Stand By Me Review

 

        Little do people know that Stephen King has written few works of drama. We mostly know him for the stories that has become part of the horror pop culture. I think with Stand by Me, it broke that notion that he’s just a horror writer. I can’t blame him for that, it makes sense to broaden out and reach other audiences with a different story. With that, Stand by Me is one of my favorite adaptations of Stephen King’s works that made it to the screen. 

1. Four Friends in Search of a Body

        With most movies, my first exposure to this one was through Family Guy. It spoiled the whole story through the characters of the show and utilized the usual jokes that the show is known for. With that, the story is simple. So simple in fact it’s in the name of the first tab. The film is mostly told through flash back by Gordie. As an adult he's writing a book about his adventure with his friends. 

        Obviously, the best moments are just seeing the kids. Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy equally steal the show with their distinct personalities. It’s a common notion that having child actors in a movie can be a cringe inducing thing, since we expect their acting to be, well, crap. Here, it breaks that notion since we see them hang out, talk, and instigate. It even does the thing that makes it more engaging by putting their life at risk in the famous train sequence. 

        The best thing about them is that they all have depth. It would be easy by having them be just archetypes or tokens. Like with Vern, it would’ve been so easy to have him be the fat kid and always wanting food. In the movie, he’s the nervous type and is always getting the receiving end of Teddy’s abuse. All the kids have that chemistry where it doesn’t feel forced in the least bit. 

        Like, with this kind of movie we expect something more for the boys to experience. It’s that kind of story where it’s also referred to as a “Coming of Age” story. What that means is that it’s a movie where we see the characters growth from a kid to an adult. Wiser or changed psychologically with what he or she has gone through within the movie. 

2. Loss of Innocence

        Thematically speaking, this is the movie where other films that have young kids or teens look up to. I’m talking about the theme of the film. We see throughout the journey to the dead body that all four of them progressively lose that aspect of being a kid. Granted, we see visual representations of what they have and losing it, but it still serves a point thematically speaking. 

        I can just go on further by how good the child actors perform. With all of them, they have moments where they either break down or realize that what they known is a lie. I think the best moment of this is when the kids are in a junkyard. After barely escaping, the owner tells Teddy that his dad is nuts. He gets offended and cries, asserting that his father fought in Normandy. It’s one of those things where it’s tragic since we expect them to be kids. 

        And that they’re growing up and dealing with the issues that they know. I guess I can talk about the bullies. You know it’s a Stephen King story when it involves bullies who are much older than the main protagonists. What I can take away from seeing them is that there the twisted version of the main characters. Especially Ace, that guy is psychotic. More so that the bullies and the boys want to find the bodies for fame. While coming at a crossroads when they both square off. 

3. Legacy

        The film was a hit and it further cemented Rob Reiner’s directorial career. It wouldn’t be his only King story that he would adapt. Someday I’ll talk about Misery, since I believe it to be his best film in his career. Second only to his classic When Harry Met Sally. I think that with the success of this movie, more of King’s dramatic works made it to the screen, such as: Dolores Claiborne, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile.

        And then you had the imitators, such as The Sandlot and the girl version Now and Then. I haven’t seen the latter, but I remember the moments from The Sandlot where it felt like a baseball centric version of this movie. You had the narrator and everybody spending time together. Not to talk more about it, but I felt that it didn’t need a narrator to tell us what was happening.

4. Overall

        I can’t state how much I adore Stand by Me. It’s not dated even though it takes place in the 50s. The timelessness of it can still be felt a generation later.