Review of Stand by Me (1986) by Lemon R — 28 Jan 2011

Stand by Me is a 1986 American adventure movie based on a short novel written by Stephen King called The Body. It's directed by Rob Reiner. It shows the innocence of youth, and then how a young boy grows up mentally and emotionally from what seemed like a daring trip but turned out to be the adventure of his life time. To me, this movie is one of the best youth adventure movies I have seen.

The film starts off with an adult Gordie LaChance (Richard Dreyfuss), sitting in a car reading the newspaper. The newspaper article is about a man who tries to break a fight in a restaurant but ends up getting stabbed. This gets his memories going of a journey he went on as a boy with his 3 best friends. From there he narrates the story of why they went on the trip and what events took place during it. After Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connel) learns about a dead body - believed to be hit by a coming train - through his elder brother and teenage friends, he rushes to his friends to tell them this thrilling story. The boys being young, daring and lively (maybe with the exception of Vern), decide they should go on a 2 day trip to find this body and hope to make it on T.V and seen as heroic boys. Throughout this trip, we watch the boys get through obstacles and learn about themselves, which I find is a rather unique and different way. Even though the trip was 2 days, these boys grew up emotionally and really matured. The ending (of the story), to me, was rather unexpected though, with Gordie scaring off the gang of older boys - who also wished to be seen on T.V as heroic men - with a gun Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) had brought a long. The actual end of the movie was also rather shocking. We find out the article was about Chris, and neither Vern nor Teddy end up with great lives either.

I think this is a well thought out plot, with hardly any boring bits. I was kept interested right through the movie. I found the scenes entertaining, some were sad (when Gordie gets flashbacks of his dead brother) and others, humorous. The scenes and actions of the characters were well thought out because it just displayed the boy's personality wise; hence we learned about them. I really think the plot is flawless, it is just set out perfectly and for me, I believe it's a job well done.

The main characters in this film, in my opinion, are emotionally deeper than they appear. Which I don't think Wheaton, Phoenix, Feldman and O'Connel grasp very well but that's about all the criticism I can give them. The main character, Gordie LaChance (Wil Wheaton), is a quiet, sensitive boy with a lot of talent in writing. I think Wheaton plays the character of Gordie well. Physically, Wheaton is perfect however; there are some parts where he does look a tad lost.

Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), is one of those rebellious, smart boys with a sensitive side that girls love (or maybe that's just me), so I find Phoenix is ideal for the role as he can act that out well; although, there is some scenes I felt he could've acted out better. Corey Feldman plays Teddy Duchamp who is supposedly crazy. When it came to acting out Teddy, to me Feldman doesn't really fit the character when it comes to his physical state, nor did he make a very convincing lunatic. Though I think his tantrums were well acted. Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connel) is a cowardly boy, and is the one the gang picks on. O'Connel fitted this role flawlessly as he was a chubby kid back then. His acting, I'm pleased to say, was as good as it is now.

I think Stand by Me is a well developed movie. All the scenes fit in well together, all flowed in together. The characters are emotionally deep despite their age. To me, it was a heartwarming movie. I felt like I was on the journey with them. It's really an enjoyable movie to watch with all kinds of emotions in it. I was very surprised in the ending but very well done.

All in all, Stand by Me is an emotive movie with random barriers stopping the boys from reaching their destination. The plot, I reckon is flawless. The acting did have some dodgy bits but they were hardly noticeable. So overall, it was a really excellent movie.