Stand By Me - 1986

Director: Rob Reiner

Writers: Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell

"It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant. " In Rob Reiner's Stand By Me, four 12-year-old boys set off into the Oregon woods in August of 1959 in search of a dead body.

I was expecting quite a different movie than I got. Before tonight, I had only seen once scene of the film, which lulled me into the false belief that this was going to be a comedy, which made sense considering some of Reiner's other work. All the boys have family issues: a dead brother (played by John Cusack, of all people), a battle-fatigued WWII vet father, things of that nature. While there are a few comedic moments, the film is mostly serious, especially one scene in particular involving leeches, although it's all very tame for a Stephen King adaptation. And for mostly child actors that never got big as adults, the performances are phenomenal! They can go from over-the-top excited to verbally abusing each other to openly weeping in no time flat. Another thing I liked about the young actors: the roles were edgy. These kids were smoking cigarettes and cursing up a storm; while I wouldn't approve of such things in real life, there was a certain draw to the viscality of the characters for me because of that. I wish I had seen this one sooner, or better yet, had a group of friends like the ones in Stand By Me when I was younger. Everybody needs somebody they can have a good time with, but also knows they'll look out for them.