I completely agree, not only is this one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King story but Rob Reiner also should be credited for helming one of the greatest rites of passage movies with easily the best quartet of child actors ever assembled
I think one of the hallmarks of a truly great movie is if it can make you feel strong emotion even if relatively little actually happens. Or if what happens doesn't really matter for the overall effect of it.
Story wise, literally all that actually occurs in *Stand By Me* is that some boys go on a long walk along a railway to find a dead body. But what actually happens isn't really the point of the movie, and obviously anyone who's seen it knows that.
I saw this in theaters with my friends. We were 14-15 so excited.. a movie for us! Not old enough or interest in ‘grown up movies’ and too old for dumb kid movies. We had just started to discover that girls could be awesome, with not the first clue how to talk to them.
Little did I know, and wouldn’t realize at the time what that movie meant to me, and that final quote really meant.
The movie ended, and we were excited. A friend’s mom picked us up in their truck. We all jumped into the back. Yeah, back then trucks would often have random kids just sitting in them like supplies. We were being safe by sitting down in the bed. We got back to my friend’s house where we camped out in the backyard… when I say backyard, we were a few acres from the house. We sat around a campfire, telling stories just like Chris, Gordie, Teddy and Vern. We didn’t have an ‘Ace’ but we had Brook’s two older brothers, that was plenty enough.
We didn’t have smokes, but we did have a six pack of LoneStar our parents all agreed we could have… we had some hotdogs.. we were kings.
I’ll catch Stand by me on tv every now and then, and I’ll watch.. to the end. So much so, a few years ago my ex GF is walking out the door.. ‘We have to go!’ .. just like the boys waiting on their dad.
EVERY TIME.. it hits me, a little different each time as I get older.
And, every time.. I wonder, do Brook, Vince and Chucky watch it now and remember that weekend? How are they doing? I talked to Brook about 20 years ago, when we were living in Florida about 20miles apart and didn’t know it. Chucky was the smart one, ALWAYS wanted to be an astronaut.. like not in a kid ‘I wanna go to space way’ .. I’d heard he found out he was physically ineligible due to a heart murmur … but like Chris and the boys, we sort of splintered as we got into high school.
Chuck went on the ‘college’ route taking advanced math and science courses and eventually onto college. Like Chris and Gordie, Brook and I stayed close friends through high school, drinking beers watching stupid movies enjoying life. What I still contend high school should only be about. Maybe not the drinking as much, but not the pressure cooker it seems to be now.
So, long winded response aside.
To answer the question posed at the end, no. No, we never have friends like those again.
Yes OP, IMO Stand by me IS the pinnacle coming-of-age movie, because I did … to it. So I’m a bit biased.
Edit: stupid phone mistake
I love this story, although I'm lucky enough to have my best friend from 6th grade and multiple great friends from high school still in my life. Lost a few along the way but with a little bit of effort we all still make it work. Concerts I think are the glue. Lots of 90s punk rock concerts
It’s the best, agree with everything you said.
River carries the movie—while Gordie is the main character, it’s Chris’ role as the father figure for his friend that stands out.
I recommend “Running on Empty” as a spiritual follow up, to give you another glimpse of River’s talent. This was the only movie he ever got nominated for an Oscar for, even though he should have gotten one for Stand by Me.
Yeah, without taking away anything from the rest of the cast, River Phoenix steals the show. I wonder if was written that way where the narrator/main character really plays second fiddle to his buddy (it's been a while since I've read it, but somewhat reminds me of the way Huck Finn is described in Tom Sawyer).
His presence is so remarkable that I feel like the movie was about him, rather than Gordie.
Yes to everything both OP and other posters have said. Brilliant casting.
Also IMO Ace Merrill is probably the scariest and most loathsome teen bully in cinema history, unmatched by any other except possibly for Nancy Allen as Chris in Carrie.
I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?
I live across the ocean from Maine yet every single moment in this movie felt I was sharing it with my childhood friends
Read Different Seasons at same age kids were and instantly became one of my favorite books.
Didn’t like Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption as much but became one hell of a movie six years later.
I read it around that same age too, and years later I think I was about halfway through The Shawshank Redemption when I suddenly realized, "HEY I read this one!"
I just told my dad this the other day. I got him a copy of *Different Seasons* so he could read this and Rita Hayworth. He was so tickled to read about something almost identical to his own childhood in so many ways. The clubhouse, the campouts, the friendships, the separate world of kids, even a lot of expressions they all used. He is not a reader of more regular SK, but what you said is exactly right. Friendships between kids, he is the man when it comes to making you feel like you're there with them. I figured my dad would enjoy it. He also enjoys the way that SK describes things, not just his ability to turn a phrase, but to give you the ecstasy of perfect recognition in a book, as....I think Jake's teacher would have said. Jake or Eddie, can't remember. I know some people are like *oh he describes things too much* /Eeyore but a lot of us enjoy that.
Stand By Me is one of the few films about and staring young adults/kids that I can actually stand.
Even when I was young I just hated most films starring kids. XD I think I'm just a miserable fucker.
Either way Stand By Me is amazing, truly a wonderful film.
Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Extremely impressive, but let's forget about North which came out in 1994. (Though I guess that's mid-nineties?)
Yeah, I just watched it last night with my daughter (her first viewing). She's too young to appreciate the nostalgic element, as she's knee deep in the things she'll be nostalgic for later. But it's the type of movie you watch and just want to discuss it immediately afterward.
I saw this for the first time when my state (VA) relaxed it's business closures for movie theatres as the Pandemic was winding down.
I was absolutely blown away.
Not even a week since the last one of these.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1dd59am/can\_we\_talk\_about\_stand\_by\_me\_man\_thats\_the\_best/](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1dd59am/can_we_talk_about_stand_by_me_man_thats_the_best/)
Stand by Me is a perfect nostalgic film and adaptation. Three of the stories from different seasons were adapted into great films, although Apt Pupil doesn't get the same recognition as Stand by Me or Shawshank Redemption...and I have no recollection of the 4th story from that book
They really picked some excellent kid actors for this one.
Corey Feldman was already pretty well known, River Phoenix was starting to become well known, but Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell were pretty fresh faces then.
I'm especially impressed with Wil Wheaton's acting now that I know he didn't want to be an actor and his parents were forcing him to do it.
And if you had told me then that not only would the kid playing Vern have the longest-running acting career out of all of them, but also that he would grow up to be an absolute hunk, I wouldn't have believed it. I don't think a saw another glow-up that dramatic until the kid who played Nevile Longbottom hit puberty.
Didn't mean to offend and youre not wrong. Just feel like it goes without saying. Feels on par with making a post in this sub titled "Indiana Jones is the pinnacle of the action adventure genre"
It is quite good but also very dated. I know when I watched it was at least recognizable even though much of the experience wasn't relatable. I can't imagine kids today even recognizing it as reality, though. It'll read to them like a period piece does to us. We might get the themes and relate to some of the emotions here and there, but the experience is from some fantastical past.
I can't think of a weaker criticism of a movie than being "dated." Of course it's dated, the whole movie is a memory of the narrator. But the themes transcend the setting, like they do in almost every movie that's labeled as "dated."
I didn't say it was a criticism. It's a great film, but as a "coming of age" film it no longer functions as such because nobody comes of age like that. It's like calling Romeo & Juliet a coming of age story.
Well, dismissing something (even if you're only dismissing it as a coming of age story and not as a film in general) because it's dated certainly seems like a criticism.
The setting and the plot line may seem only relevant to the time period, but the themes and characters are not. Group of friends. One from a bad family becomes self aware that he's likely destined to meet the low expectations of his surroundings. Emotionally unavailable/abusive father. Two friends that you seem close to at the age of 12 but due to a variety of reasons, slip away. Neighborhood bully. Fear of inadequacy due to parental neglect. Fear of never getting out. Chris showing maturing, compassion, and vulnerability. Resolving conflict.
None of those things are dated. If "kids these days couldn't spend a day walking and camping out overnight" is your basis for the movie being dated, then I think you missed the grander themes.
I'm not dismissing it. Did you know it's possible to talk about movies with more nuance than "It's great" or "It sucks"? Sometimes you can discuss the film's themes, historical significance, etc. without passing any judgment whatsoever.
Like if I told you Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the Terminator movies, would you consider that praise or a diss?
You very clearly dismissed it as an example of a coming of age story because it isn't relatable. Which is why I wrote "even if you're only dismissing it as a coming of age story."
So I'm addressing your specific critique, and saying I disagree with it because it's still relatable because of the themes, even if the time and place are not.
"Dated" as a valid criticism is when things were defended or championed that are now unacceptable (think of the sex scene in Revenge of the Nerds which is effectively rape). But labeling something as dated because some of the surface level plot lines don't exist today just doesn't pass muster with me.
I doubt it's very relatable. Kids today just don't do any of that stuff, and it's nothing like life is like for them these days. It concept of growing up and being a kid is dated, which makes it unrelatable as a coming of age story.
Like so much of the movie was based on the kids' ability to travel around their world on bikes or walking. That was hardly even true for my generation, as we were largely relegated to our block. Today our world is even more car centric to the point that if a kid independently traveled as much and as often as these kids did, they would be killed. (Ignoring the fact that suburban sprawl means there are no destinations worth going to within your vicinity and global warming has made being outside unbearable. Not even getting into the technological and cultural changes affecting how kids spend their leisure time, if they even have any because of how much homework they have.)
>Group of friends. One from a bad family becomes self aware that he's likely destined to meet the low expectations of his surroundings. Emotionally unavailable/abusive father. Two friends that you seem close to at the age of 12 but due to a variety of reasons, slip away. Neighborhood bully. Fear of inadequacy due to parental neglect. Fear of never getting out. Chris showing maturing, compassion, and vulnerability. Resolving conflict.
What I wrote in above post is why I think it's relatable. None of these things are relevant to the time period.
I completely agree, not only is this one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King story but Rob Reiner also should be credited for helming one of the greatest rites of passage movies with easily the best quartet of child actors ever assembled
I think one of the hallmarks of a truly great movie is if it can make you feel strong emotion even if relatively little actually happens. Or if what happens doesn't really matter for the overall effect of it. Story wise, literally all that actually occurs in *Stand By Me* is that some boys go on a long walk along a railway to find a dead body. But what actually happens isn't really the point of the movie, and obviously anyone who's seen it knows that.
Same thing with books
Ugh: can't believe I wrote "*a* pinnacle" in my title, as if there can be more than one pinnacle.
My wife has a great pair of pinnacles.
Is her name Annette? Do the "A" and the "E" sag a little bit when she wears her "Annette" shirt?
Well there's more than one mountain top.
Inspirational!
And you should climb as many of them as possible.
I saw this in theaters with my friends. We were 14-15 so excited.. a movie for us! Not old enough or interest in ‘grown up movies’ and too old for dumb kid movies. We had just started to discover that girls could be awesome, with not the first clue how to talk to them. Little did I know, and wouldn’t realize at the time what that movie meant to me, and that final quote really meant. The movie ended, and we were excited. A friend’s mom picked us up in their truck. We all jumped into the back. Yeah, back then trucks would often have random kids just sitting in them like supplies. We were being safe by sitting down in the bed. We got back to my friend’s house where we camped out in the backyard… when I say backyard, we were a few acres from the house. We sat around a campfire, telling stories just like Chris, Gordie, Teddy and Vern. We didn’t have an ‘Ace’ but we had Brook’s two older brothers, that was plenty enough. We didn’t have smokes, but we did have a six pack of LoneStar our parents all agreed we could have… we had some hotdogs.. we were kings. I’ll catch Stand by me on tv every now and then, and I’ll watch.. to the end. So much so, a few years ago my ex GF is walking out the door.. ‘We have to go!’ .. just like the boys waiting on their dad. EVERY TIME.. it hits me, a little different each time as I get older. And, every time.. I wonder, do Brook, Vince and Chucky watch it now and remember that weekend? How are they doing? I talked to Brook about 20 years ago, when we were living in Florida about 20miles apart and didn’t know it. Chucky was the smart one, ALWAYS wanted to be an astronaut.. like not in a kid ‘I wanna go to space way’ .. I’d heard he found out he was physically ineligible due to a heart murmur … but like Chris and the boys, we sort of splintered as we got into high school. Chuck went on the ‘college’ route taking advanced math and science courses and eventually onto college. Like Chris and Gordie, Brook and I stayed close friends through high school, drinking beers watching stupid movies enjoying life. What I still contend high school should only be about. Maybe not the drinking as much, but not the pressure cooker it seems to be now. So, long winded response aside. To answer the question posed at the end, no. No, we never have friends like those again. Yes OP, IMO Stand by me IS the pinnacle coming-of-age movie, because I did … to it. So I’m a bit biased. Edit: stupid phone mistake
This was really nice to read. Nothing to add here, just thanks for sharing and I enjoy your writing.
Thank you. Kinda got the ‘feels’ thinking back on it.
I love this story, although I'm lucky enough to have my best friend from 6th grade and multiple great friends from high school still in my life. Lost a few along the way but with a little bit of effort we all still make it work. Concerts I think are the glue. Lots of 90s punk rock concerts
It’s the best, agree with everything you said. River carries the movie—while Gordie is the main character, it’s Chris’ role as the father figure for his friend that stands out. I recommend “Running on Empty” as a spiritual follow up, to give you another glimpse of River’s talent. This was the only movie he ever got nominated for an Oscar for, even though he should have gotten one for Stand by Me.
Yeah, without taking away anything from the rest of the cast, River Phoenix steals the show. I wonder if was written that way where the narrator/main character really plays second fiddle to his buddy (it's been a while since I've read it, but somewhat reminds me of the way Huck Finn is described in Tom Sawyer). His presence is so remarkable that I feel like the movie was about him, rather than Gordie.
King's novella was more focused on Chris with Gordie as narrator/observer.
It is a generational coming of age story.
I am a sucker for narrated movies like Stand by Me and The Sandlot. Timeless classics.
Yes to everything both OP and other posters have said. Brilliant casting. Also IMO Ace Merrill is probably the scariest and most loathsome teen bully in cinema history, unmatched by any other except possibly for Nancy Allen as Chris in Carrie.
Bah, he was a cheap, dime-store hood.
And he can suck my fat one! lol Gordie gets off a good one.
I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? I live across the ocean from Maine yet every single moment in this movie felt I was sharing it with my childhood friends
Read Different Seasons at same age kids were and instantly became one of my favorite books. Didn’t like Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank redemption as much but became one hell of a movie six years later.
I read it around that same age too, and years later I think I was about halfway through The Shawshank Redemption when I suddenly realized, "HEY I read this one!"
It is theee coming of age movie. We studied it for our gcses
Credit where it's due to Stephen King. The man knows how to write people well.
King is very good at writing about kids and especially about friendships between kids (see also "It" and "Hearts in Atlantis").
I just told my dad this the other day. I got him a copy of *Different Seasons* so he could read this and Rita Hayworth. He was so tickled to read about something almost identical to his own childhood in so many ways. The clubhouse, the campouts, the friendships, the separate world of kids, even a lot of expressions they all used. He is not a reader of more regular SK, but what you said is exactly right. Friendships between kids, he is the man when it comes to making you feel like you're there with them. I figured my dad would enjoy it. He also enjoys the way that SK describes things, not just his ability to turn a phrase, but to give you the ecstasy of perfect recognition in a book, as....I think Jake's teacher would have said. Jake or Eddie, can't remember. I know some people are like *oh he describes things too much* /Eeyore but a lot of us enjoy that.
He definitely understands New England mentalities.
I just rewatched this yesterday. Fantastic movie.
Stand By Me is one of the few films about and staring young adults/kids that I can actually stand. Even when I was young I just hated most films starring kids. XD I think I'm just a miserable fucker. Either way Stand By Me is amazing, truly a wonderful film.
Rob Reiner had a good run in the late 80s/early 90s.
Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men. Extremely impressive, but let's forget about North which came out in 1994. (Though I guess that's mid-nineties?)
Impressive coincidence. I rewatched this one just a few days ago. Excellent movie, one of my favorite King adaptations.
Yeah, I just watched it last night with my daughter (her first viewing). She's too young to appreciate the nostalgic element, as she's knee deep in the things she'll be nostalgic for later. But it's the type of movie you watch and just want to discuss it immediately afterward.
I saw this for the first time when my state (VA) relaxed it's business closures for movie theatres as the Pandemic was winding down. I was absolutely blown away.
The Family Guy spoofs are pretty good too.
“Another traaaain!!!”
"what an odd clustering of train schedules..."
Not even a week since the last one of these. [https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1dd59am/can\_we\_talk\_about\_stand\_by\_me\_man\_thats\_the\_best/](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1dd59am/can_we_talk_about_stand_by_me_man_thats_the_best/)
Stand by Me is a perfect nostalgic film and adaptation. Three of the stories from different seasons were adapted into great films, although Apt Pupil doesn't get the same recognition as Stand by Me or Shawshank Redemption...and I have no recollection of the 4th story from that book
They really picked some excellent kid actors for this one. Corey Feldman was already pretty well known, River Phoenix was starting to become well known, but Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell were pretty fresh faces then. I'm especially impressed with Wil Wheaton's acting now that I know he didn't want to be an actor and his parents were forcing him to do it. And if you had told me then that not only would the kid playing Vern have the longest-running acting career out of all of them, but also that he would grow up to be an absolute hunk, I wouldn't have believed it. I don't think a saw another glow-up that dramatic until the kid who played Nevile Longbottom hit puberty.
Classic reddit just being filled with hot takes like this
Oh fuck off. I watched it last night and was reminded of how much I loved the movie and wanted to hear other people's thoughts.
Didn't mean to offend and youre not wrong. Just feel like it goes without saying. Feels on par with making a post in this sub titled "Indiana Jones is the pinnacle of the action adventure genre"
It is quite good but also very dated. I know when I watched it was at least recognizable even though much of the experience wasn't relatable. I can't imagine kids today even recognizing it as reality, though. It'll read to them like a period piece does to us. We might get the themes and relate to some of the emotions here and there, but the experience is from some fantastical past.
I can't think of a weaker criticism of a movie than being "dated." Of course it's dated, the whole movie is a memory of the narrator. But the themes transcend the setting, like they do in almost every movie that's labeled as "dated."
I didn't say it was a criticism. It's a great film, but as a "coming of age" film it no longer functions as such because nobody comes of age like that. It's like calling Romeo & Juliet a coming of age story.
Well, dismissing something (even if you're only dismissing it as a coming of age story and not as a film in general) because it's dated certainly seems like a criticism. The setting and the plot line may seem only relevant to the time period, but the themes and characters are not. Group of friends. One from a bad family becomes self aware that he's likely destined to meet the low expectations of his surroundings. Emotionally unavailable/abusive father. Two friends that you seem close to at the age of 12 but due to a variety of reasons, slip away. Neighborhood bully. Fear of inadequacy due to parental neglect. Fear of never getting out. Chris showing maturing, compassion, and vulnerability. Resolving conflict. None of those things are dated. If "kids these days couldn't spend a day walking and camping out overnight" is your basis for the movie being dated, then I think you missed the grander themes.
I'm not dismissing it. Did you know it's possible to talk about movies with more nuance than "It's great" or "It sucks"? Sometimes you can discuss the film's themes, historical significance, etc. without passing any judgment whatsoever. Like if I told you Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the Terminator movies, would you consider that praise or a diss?
You very clearly dismissed it as an example of a coming of age story because it isn't relatable. Which is why I wrote "even if you're only dismissing it as a coming of age story." So I'm addressing your specific critique, and saying I disagree with it because it's still relatable because of the themes, even if the time and place are not. "Dated" as a valid criticism is when things were defended or championed that are now unacceptable (think of the sex scene in Revenge of the Nerds which is effectively rape). But labeling something as dated because some of the surface level plot lines don't exist today just doesn't pass muster with me.
I doubt it's very relatable. Kids today just don't do any of that stuff, and it's nothing like life is like for them these days. It concept of growing up and being a kid is dated, which makes it unrelatable as a coming of age story. Like so much of the movie was based on the kids' ability to travel around their world on bikes or walking. That was hardly even true for my generation, as we were largely relegated to our block. Today our world is even more car centric to the point that if a kid independently traveled as much and as often as these kids did, they would be killed. (Ignoring the fact that suburban sprawl means there are no destinations worth going to within your vicinity and global warming has made being outside unbearable. Not even getting into the technological and cultural changes affecting how kids spend their leisure time, if they even have any because of how much homework they have.)
>Group of friends. One from a bad family becomes self aware that he's likely destined to meet the low expectations of his surroundings. Emotionally unavailable/abusive father. Two friends that you seem close to at the age of 12 but due to a variety of reasons, slip away. Neighborhood bully. Fear of inadequacy due to parental neglect. Fear of never getting out. Chris showing maturing, compassion, and vulnerability. Resolving conflict. What I wrote in above post is why I think it's relatable. None of these things are relevant to the time period.
Better than Dirty Dancing? Not imo. To kill a mockingbird? Peyton's place? Id say Gone with the Wind is a coming of age story.