STAND BY ME (1986): A Nostalgic Story Of Friendship

Stand By Me is one of my favorite movies, I could watch it a hundred times without getting bored. I have watched it in different phases of my life, through various perspectives. Every time I watch it, I learn a new detail that I had not noticed the before. After the end of the movie, I always feel a sad sense of nostalgia.

When I think about Stand by Me, I think about a story of friendship, a reflection of who our friends are and how they affect our lives. I truly believe in the saying “who finds a friend, finds a treasure” and I think this movie draws a perfect picture of the carefree friendship that you can have when you are a teenager. Curiously, it’s based on a Stephen King novel, who is famous for his scary bestsellers such as The Shining. This movie, directed by Rob Reiner in 1986, is anything but frightening.

The film starts with a narrator telling a story, recalling a past event. It’s about that phase of life in which one feels at the end of his childhood, ready to become a young adult. It is the last adventure lived without stopping to think about the risks and the dangers, with only the burning desire to live it. The film takes place in Castle Rock, a small town in Oregon, and it is the warm summer of 1959. Four boys, close to the beginning of high school, decide to follow the train tracks, looking for the dead body of a brother.

The Boys

The protagonist is Gordie Lachance, (played by Will Wheaton, while the adult Gordie is played by Richard Dreyfuss), who is also the narrator of the story. He is a shy boy who has a bad relationship with his parents. They have just been shocked by the death of their eldest son, the family favorite, and Gordie too always admired him. Gordie is a smart and talented writer, but his only reader and fan is his best friend Chris Chambers (played by a very young River Phoenix).

In an interview, director Rob Reiner explained that he wanted to focus more on Gordie, to change the “observer” role he has in King’s book, and Reiner chose to make him the main character. Gordie is the shy guy surmounted by doubts. He doesn’t see himself as a winner like his brother, and he is sad for the lack of parental affection. Through the help of his friend, he becomes more confident and will eventually become a successful writer.

Chris is the leader of their group, he is a brilliant and sensible guy, but his surname carries a bad reputation he has to overcome; his father and brother are known for their poor and criminal behavior. Chris and Gordie are the most significant characters in the film, their behavior and personalities are focused on most throughout the story. The two remaining members of the group are Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio. Vern is a chubby and funny guy, (played by Jerry O’Connel); he is not very smart, and is the goofy one of the four. Teddy (played by Corey Feldman), is an eccentric guy that has a crazy and violent father, whom he still considers his biggest hero anyway.

Life is a challenge when you’re growing up

It isn’t difficult to catch the metaphor of the movie and understand that the path that the four protagonists have to cross, with all its obstacles. For example, the small lake full of leeches or the risk of getting crushed under a train, avoided only barely, represents the hitches of growing up and of reaching that adult awareness. Even though Stand By Me takes place in the 1950s, and the differences between teenagers growing up then and now are clear, teenagers then and now still experience that confusion during puberty and the importance of the friends in our lives that Stand By Me presents, is something timeless.

The great performances are one of the main elements of Stand By Me that made me fall in love with it. The dramatic moments are performed with the right passion, which make these scenes very vivid. For instance, the scene when Chris bursts into tears after he confessed to Gordie about a past incident where he was unfairly coined a thief, or when Gordie takes the gun and pulls it on the band of bad guys that want to steal the dead body and claim all the glory for finding it.

As I said before, this is a very different film from all the others inspired by Stephen King novels. The dark comedy, the mystery, the gore and the gloomy atmosphere, are replaced with the nostalgic memories of King’s childhood, told through the expert direction of Reiner and played by a group of very young but talented kids.

A romantic popular soundtrack

The movie was shot between June and August of 1985, and in 1987, it won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Technically, the film is great as well: great attention was given to every single detail and nothing was left to chance. Every shot is carefully chosen always to show a landscape, the expression of a face or a train looming at their heels, in the best way possible.

This is completed with the excellent set design by Reynolds Gideon and the cinematography by Thomas Del Ruth. One of the most striking scenes, the meeting of Gordie with the deer, has such a perfect frame to make that moment special remove for the spectator. For the soundtrack, the director wanted to use all his favorite songs from 1959, the year in which the film is set.

Stand By Me is also the title of the famous song that inspired the title of the movie. Indeed, the Stephen King novel is titled The Body and this title wouldn’t work for movie; it would make the impression to be just another Stephen King horror story, which it clearly isn’t. “Stand By Me”, the song by Ben E. King, reached the top five of the US ranking in 1961. It’s a much beloved song, with its sad but romantic notes, perfect for the atmosphere of the movie.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I suggest you watch the movie if you haven’t yet, or to watch it again, so you will be able to catch all the great small details of the story and the setting and to dive again into this great teenage adventure.

You will be brought back to the age when all is possible; you will feel part of the group of these four boys and their great journey. You will grow up with them, reaching the end of the movie with this sense of sadness, nostalgia, and invincibility.

Do you believe in long-lasting friendship?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnY_j85MidU