80s Movie Review - Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner
Genre: Drama/ Adventure
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 1986
Starring: Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Richard Dreyfuss

Description: After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Review: The name Stephen King is easily linked to horror stories like “The Shining”, “It” and “Carrie”, but he also wrote some stories that fall in a different genre than horror. The movie  “Stand By Me” is one of them, which is based on the short story “The Body”. In this realistic drama we follow four teenagers in a coming of age story.
Those four boys are Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern. They grow up in a little town in Oregon. In the summer of 1958 a boy from their town goes missing. One of the boys overhears a conversation about the whereabouts of the dead body of the boy. The four kids decided to start a journey to find him. Their journey is more than just that, it’s testing their friendship and it’s the next step to adulthood.
Director Rob Reiner creates the perfect atmosphere and shows us the life of small-town American kids in the 50s. This movie makes you long for your own childhood, where a journey outside your town sounded like an adventure already.
River Phoenix, who unfortunately died too young, is the most impressive actor in the film. He manages to convince us as the tormented problem child. But also Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell manage to impress. It’s touching to see how all these very different characters grow on you.
Simple dialogue, a beautiful story and good acting make “Stand By Me” a fantastic film. It’s on my favorites list.

Rating: 5/ 5

Top 5 Thursday: Movie Performances by Children

Sometimes it’s the kid that steals the show in a movie, so here is a list of the best movie performances by children.

5. River Phoenix (“Stand By Me”)

His performance as Chris Chambers in “Stand By Me” left an indelible impression on his generation. So sad he died at the age of 23, because Phoenix had a bright future as an actor.

 

 

4. Christian Bale (“Empire of the Sun”)

You could already see that he was an intense and dedicated actor, he holds up amongst all the adults, for instance John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson.

 

 

3. Natalie Portman (“Léon”)

Just 13-years old, Natalie Portman did a fantastic job as Matilda, a girl who lost her entire family and seeks help from hitman Léon.

 

 

2. Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”)

It’s impossible not to love Olive Hoover, and it’s all thanks to the endearing performance by Abigail Breslin. She wasn’t ignored, because she got nominated for an Academy Award.

 

 

1. Haley Joel Osment (“The Sixth Sense”)

In my opinion the best performance. Haley Joel Osment captured us all in this amazing thriller and made us feel for him. He will always be remember as troubled Cole Sear, but there are worse things right?

 

 

They Almost Made the Top 5: Henry Thomas (“E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial”), Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”), Macauley Culkin (“Home Alone”), Kirsten Dunst (“Interview with the Vampire”), Jodie Foster (“Taxi Driver”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”), Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass”), Linda Blair (“The Exorcist”), Mara Wilson (“Matilda”), Ivana Baquero “(Pan’s Labyrinth”), Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”), Tom Holland (“The Impossible”)

Quotables: "Stand By Me"

One of my favorites. A good coming of age story, that I can actually watch over and over again. It’s just a great story, filled with quotable lines.







Chris: How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your backyard?
Teddy: Hey, I'm French, okay?
Chris: Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
[Chris and Gordie laugh]
Teddy: Didn't I just say I was French?

Gordie: Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood.

Vern: [after dropping his hamburger in the campfire by accident] This isn't funny! What am I supposed to eat?
Teddy: You could cook your dick.
Chris: It'd be a small meal.

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.

The Writer: It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

Vern: You think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
Teddy: What are you cracked?
Vern: Why not? I saw the other day, he was carrying 5 elephants in one hand.
Teddy: Boy, you don't know nothin', Mighty Mouse is a cartoon, Superman is a real guy, no way a cartoon could beat up a real guy.
Vern: Yeah, maybe you're right... would be a good fight though!

The Writer: At the beginning of the school year, Vern had buried a quart jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mom cleaned out his room and threw away the map. Vern had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. You didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The Writer: The freight woke up the other guys and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell them about the deer. But I didn't. That was the one thing I kept to myself. I've never spoken or written about it until just now.

Movie Moments: "Stand By Me"

"Stand By Me" is one of my favorite movies of all-time. People who follow my blog know this. Although the movie is only around 90 minutes long, it has plenty of great scenes. Here they are.

Moment # 1: Verne tells his friends about Ray
Chris, Gordie and Teddy are talking and playing cards in their treehouse. Verne wants to enter, but doesn’t remember the secret knock anymore. They let him in anyway. While still teasing Verne, he tells his friends about the dead body of Ray Brower. They decide to go on a fieldtrip and find the body.

Moment # 2: Danny gives Gordie the hat
When Gordie is at home, getting all his stuff together for the trip, he has to find his cantine. He goes into his brother Danny’s room, who recently past away. He starts to think about the moment when Danny gave him the New York Yankees cap.

Moment # 3: It’s loaded
When Gordie and Chris meet up for their trip, Chris shows him what he brought: a gun. Gordie starts playing with it and Chris tells him it isn’t loaded. When he points at a mark and wants to fire, they find out it is loaded and they run away.

Moment # 4: Dodging the train
When the boys are walking, they hear a train coming. Verne, Chris and Gordie get off the train rails, but Teddy doesn’t. He decides to dodge the train. He wants to wait untill the last moment to get off the rails.

Moment # 5: Gordie and Chris race each other
The boys climb over a fence and they want to take a break. Gordie and Chris decide to race each other. When they stop and Chris wins, they look at each other and smile, the look of true friendship.

Moment # 6: “Shut Up!”
The boys are hungry and one of them needs to gets something to eat. They flip coins and Gordie is the lucky one. Verne, Teddy and Chris start making fun of him and Gordie tells them to shut up. The other three respond: I don't shut up. I grow up. And when I look at you, I throw up. Aghhh!

Moment # 7: Chopper
When Gordie returns with the food and drinks, he sees his friends climbing over the fence. Than he sees the owner of the property and he releases his dog Chopper. All he hears is “Chopper, sic balls”. When he’s on the other side of the fence, the boys see Chopper’s true identity and he doesn’t look like an evil dog at all.

Moment # 8: “TRAIN!”
In order to get to the other side, the boys decide to take the bridge which has a railroad. While walking, Gordie looks behind and sees smoke. A train is coming and they have to start running to make it to the other side. Chris and Teddy are already there, but Verne and Gordie still have a long way to go. Verne is affraid that he is going to fall, but Gordie makes sure he starts running too.

Moment # 9: Campfire talk
The four friends make a campfire and start all sorts of discussions. Like what animal Goofy is, which food they could eat for the rest of their lives and Wagon Train. Especially the Goofy discussion is a hot topic.

Moment # 10: Gordie’s story
Still around the campfire, Gordie tells his friends a story he wrote. It’s about a fat boy, nicknamed Lard Ass, who enters a pie eating competition and takes revenge on all the people who always make fun of him.

Moment # 11: Gordie and Chris share a moment
While Verne and Teddy are sleeping, Chris and Gordie sit down and talk. Chris talks about his father and gets really emotional. Gordie comforts him. Than Chris tell Gordie that he will be a great writer someday and he might wright about them.

Moment # 12: Leeches
The boys have to cross a swamp to get on the other side. They start fooling around, but when they get out teddy sees something in Verne’s neck. They’re all covered in leeches. When they think they got rid of them all, Gordie checks his undies and than faints.

Moment # 13: They find the body
After a long trip, the guys finally find what they where looking for: the body of Ray Brower. They look at it and decide what to do next. Ace and his friends join them, because they knew about Gordie, Verne, Teddy and Chris trying to find Ray. He starts threatening the boys, but than Gordie pulls out the gun. Ace and his buddies leave.

Moment # 14: Goodbye
The boys return from their trip and say goodbye. They leave and they all go to their own lives again. The voice-over, who’s a grown up Gordie, tells us what happened to his friends. Like Chris, who became a lawyer and was stabbed and died instantly. His closing lines are: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? “

Favorite Moment: Moment # 11: Gordie and Chris share a moment

In the Picture: The Characters from "Stand By Me"

A new item! I wanted to do some sort of an analysis of characters in a movie. Going deeper, trying to find out who they are and what they are like. I'll pick one movie and I sort of put a magnifier over the leading characters. I will start with one of my favorite movies of all-time: "Stand By Me".

Gordie Lachance
Played by: Will Wheaton
Gordie is the sensitive boy in the group, but also the one with the best looking future due to his writing talent. His parents, especially Gordie's father, doesn't really care much for him or his storytelling. Gordie is a loyal friend, he's best friends with Chris. He's is the most mature one of the foursome.

Chris Chambers
Played by: River Phoenix
He takes over the leader role. He is a tough kid, mainly because of his background and family history. He comes from a family of criminals and drunks. He wants to do better for himself and actually has ambitions. He doesn't trust adults, because of his father and older brother who beat him up. Chris is, despite of his tough act, a good kid with the best intentions.

Teddy Duchamp
Played by: Corey Feldman
Teddy is a troubled boy. He is a bit eccentric and likes thrills, like dodging a train. Although his father never treated him well, he still idolizes him and sees him as his hero, because he stormed the beach at Normandy. His dad caused him bad vision and hearing. Teddy is a bit crazy but also has a good heart.

Vern Tessio
Played by: Jerry O'Connell
Vern is often picked on. His friends even mess with him, because he is so easy to get to, and he's used to it. He's overweight, scared easily and timid, thus an easy target for his buddies. He's also the youngest in the group. Vern is not a very brave boy, but he's a kind, big hearted and loveable friend.

Ace Merril
Played by: Kiefer Sutherland
Ace is the leader of a local gang called 'The Cobras', someone you don't want to mess with. Everyone is affraid of him and he isn't affraid to use violence.

Denny Lachance
Played by: John Cusack
Not one of the leading characters, but worth putting up here. Denny is Gordie's older brother who died in a car accident. He was the favorite of the family and the only one who actually cared for Gordie and he saw what talent his little brother had. Their father thought Gordie should've died and not Denny.

My favorite character: Vern Tessio

Movie Tip #12 - Stand By Me

Director: Rob Reiner

Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Richard Dreyfuss

Description: 4 young friends set out on an adventure. Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern go looking for the missing body of a local teenager - found by a gang of older boys. A story of boys hangin' out and growin' up.

Review: This movie shows us about real friendship. It's based on a short story by Stephen King. Young as they are, they explore life and they test their friendship. Four different kids, an odd group, but you come to like every single one of them. It's heartwarming, sad, touching and funny. One thing made me think. At the end of the movie, the grown up Gordie tells us: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" And really... I think he's right.