Stand by Me

Stand by Me (1986)
Columbia Pictures
Directed by Rob Reiner
Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland

Stand by Me is a coming of age film based on The Body by Stephen King. The story is about four best friends who decide to go find the body of a teenager who was killed earlier that summer. The four friends (Wheaton, Phoenix, Feldman, and O’Connell) learn the true meaning of friendship while dealing with the issues of adulthood. This adventure film has a much more adult theme than 1985’s The Goonies, in which a group of children go on a quest for treasure in their town. While The Goonies is fun and full of humor and adventure, Stand by Me is a straight-up drama with some well placed humor and a few thrills. Stand by Me is a very emotional tale that tears on one’s hearts and fills them with childhood memories that have been forgotten now during adulthood.

The child actors in this film are incredible for this subject matter. All show maturity and have a real talent. The biggest child star here is River Phoenix, who is amazing as Chris Chambers, the leader of the crew. Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman, also from The Goonies, bring comedic relief to the film, while Wil Wheaton is the temperate one in the group. The story revolves around his character of Gordie Lachance. The film is narrated by Richard Dreyfuss playing an adult Gordie, sharing insight to the situations and emotions of the characters. Keifer Sutherland plays the thug in town, John “Ace” Merrill, who takes it upon himself to harass the crew and then go find the body with his other thugs. Everyone in this film is well cast, and that makes this film very believable and likeable.

As opposed to the beloved The Goonies, this film deals with much more serious issues, which makes the film that much more dramatic. Issues including death, murder, assault, child abuse, fear, and abandonment are all showcased in this beautiful film. It is hard to imagine that these children must deal with these topics at such a young age, but it shows that we ourselves have gone through these. Stand by Me wants us to revert back into a childhood stage when these didn’t matter to us, and that friendship could solve anything. This film makes this objective easy with the well written story, superb directing by Rob Reiner, likeable and believable characters, and heartwarming tone.

Stand by Me is a wonderfully crafted film that makes us look back on our childhoods when times were simpler, but adulthood was inevitable and adult issues were just around the corner. Stand by Me can easily be associated with because of the strong characters that many people were as children: the rebel, the levelheaded, the geek, and the screwball. It is important to keep our friendships and remember our childhoods. Because of our friends, we are who we are as adults.

Rating: A-


June 14, 2010