, feeling they've got dibs on the body, refuses to back down. Even

when Ace draws a switchblade and lunges at him, Chris stands firm, and it's only through Gordie's intervention via the gun he brought that Chris comes out unscathed. Ultimately, even though it was his idea, when Gordie decides it wouldn't be right for them to get fame off a dead kid, Chris doesn't even try to argue with him and helps him cover up the body. When they return to Castle Rock, Chris, again, is sure he's never going to get out of the town due to who he is but Gordie assures him he can do whatever he want if he puts his mind to it. And, as you find out, he did take the college courses with Gordie and went on to become a lawyer. Sadly, his peacekeeping personality led to him dying when he tried to break up a fight in a fast food restaurant. 

It goes without saying, but it really sucks that River Phoenix died at such a young age, as this movie alone shows the natural talent he had from the start. Not only does he manage to come off like a cool and likable big brother, while also showing a true vulnerable side (Phoenix had to draw on some painful experience in his own life in order to muster the emotion for that scene where he breaks down), especially in the scene where Chris breaks down to Gordie, but from all accounts, in spite of his vices, he was just a good guy all-around. It always really sucks when you have these talented young actors, like James Dean, Corey Haim, Heath Ledger, and Brittany Murphy, who also have these severe personal demons that ultimately bring them down, as it's as much a waste of potential as it is just a waste of life in general. And as others, including those involved with the movie, have said, Phoenix's death adds even more of a layer of poignancy to the death of his character, punctuated by how, as he and Gordie part ways at the end, he disappears into thin air as the adult Gordie describes how he died.

Far and away, the darkest of the main group is Corey Feldman's Teddy Duchamp, who the adult Gordie introduces as, "The craziest guy we hung around with. Didn't have much of a chance in life." Indeed, due to having suffered horrible abuse from his deranged father, who nearly burned his left ear off by holding his head to a hot stove, Teddy is very unbalanced, prone to volatile outbursts, a skewed type of rationalization, and reckless stunts. An example of the latter is when, early in their journey, he attempts to dodge an oncoming train, refusing to budge, despite the danger. He almost gets himself and Chris killed when the latter tries to save him, and after the train has passed, Teddy says he could've dodged it and that, "I don't need no babysitter." As for his crazy rationalization, when the boys debate whether they should take the trestle bridge across the deep chasm leading down to a river or go to another bridge further five miles out of their way, Teddy suggests they could just jump if a train comes, despite how far of a fall it is. At another point, when Gordie and Chris are lagging behind when they're having one of their major talks, Teddy comments, "Yeah, by the time we get there, the kid won't even be dead anymore," which, of course, makes no sense at all. Speaking of which, Teddy is the one who's most gun-ho about finding the body and becoming local heroes for it, always trying to keep the guys moving so they can get there as soon as possible and wanting to take the shortest way possible, regardless of the potential hazards. As volatile and unpredictable as he is, the way to really make him explode is to bring up his father and call him crazy. Milo Pressman, the owner of the junkyard they pass through, taunts Teddy about this and he becomes so enraged that he threatens to kill him and has to be dragged away by the others. Oddly, as Gordie mentions in his narration, Teddy is obsessed with defending his dad's honor as having been a soldier who took part in the Normandy Invasion, and is reduced to tears by Milo's insulting him. After he calms down, he apologizes for spoiling everyone's good time, but they tell him not to worry about it, with Gordie adding that it probably shouldn't be fun, since they're going to find a dead kid. By the end of the movie, when Gordie decides not to take Ray Brower away, Teddy is shocked that they came all the way for nothing, but ultimately doesn't fight it when Gordie and Chris cover the body up. Ultimately, Gordie tells us that he tried to get into the army but couldn't due to his eyes and damaged ear, and he ended up spending time in jail in Castle Rock.

I'm so used to Jerry O'Connell being a pretty fit guy that it's weird for me to see him here as a chubby kid. In any case, his character of Vern Tesslo is definitely the most innocent of the main four. He's really sensitive, tends to talk when he should really be keeping his mouth shut, often says dumb things or the absolute worst thing to say at a given moment, is a total scaredy-cat, and the one who'd rather take the longer but more cautious routes to their destination. In short, he's the complete opposite of Teddy, which leads to them having a lot of conflict, with Teddy constantly calling him a pussy. They have this running thing where, if one of them flinches, the flincher gets two smacks. Throughout the movie, Teddy makes Vern flinch and gives him two smacks to the arm, but when Vern turns it around on him, Teddy hits him regardless, again saying, "Two for flinching." Most significantly, Vern is the one who first learned where Ray Brower's body is, as he overheard his big brother and another member of their gang talk about it. Though he suggests going to see it, when the boys come up with the cover that will allow them to travel the long distance without being missed, Vern has to be persuaded to go along with it. Also significantly, when they're sitting around in the junkyard, enjoying each other's company, Vern comments, "This is really a good time," a statement that may seem pretty mundane but, as Gordie says in his narration, has a lot more substance and depth: "Vern didn't just mean being off limits inside the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike up the railroad tracks to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me now it was more and that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand." By the end of the movie, Vern does seem as bummed about not taking the body as Teddy, but gets over it when he heads on home, becoming very happy when he finds a penny. And unlike Teddy, Vern's life turned out really well, as he married out of high school, had four kids, and works as a forklift operator.

I don't know why, whenever Stephen King writes bullies into his stories, he makes them into full-on psychopaths who are willing to maim and even kill those they victimize. I got bullied when I was in school, sure, and I know that bullying can get really severe, but someone who would pull a knife on you or threaten to put a cigarette in your eye is far past just being a bully. Case in point, Kiefer Sutherland as Ace Merrill, the leader of the gang of teenage hoods in Castle Rock. This guy proves to be dangerously unhinged from his first appearance when, after Chris insults him for taking the hat Denny gave to Gordie, he pins him to the ground and threatens to put that lit cigarette into his eye unless he takes it back. He's not much better to the members of his gang, forcing them to do things even when they're not in the mood, like making Billy Tesslo participate in some "mailbox baseball" when he's not feeling up to it, and forcing both him and Charlie Hogan to come along when he decides to go find Ray Brower's body, ordering them, "Get in the fucking car, now!" You also believe him when he tells Billy and "Eyeball" Chambers, "If either one of you assholes had $2,000, I'd kill you both." But it's at the end of the third act when Ace really shows how insane he really is. When he and Vince decide to have a drag race while on their way to the body, Ace is so determined to win that, when he drives on the wrong side of the road and a truck comes at him, he doesn't fall back at all, despite Billy and Charlie, who are riding with him, panicking and begging him to. Ultimately, the truck careens off the side of the road, allowing Ace to win. And then, when the gang shows up at the spot where the body is, Ace warns the boys that they'll beat them if they try to keep them from taking the body, only for Chris to remain defiant, telling him to, "Go home and fuck your mother some more." Enraged, Ace takes out a switchblade, creeps towards Chris with it, and then lunges at him. You can tell that he was about to make good on his threat to kill him, when Gordie stops him by firing a shot into the air. Ace, at first, calls his bluff, saying, "You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck," and tries to take the gun, but then Gordie turns it on him. He still doesn't take him totally seriously, expecting him not to be able to shoot the whole gang, but when Gordie says he's just going to shoot him, Ace backs down. He vows revenge, but it doesn't seem like he ever followed through on his threat.

John Cusack, who'd starred in The Sure Thing for Rob Reiner, appears in a couple of flashback scenes as Gordie's late big brother, Denny. While he hangs over Gordie as someone he's constantly measured by, and also feels his parents, especially his father, care more about their having lost him than the fact that they still have another child, the flashbacks show he was a great guy whom Gordie adored. Moreover, in one of the flashbacks, Denny tries to get his father interested in a story Gordie

wrote but Mr. Lachance is only interested in the football game Denny has coming up and the scouts who might be watching him. While his ploy doesn't work, Denny gives Gordie some words of encouragement, telling him he really liked the story. Speaking of Mr. Lachance, he's played by Marshall Bell, who appeared in numerous movies during that period, like A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 and Total Recall. While he's only in a few scenes, he effectively comes off as someone who just cannot relate to his younger son and what he's into, decrying his hobby of writing and choice of friends, and wishing he'd measure up to Denny, the one he always focused on when he was alive. Like Mrs. Lachance (Frances Lee McCain), who's in a virtual catatonic state the one time in the present we see her, Mr. Lachance is totally grief-stricken over Denny's death, to the point where he seems to view his old bedroom as a sacred spot no one can enter. When Gordie goes in there to get a canteen, his father hustles him out of there as he soon as he finds it. Because of this poor treatment, Gordie comes to believe his father hates him, to the point where he has a dream wherein he says he should've been the one to die. Chris, of course, assures him that he just doesn't know him, but it's left unsaid whether or not Gordie's relationship with his father ever improved.

As less than perfect as Gordie's family is, he's doing a lot better than a couple of his friends in the sibling department. Both Vern's big brother, Billy (Casey Siemaszko), and Chris', Richard (Bradley Gregg), or "Eyeball," as he's known, are members of Ace's gang, and are both dickheads who are bullies to their younger brothers. Billy is especially bad in that, while his friend, Charlie Hogan (Gary Riley), has enough of a conscience to where he thinks they should report having found Ray

Brower's corpse to the cops, Billy isn't having it because he knows it'll lead to the police learning they stole a car. He even says that he couldn't care less about the kid having been killed and makes Charlie agree that they won't tell anyone ever. Neither of them manage to keep their mouths shut for much more than a day, though, as Charlie tells Ace and Billy tells Eyeball. Speaking of Eyeball, while he looks on and does nothing when Ace threatens to put that cigarette in his own brother's eye (he even smiles at that), and joins Ace in mocking Chris when he says they have dibs on Brower, he's clearly disturbed by Ace pulling a knife on Chris. Right before that, when Chris insults Ace, Eyeball has a reaction that says he knows what a mistake he just made and tries to talk Ace down when he lunges at him with the knife. That's more than can be said about Billy, who's ready to beat Vern with his belt for eavesdropping on him and Charlie.

There aren't many notable adult characters in the film, but a couple worth mentioning are Mr. Quidacioluo (Bruce Kirby) and Milo Pressman (William Bronder), a store and junkyard owner respectively. Recognizing Gordie as Denny's little brother when he drops in to buy some supplies, Mr. Quidacioluo unknowingly causes him a little bit of pain when he asks him about Denny, saying he looks like him, mentioning what a great football player he was, and then asks Gordie if he plays

football as well. When he says he doesn't, Quidacioluo asks, "What do you do?", forcing Gordie to face his lack of an identity, as he answers, "I don't know." Pressman, however, leaves even more of a negative impact when, as the boys are escaping from his junkyard, he gets into an argument with Teddy, mocking him for his insane father, calling him, "Crazier than a shithouse rat," and comments on the influence it's had on him. His words utterly enrage Teddy, but he just keeps pushing, calling his father a loony repeatedly just to get under his skin, and then threatens to call their fathers, before adding, "Except for the loony up in Togus."

One last character worth mentioning, even though he's not "real," is Lard-Ass Hogan (Andy Lindberg), this heavyset kid who's the protagonist of a story Gordie comes up with. Tired of being picked on for his weight, Lard-Ass gets his revenge when he enters a pie-eating contest. Downing a bottle of castor oil and a raw egg right before the contest, he scarfs down pie after pie, and also starts to think he's eating something disgusting instead. It culminates in him projectile-vomiting all over a pie-eating champion who picked on him earlier, which leads to the rest of the contestants and just about everyone else in the tent throwing up wildly. As this is going on, all Lard-Ass has to do is sit back and revel in the spectacle he's created.

Watching the movie, you can see Rob Reiner's enthusiasm and passion for this story all over it, as he directs the hell out of it. Just on a technical standpoint, it looks amazing. It's beautifully shot by Reiner and his cinematographer, Thomas Del Ruth, bringing out the picturesqueness of the locations in Oregon and California where they filmed, with the lush, green foliage, bright sunshine, and almost totally clear blue skies. The dusk and nighttime scenes are also just as lovely, with the sunsets and the nice, comforting glow

from the boys' campfire adding a bit of levity to the darkness around them, which itself isn't pitch black but is still dark enough to have a bit of an eeriness to it. They also bring something of a unique look to the fantasy scene with Lard-Ass Hogan, mostly due to the white tent in which that scene occurs, as well as the dream Gordie has about his father, which is bathed in a very bright, white light, with lots of flares around everything. Also, while he never gets truly fancy with his directing, Reiner does has have some instances of cool cinematography here and

there, like when Vern eavesdrops on Billy and Charlie talking about the dead body while he's under the porch and you see shots looking up through the spaces between the planks and then through the openings on the fencing around the porch's underside. And during the famous scene where a train nearly runs the boys down while they're crossing a bridge, Reiner made use of a successful combination of blue screen, matting, and perspective distortion in the camera to make the train look like it was much closer to them than it really was.

More importantly, Reiner is able to balance the different sides of this story flawlessly. There are times where the movie is very playful and mischievous in the interactions of the kids, like when they're playing gin rummy in their tree-house at the start, sneaking into the junkyard and having fun throwing rocks and spitting water into a can, and their constant ribbing and trash-talking of each other, as well as just genuinely funny moments, like when Gordie and Chris accidentally shoot a trashcan with a gun they didn't know was loaded, their finding out

the dreaded junkyard dog "Chopper" is nothing but a small golden retriever, Teddy constantly talking and aggravating the others as he stands guard in the woods, while Vern points his gun at everything he hears when he does so, and their thinking they can wade through a swamp, only to fall through the water when it turns out to be deeper than they thought. There's also the sense that this is a kind of cool adventure the kids are on, as they follow the tracks through the woods, sneak into places they're not supposed to be, cross over bridges, avoid a

train that comes barreling at them, and camp out in the woods. But, despite these lighter touches, Reiner never loses sight of the film's much more serious undercurrent, as this is a story about the trials and tribulations of growing up and dealing with the prospect of being separated from your childhood friends, being betrayed or even abused by those who are supposed to be looking out for you, and coming to terms with death. In fact, I find it weird that one of Chicago Tribune critic David Kehr's feelings about the movie was that there's, "Nothing natural in the way Reiner has overloaded his film with manufactured drama." None of this feels manufactured but, rather, inherent and natural to the story Stephen King originally created.

Probably the best example of how the movie's various shades are represented is its very narrative. While it's not at all unique for the main story to be told in flashback with a narrator occasionally chiming in, Richard Dreyfuss' narration is interesting in the way he can shift from being quite light-hearted and even funny, like his description of Vern desperately trying to find the jar of pennies he buried under the house or how, when Milo Pressman sends Chopper after him, he notes, "Now, he said, 'Sic 'em, boy!' But what I heard

was, 'Chopper! Sic balls!'", to being much more solemn, like when they finally find Ray Brower's body and he says, "The kid wasn't sick. The kid wasn't sleeping. The kid was dead." In fact, I think what sums it up best is how this whole story is brought on by the adult Gordie learning that Chris has been killed, and it brings about both good and bad memories that he decides to share through his writing.

But I think Reiner's greatest accomplishment in making this movie is how he was able to put together these four young boys and not only get great, perhaps even Oscar-worthy, performances out of all of them but really make them come off as guys who've grown up together and are as thick as thieves. As directors often do when a film hinges on the camaraderie of a group, Reiner had the boys spend time together for two weeks before shooting began and play a bunch of theatrical improvisation games, leading to their developing a bond. By all accounts, the friendship and rapport you see onscreen was just as genuine off as well, and it also seems that, for better or, in the case of Corey Feldman, worse, the boys were very much like the characters they played.

As great of a horror-writer as Stephen King is, I've always found his non-genre stuff to be all the more affecting, especially when it's adapted as well as it is in films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. In the case of Stand By Me, I think it's one of the greatest stories about childhood and the struggles of entering adulthood. At least, it's certainly one I can definitely relate to. Even though I didn't see it for the first time until I was 24, watching it made me feel very nostalgic about when I was that age and the time I spent hanging

out with my friends. We didn't have a clubhouse with a special knock, mind you, nor did we gamble, smoke, and curse like these kids, but we definitely spent a lot of time at each other's houses, walked and played around the lake near where we lived, and even camped out deep in the woods (although, we had a cabin to sleep in). Also, like their discussions about whether Mighty Mouse could take on Superman or what exactly Goofy is, we often pondered the really deep questions. Even though we didn't use the type of foul language they

do (we had the kind of parents who didn't say it themselves and would grind us into hamburger if they'd even heard we'd said it), we could get into some pretty crude, juvenile humor, often involving farts and certain bodily fluids. And, while I still never had any who threatened me with a knife, we did run afoul of some of the older kids who would pick on and aggravate us. Unfortunately, another thing this movie does all too well is get into that notion of being separated from your childhood

friends when you enter junior high. Like Gordie, I didn't think I'd ever lose the friends I'd had since I was a little kid but, sure enough, once we got older and got further into school, we began to see each other less and less and drifted apart. It happened especially soon for me, as I went into middle school at St. Andrews, Sewanee and was there all throughout high school, while my friends stayed at the school we were at before then. That's also likely what caused them to take a road in life that

was much bumpier than the one I was fortunate to have before me, which continues to negatively affect them to this very day. And let me tell you, that last line the adult Gordie writes about never having any friends like the ones he had as a kid are very true. While I've certainly had many friends throughout my life since then, nothing matches the times I had with the ones from my childhood.

Another thing I was fortunate enough to not have to really deal with throughout much of my childhood and teen years was death. While my maternal grandfather died when I was six, I was so young that, while I understood what it meant, it didn't affect me all that much. Also, in high school, several girls at our school died in a bad car wreck one year but, because I didn't know any of them really (they were in a different grade), it didn't get to me, even though I did see what an effect it had on the school at large. And, to this day, I've never

seen a dead body up close, nor have I ever been to a funeral, as I'm just not comfortable at them, even if I'm not close to the deceased. But, just like how Gordie has to deal with the untimely death of his big brother, I would eventually have to deal with the loss of several relatives I always assumed would be there, like my aunt, whom I've mentioned many times before, and a couple of uncles. Just like how seeing Ray Brower's body would bring it all home for Gordie, the same would happen with

me when I saw the small card that indicated where my aunt's funeral would be, along with some old pictures of her that were used in the memorial, and realize she was truly gone. And I have seen the last impact such tragic events can have on people, like my mom, who still gets a bit depressed around Christmastime because she and my aunt would always plan to get something for their mother, my dad, who still misses both of his brothers, and my grandparents, especially my grandfather, who did not take losing two of his sons within just five years of each other at all well. While Melinda Moores' brain tumor in The Green Mile affects me more immediately because it has a closer tie to what happened to my aunt, I can definitely say that Stand By Me does effectively show the impact the death of a loved one can have on someone, regardless of their age.

While it's not right up in your face all the time, I do like that the movie is set in the 50's, with the vehicles, the clothes, the hair-styles (those mostly come from the teenage punks, some of whom are very much greasers), all of the songs from the period on the soundtrack, and references to stuff that was popular then, like Dragnet and the Three Stooges, among others. I also like how sly and subtle some of those references are, like how, when Teddy and Vern talk about whether Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman, Teddy says there's no way

because, "Superman is a real guy." At first, you may think that's just childhood naivety on Teddy's part, until you realize he's talking about the live-action show with George Reeves, which was airing around that time. Yeah, it's a small thing and I may be looking too far into it, but I always appreciate that little attention to detail when it's done. And, again, as Stephen King often does when he sets stories in an earlier time period, you definitely know you're there but it's not focused on so much that it becomes distracting from what really counts.

What I like more than the time period is the actual setting of this little town in Oregon and the landscape around it, with all those mountain ranges, thick, beautiful forests, big, lovely fields, boggy swamps, and the railroad tracks. I like this kind of country to begin with, and as I've said in other reviews, I live near this kind of rural town not unlike Castle Rock here, making this movie already very appealing for me. Plus, I also always like seeing railroad tracks going through this kind of environment, as it gives off kind of an old-timey feel of something that's not as

prevalent as it used to be (although, there are train tracks that run through an area at the bottom of the mountain I live on), and I like places like junkyards and spots where you can find long abandoned cars and other junk near houses, as there are plenty of those places in my area. It doesn't hurt that Rob Reiner filled the movie with numerous beauty shots of the filming locations, like the actual town of Brownsville that stood in for Castle Rock, those aforementioned woods and bridges, chief among

them the McCloud River Railroad in California, and the swamp the boys end up in. Speaking of which, I like that, while the whole movie was shot on location, Reiner and the crew did think enough of the kids' safety to create a man-made swamp for that scene and did it well enough to where you wouldn't know it wasn't a natural part of the woods. Top it all off with the constant bright sunshine, virtually cloudless skies, and hot summer temperatures, and you've got a movie that I just love the look and feel of all-around.

Because it was man-made, the bog was one of the few actual sets in the film, as I think the filmmakers mainly brought everything they needed to the locations and just dressed them up to make them look like the period. They did build the tree-house you see in the opening but the Lachance house was an actual house in Brownsville, just like all the other locations. So, not much to comment on art direction-wise, but the few interiors like the tree-house, the Lachance home, and the adult Gordie's home at the end work perfectly fine for what they need to be, especially Denny's old room in the Lachance house, which does look like it was left as a shrine to him, as it seems totally untouched.

Early on, some of the most memorable and impactful scenes include when Vern is digging around underneath his house, trying to find his jar of pennies (that idea makes me smile, as that sounds exactly like something a kid would do, be it in the 50's or now), when he overhears Billy and Charlie Hogan talking about having seen Ray Brower's body, Gordie remembering Denny and then having a confrontation with his dad outside his brother's old room about his friends, Gordie and

Chris accidentally shooting the trashcan behind a diner and running off in a panic, and the boys' first confrontation with Ace and Eyeball, where Ace threatens to put the lit cigarette in Chris' eye. The first really major scene that's just as thrilling as it is dramatic comes when the boys begin their journey to find the body. After stopping on the railroad tracks to count up how much they have between them in order to pay for supplies at a nearby store, they see a train coming and get off, save for Teddy,

who throws his duffel-bag off to the side and stands there, intending to dodge the train when it gets right up on him. He ignores his friends, particularly Chris, warning him to get off, thinking what he's about to do will be awesome, saying, "Just like the beach at Normandy," and imitates firing a machine-gun. Chris, however, isn't willing to let Teddy get himself killed and jumps up to pull him off the tracks. Teddy struggles back against him but Chris manages to get him off and to the side just in time. While the train whips by them,

Chris and Teddy argue furiously, with Gordie and Vern having to hold them back. Once it's passed, the two of them stop yelling but have a tense standoff where Teddy tells Chris he doesn't need a babysitter, which Chris disagrees with. Chris then holds out his hand and tries to get him to "skin it" but Teddy, at first, refuses and goes for his duffel-bag, saying he could've dodged the train. Chris tells him he can dodge it on the way back and, again, offers his hand. This time, Teddy does comply, albeit reluctantly, and the two of them make up. Right after that is when you get the infamous moment where Ace's gang is playing "mailbox baseball," a type of vandalism that I look at and then say to myself, "Of course, that's what they'd be doing."

The boys reach the junkyard and climb over the gate, regardless of the NO TRESPASSING signs, while the adult Gordie tells us of Milo Pressman and his dreaded junkyard dog, Chopper, whom he'd supposedly trained to zero in on a person's testicles. Once they're on the other side, Gordie and Chris have a small race, which Gordie loses, despite cheating by getting a running head-start, and then, after spending some time hanging out with each other, tossing some rocks and spitting

water into a tin can, they decide it's time to get supplies from the store. They flip to see who gets stuck with the task (they flip nickels), only for all of them to get tails the first time. This terrifies Vern, who says it's a "goocher," aka bad luck, but the other kids, naturally, dismiss his claims. They flip again and Gordie ends up being the odd man out. Following a scene at the store where Gordie has another memory about Denny, he returns to the junkyard to find that the others are no longer at the

spot they were before. Walking ahead and rounding a corner, he sees them climbing over the fence on the other side, and then sees why when Milo Pressman appears and spots him. Gordie bolts for the fence when Pressman starts yelling at him, and as he does, he hears him yell the dreaded words, "Chopper, sic 'em! Sic 'em, boy!", which the adult Gordie tells us he heard as, "Chopper, sic balls." He starts screaming in a panic when he hears the sound of a barking dog quickly approaching from

behind and climbs over the side of the fence at amazing speed, falling to the dirt on the other side. But, when he looks, it's revealed that Chopper is just a little golden retriever, as he tells us in his narration that it served as a huge lesson about the difference between myth and reality. Teddy taunts Chopper by sticking his butt up to the chain-link fence, shaking it, and yelling, with Chopper harmlessly grabbing his shirt tail and pulling on it through the openings. Pressman runs up and yells at Teddy for teasing his dog, and when Teddy dares

him to climb over the fence and get him, Pressman responds by calling him a, "Little tin weasel, peckerwood loony's son." That stops Teddy dead, and Pressman proceeds to tell him he knows who his father is and ruthlessly insults him, ignoring Chris' silent warning for him to stop. When Teddy threatens to kill him if he calls his father a loony again, Pressman, naturally, says, "Loony, loony, loony," enraging Teddy to where he climbs up onto the fence and screams, "I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!" The other drags him off

the fence, but Pressman keeps on pushing, threatening to call their fathers, save for Teddy's since he's in an asylum, leading to another outburst from him. Teddy literally has to be pulled down the road by the others, as they ignore Pressman yelling at them to come back. Once they're out of sight, they try to cheer Teddy up by saying he shouldn't care what Pressman says about his dad, but he makes them drop it, although he does say, "I'm sorry if I'm spoiling everybody's good time." Gordie adds, "I'm not sure it should be a good time... We're going to see a dead kid. Maybe it shouldn't be a party." Vern then has to chime in about how bad the body might look and has to be told twice to put a sock in it. In his narration, Gordie says that they needed to get moving in order to make good time before dark.

The next major scene is when the boys reach the bridge spanning the river. Since they don't know when the next train will be coming, Chris suggests heading downriver to another bridge but Teddy argues it'll take them five miles out of their way, meaning they may not get to where they need to be before dark. Despite there not being anywhere for them to escape to if a train does come, Teddy opts to chance it and starts across. The other boys do the same, with Gordie touching the tracks to make sure

he doesn't feel a train coming. While Teddy and Chris are much farther ahead, Gordie and Vern bring up the rear because the latter opts to slowly crawl along the tracks out of nervousness. He comes to regret this, as the comb he'd brought to make sure he looked good when they became local heroes slips out of his shirt's breast pocket and tumbles down between the tracks. He laments this but Gordie tells him to forget it and they continue on. They're about halfway across when Gordie,

looking back nervously, bends down and feels the tracks. Looking back again, he sees a telltale plume of smoke moving behind the trees rounding the corner and warns the others that a train is coming. Seeing it, Chris and Teddy, who are almost at the end of the bridge, quickly run for the other side, while Gordie has to make Vern stop crawling and get up on his feet. Vern only runs for a few more feet before he stumbles and falls onto the tracks. Scared, he coils up into a fetal position with his bag, yelling that he's afraid of falling, but Gordie,

screaming at him that they're going to die anyway, forces him back onto his feet and makes him run as fast as he can. While Chris and Teddy manage to make it to the other side, the train is, by this point, almost on top of Gordie and Vern. They yell for the stragglers to keep running, but it becomes clear they're not going to be able to outrun the train, which is still gaining fast. Once they reach the edge of the tracks, the two of them jump off to their right. After the train passes, Chris and Teddy rush and find that Gordie and Vern jumped safely to the edge of the hill. As they cough from the dust that was thrown up, Chris comments, "Hey, at least now we know when the next train was due."

Later, once they've made camp and had dinner, Chris prompts Gordie to tell them one of his stories, leading into the Lard-Ass Hogan scene. He says, "Well, this kid, he's our age, but he's fat. Real fat. He weighs close to 180. But, you know, it's not his fault. It's his glands." Vern feels the need to interject with, "Oh yeah. My cousin's like that. Sincerely. She weighs over 300 pounds! Supposed to be a... hyboid gland or something. Well, I don't know about any hyboid glands, but what a blimp!

No shit. She looks like a Thanksgiving turkey." He's about to yammer on but Chris tells him to shut up and let Gordie go on. Gordie explains, "Well, all the kids, instead of calling him Davie, they call him Lard-Ass. Lard-Ass Hogan. Even his little brother and sister call him Lard-Ass. At school, they put this sticker on his back that says, 'Wide-Load,' and they rank him out and beat him up whenever they get a chance. But one day, he gets an idea. The greatest revenge idea a kid ever had."

We then start to actually see the scene play out, as the town mayor, Grundy, introduces contestants for the pie-eating contest, including the school principal and their celebrity guest, disc jockey Bob Cormier. Lard-Ass himself is introduced, only to be tripped by the guy standing next to him. The guy acts like he's concerned for him, but then tells him, "I hear you got a big appetite, Lard-Ass. Don't even think about winning this." Lard-Ass gets back up, as one dick in the audience says, "Boy, are you fat!", and even Mayor Grundy, who was calling

him Davie before, calls him Lard-Ass. He walks over to his seat, with the members of the "Benevolent Order of Antelopes" mocking him by chanting, "Boom-baba, boom-baba," in rhythm with his footsteps. After he's sat down, Grundy introduces the final contestant, who happens to be the man who tripped Lard-Ass and the four-time pie-eating champion, Bill Travis. When he comes onto the stage, Grundy quietly tells Travis, "Listen, I got ten ridin' on you myself, Billy-boy." After he sits down, and a couple of asshole twins yell, "Hey,

Lard-Ass! Chow down, Wide Load!", the contestants start digging into their pies. It takes only a few seconds for Lard-Ass to finish his first pie, and he does the same with his second and third, while Travis is just now finishing his first. When he gets to his fourth pie, Grundy advises him, "You better pace yourself if you wanna hold out, boy," but the crowd starts to chant, "Lard-Ass! Lard-Ass!" Gordie chimes in with his narration: "What the audience didn't know was that Lard-Ass wasn't really interested in winning. What he wanted was revenge, and right before he was introduced, he'd gotten ready for it."

We then see what Gordie means, as a short flashback shows Lard-Ass downing an entire bottle of castor oil, before cracking and swallowing a raw egg. Back to the actual contest, Gordie narrates, "Diving into his fifth pie, Lard-Ass began to imagine that he wasn't eating pies. He pretended he was eating cow-plops and rat guts in blueberry sauce." After finishing his fifth pie, Lard-Ass is about to go into his sixth, when Gordie narrates, "Slowly, a sound started to build in Lard-Ass' stomach: a strange and

scary sound, like a log truck coming at you at a hundred miles-an-hour." With his stomach rumbling, Lard-Ass stands up, staggers around in place, and then turns to face Travers. Gordie narrates, "Suddenly, Lard-Ass opened his mouth, and before Bill Travis knew it," as a geyser of purplish vomit comes spewing out of Lard-Ass's mouth and hits him right in the face. Gordie describes, "...he was covered with five pies worth of used blueberries. The women in the audience

screamed. Bossman Bob Cormier took one look at Bill Travis and barfed on Principal Wiggins. Principal Wiggins barfed on the lumberjack that was sitting next to him. Mayor Grundy barfed on his wife's tits. But when the smell hit the crowd, that's when Lard-Ass' plan really started to work. Girlfriends barfed on boyfriends. Kids barfed on their parents. A fat lady barfed in her purse. The Donnelley twins barfed on each other. And the Women's Auxiliary barfed all over the Benevolent Order of Antelopes. And Lardass just sat back and

enjoyed what he'd created: a complete and total barf-o-rama!" Indeed, we see this disgusting but amazing spectacle play out, while Lard-Ass watches it all with a very satisfied expression on his face. Back to reality, the boys cheer on the story, when Teddy asks what happened afterward. Gordie tells him that's the ending but Teddy thinks it would be better if it ended with Lard-Ass killing his father and joining the Texas Rangers. Vern, on the other hand, likes the ending, but is confused about whether or not Lard-Ass had to pay to enter the contest, much to the others' annoyance. They then pull out the portable radio and talk into the night about various things that, according to the adult Gordie, seemed important... before they discovered girls.

Late in the night, after they've fallen asleep, they're awakened by the sound of coyotes howling, although none of them know what it is. Teddy thinks it's Ray Brower's ghost wandering the woods, a thought that gets Vern frantically promising not to read any more porn or say any more profanity. Teddy takes the opportunity to tap him on the shoulder and when he freaks out, he says, "Two for flinching," and gives him two punches. Chris, rightly, figures it's coyotes, though Gordie says it sounds like a woman screaming.

Teddy, again, insists it's a ghost and walks to the edge of the campfire, saying he wants to see it, but a bunch of sudden, loud howls, followed by the unmistakable sound of a wolf, send him running back. With everyone freaking out, Vern decides that they might want to think about standing guard. Teddy offers to take the first watch and Chris gives him one of the guns he brought with him. Unfortunately, while on guard, he won't be quiet, as he intones, "2300 hours. Corporal Teddy Duchamp stands guard. No sign of the enemy. The

fort is secure." Chris tells him to shut up and keep his eyes open. Teddy does manage to be quiet for about three seconds, only to then pretend to play Taps on his horn, annoying the others even more. Even after they tell him to stop again, he still won't be quiet, as he says, "The dog-faces rested easy, in the knowledge that Corporal Teddy Duchamp was protecting all that was scared," with Chris groaning, "Teddy." After that, Vern is shown to be on guard, whirling around and training his gun at

every single sound he hears, be it crickets chirping or frogs croaking. Things don't change when he walks to the other side of the tree and points the gun when he hears an owl hoot. Chris stands guard after that, coming down to the campsite to stoke the fire, when he sees and hears Gordie whimpering in his sleep. It's revealed he's having a dream about his father saying he should've died rather than Denny, and when he wakes up, he joins Chris in keeping watch, leading into the moment where Chris talks about being betrayed when he attempted to return the milk money he stole.

The next morning, after everyone wakes up, they head on down the tracks, as Gordie narrates that the idea of seeing Ray Brower's body was becoming an obsession. They come upon the Royal River and find they have a decision to make, as the train tracks go out of the way of the path they need to take. Chris suggests cutting across a field and entering the woods on the other side to get to the spot in an hour, but Vern would rather they stick to the tracks. Gordie and Teddy agree with Chris and they head across the field, with Vern bringing up

the rear, futilely telling them the tracks are much safer and tripping when he tries to catch up. After a brief cutaway to show that Ace has learned about the body and forces Billy and Charlie to come with them to find it, the boys are shown making their way through a very muddy spot in the woods. Vern complains about it and Teddy mocks his whining, when Vern swings at him, causing him to flinch. Vern is ecstatic that he got him to flinch, when Teddy punches him in the arm like usual. Vern is shocked, saying, "But, you flinched," and Teddy

says, "I know. Two for flinching." They reach the edge of a swamp that seems impassable, but when Chris grabs a stick and pokes into the water, he finds it's quite shallow. Thinking they can just wade through, they walk into it, only to fall up to their necks when the bottom suddenly drops off. Vern grumbles, "I told you we should of stuck to the tracks," to which Teddy responds, "Is it me, or are you the world's biggest pussy?" He proceeds to dunk Vern's head under the water, and when Chris

tells him to knock it off, he then joins in the horseplay as well. Gordie tries to swim over to the other side of the swamp, but the boys aren't about to let him off the hook and chase him down. They dog-pile on him when he reaches the shore, ignoring his saying he's not in the mood for this, when he tells Vern there's something on his neck. Vern thinks it's a trick, but Chris and Teddy tell him it's not a joke, as there's a big, fat leech attached to his neck. All four of them scramble out

of the water, strip down to their underwear, and help each other clean the leeches off (just knowing about all the pedophilia in Hollywood makes this scene uncomfortable for me, even if none of that stuff happened here). It seems like they got them all off, when Gordie pulls back the band on his underwear and finds one in a very bad spot. Slowing pulling the leech off and then looking at the blood on his fingers, Gordie's eyes roll up in the back of his head and keels over.

The others rush to his side and try to rouse him, with Vern dumbly saying he's dead, while Teddy points out how he's still breathing. Chris, telling them to be quiet, shakes Gordie and he starts to come to. When Gordie says he's okay, they help him up and, after a dissolve, the boys are putting their clothes back on, while Gordie sits up against a tree. However, Chris' suggestion that they turn back because of Gordie prompts an outburst from Teddy, who calls him a pussy, leading to an argument. Vern tries to stop it and says he agrees

with Chris, only for Teddy to add, "What a surprise! The king of the pussies wants to go back too!" Not surprisingly, they then get into a fight, with Vern pinning Teddy to the ground and repeatedly punching him, as Chris tries to break it up. Overhearing this, Gordie growls, "Stop it. Stop it," to himself and then suddenly lets out an angry yell of, "Stop it!", at them. When they hear that, they do promptly stop their fight. Looking at them with sullen eyes, he tells them, "I'm not going back," and continues on, with the others following behind. He narrates, "At the time, I didn't know why I needed to see that dead body so badly. Even if no one had followed me, I would've gone on alone."

Fittingly, the one time in the movie where the sky appears to be overcast, with wind blowing rather than total stillness, is when the kids finally reach the Back Harlow Road. They start searching for Ray Brower and it doesn't take long before Vern spots him on the left side of the tracks, half-covered by the bushes the train knocked him behind. They scramble down, as Gordie narrates, "The train had knocked Ray Brower out of his Keds the same way it had knocked the life out of his body." Chris uses a stick remove a piece of the

shrubbery from Ray's face and they get a look at his open, lifeless eyes as they stare off into nothingness. All of them are affected by the sight but it especially gets to Gordie, and as the others start to look for branches in order to build a stretcher for Ray, Gordie sits down. This leads into Chris staying behind to comfort him while Teddy and Vern look for the branches. And then, after Chris assures the distraught Gordie that his father doesn't hate him but just doesn't understand him, Ace and Eyeball show up. As they walk down

towards them, Vern and Teddy return to back their friends up, with Chris telling them to back off. Obviously, they're not keen on doing so, and when Teddy calls Eyeball's bluff by saying they outnumber them four to two, the rest of the gang shows up, including Billy and Charlie, both of whom threaten Vern for spying on them. Vern takes off running into the woods, while Ace snaps his fingers, motioning for Billy, who removed his belt in order to beat Vern, to stay where he is. He then

tells the boys, "Now, you guys have two choices. You either leave quietly and we take the body, or you stay, we beat the shit out of you, and we take the body." Charlie chimes in that him and Billy found the body first but Teddy mocks him, "Yeah, Vern told us how you found him. Oh, Billy, I wish we'd never boosted that car! Oh, Billy, I think I just turned my Fruit-of-the-Looms into a fudge factory!" Charlie is about to beat the hell out of him for that but Ace stops him and tells Chris this is his last chance. When Chris stands firm and insults him, Ace pulls out the switchblade and stalks towards him with it. Teddy runs off but Chris doesn't move, telling Ace he'll have to kill him. Ace is about to oblige, when a loud gun shot stops everyone dead.

It's revealed that Gordie, who'd been standing offscreen this whole time, fired the gun into the air. He joins Chris and tells the bullies that they're not taking the body. Ace tries to take the gun from him, saying he doesn't have the guts to shoot anyone, but Gordie points it at him and pulls the hammer down to show he's serious. When he tells Ace he just plans on killing him, he gives up, but threatens, "We're gonna get you for this." He orders his gang to leave but, before joining them, tells the boys, "We're not gonna forget this, if that's what you're

thinkin'. This is big time, baby." Once they're gone, Chris, in order to relieve the tension, comments on when Gordie told Ace to, "Suck my fat one," asking, "Whoever told you you had a fat one, Lachance?" Gordie just smiles and says, "Biggest one in four counties." They then turn their attention back to the body, as Vern and Teddy rejoin them. Gordie declares they're not going to take Ray back. Teddy is confused, saying, "But we came all this way. We were supposed to be heroes," to which Gordie says, "Not this way, Teddy." He and Chris

cover the body with a blanket, as Gordie narrates that the body was found thanks to an anonymous phone call to the cops. He goes on to say, "We headed home, and although many thoughts raced through our minds, we barely spoke. We walked through the night and made it back to Castle Rock a little past 5:00 on Sunday morning, the day before Labor Day. We'd only been gone two days, but somehow, the town seemed different. Smaller." Once they walk back into town, Gordie and Chris

part ways with Teddy and Vern, with Vern saying, "Well, see ya in school." It turns out to be a symbolic moment, as Gordie tells us, "As time went on, we saw less and less of Teddy and Vern, until, eventually, they became just two more faces in the halls. It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant." Gordie and Chris walk on together, until they're looking over the town from the hill where their clubhouse is. Chris asks, "I'm never gonna get out of this town, am I, Gordie?" Gordie answers, "You can do anything you want, man." Though Chris doesn't really believe that, they have a nice parting.

As we watch Chris walk away, Gordie tells us, "Chris did get out. He enrolled in the college courses with me and, although it was hard, he gutted it out like he always did. He went on to college and, eventually, became a lawyer." But then, he adds, "Last week, he entered a fast food restaurant. Just ahead of him, two men got into an argument. One of them pulled a knife. Chris, who had always made the best peace, tried to break it up. He was stabbed in the throat. He died almost instantly," as we see Chris turn and wave at Gordie before disappearing as we're told of his recent death. (Again, River Phoenix's real life death makes that all the more poignant.) And finally, we have that great ending where we see Gordie finish his story on his computer, before heading out to go somewhere with his own son and his friend. 

Music-wise, what most people remember about Stand By Me are the 50's and 60's songs on the soundtrack, like Rockin' Robin, Lollipop, Everyday, and Yakety Yak, to name a few. As far as the actual score, composed by Jack Nitzsche, is concerned, it's used very sparingly, popping up in only a handful of moments, and is very subtle as well. The main theme is sort of a soft, instrumental version of the title song, often used at very poignant moments. You first hear it at the very beginning of the movie, when the adult Gordie is seen sitting in his car, looking at a newspaper headline about Chris' murder, and you hear a slower and even sadder version of it when young Gordie walks into Denny's room to get the canteen. That transitions into a distant piano piece when you see the flashback back to some of the good times he had with Denny, and the main theme comes back again when Gordie, after having that not so good moment with his father, walks downtown to meet up with Chris. After another brief bit of poignancy at the beginning of the second flashback with Denny, the next bit of actual score, not counting the music played by the band during the pie-eating contest in the Lard-Ass Hogan segment, doesn't come until they finally find Ray Brower's corpse. That scene is scored by a single, mournful horn piece that highlights both the tragedy of the kid dying such a horrible death and the feeling of loneliness that he was killed miles from home and his body has been lying out here all this time. It also brings home the notion that this is no longer just a thing the boys were going to use to become local heroes but the earthly remains of a kid just like them. The moment when Ace pulls out his switchblade and approaches Chris with it is scored by a single, climbing string that abruptly ends when Gordie fires the gun. Finally, the montage of the boys walking back home is scored to another horn theme, this one more reflective the effect the journey has had on them and how they've changed in the short time they've been gone, and followed by a poignant horn and piano piece as Gordie tells us how he and Chris gradually drifted away from Teddy and Vern after that experience.

Since they'd decided to name the movie after the song by Ben E. King, it was only logical that they actually featured it in the movie. They were originally going to have Michael Jackson record a contemporary cover of it but they decided the original song was good enough and I wouldn't have it any other way, as it not only fits with the movie's period aesthetic but its feeling of heart, soul, honesty, and, above all else, friendship, is simply indelible. I'd actually never heard it before I saw the movie but, when those ending credits rolled, I got the biggest smile on my face, as it was the perfect way to sum up what the movie was about and reflect on the story you'd seen unfold before you. And, again, it's even more touching because of what happened to River Phoenix.

Make no mistake, Stand By Me is a perfect movie in my humble opinion. Everything about it works beautifully: the cast, especially the four young leads, the direction, the storytelling, the story itself, the setting and locations, the music and soundtrack, and most of all, the heart. Plus, no matter what age you are when you first see it, I think you'll be able to identify with the themes of childhood friendship, transitioning into adulthood, and the adversity that comes with it, like bullying, adult betrayal, not being accepted by one's parents, and coming to terms with the death of a loved one. There's nothing more I can say other than, if you've never seen Stand By Me, you're doing yourself a major disservice and need to rectify it.