Stand By Me [DVD] [2000]

Small town Oregon 1959. Four 12 year old boys decide to go in search of the body of a boy their age. They hope to become heroes for finding him, it's a challenge and adventure but also an unspoken pilgrimage of sorts. This is one of those movies where not a lot happens in terms of plot but there's a huge amount actually in it, if that makes any sense. The story is told as the narrated reminiscences of one of the boys, Gordie, as an adult writer. The characters of the boys are really well fleshed out with plenty of back story. Gordie (as a boy) is thoughtful and sensitive. After the death of his older brother, Gordie feels, and is made to feel, inadequate and unwanted. Chris comes from a 'bad' family so is expected to be bad. Under his tough exterior Chris is surely the most diplomatic, kind and empathic teenager one is ever likely to meet. Livewire flamboyant Teddy also has a traumatic back story. Teddy worships his father who 'stormed the beach at Normandy' but was violent to him. Vern is chirpy but nervous and scares easily. Vern overhears about the dead body and sets the boys' adventure in motion. They set out along the railroad tracks and face a series of challenges, sometimes amusing, sometimes terrifying, that gradually bond their friendship. Most important, they get support and encouragement from each other having been let down by parents and teachers, the meaning of the title.Unfortunately the town's older teenage thugs are also on the trail of the dead boy once they get their cars and idle asses in gear. They seem to spend a lot of their days driving around playing mailbox baseball on their ways to collect their social security payments. Basically they're an unpleasant waste of space. Scarily some of these are older brothers of some of the four boys.Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell are amazing, really outstanding as the boys. Astonishing that Jerry O'Connell's chirpy assured performance is his first acting credit. Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix give very convincing, mature performances. Corey Feldman's colourful performance is a joy to watch. Kiefer Sutherland, as the leader of the older gang, is surely the scariest knifewielding 'cheap dime store hood' - great performance. The narration of Richard Dreyfuss adds appropriate dry humour and cynicism. My only reservation about the movie is the liberal use of swearing. Super soundtrack of the era, including such greats as Buddy Holly, used appropriately within the context of the story and photography. Great photography especially in the rural locations and the stunts with the trains. Picture quality is excellent on the DVD but sound level (mono) is too low. There are optional subtitles and a very interesting commentary with director Rob Reiner. There is also a behind the scenes documentary including interviews with Stephen King, whose novella is the basis for the script, and the surviving young stars.In memorium - River Phoenix. A really talented actor who died too young.

Stand by Me is directed by Rob Reiner and adapted to screenplay by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon from the Stephen King novella, The Body. It stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell and Kiefer Sutherland. Music is by Jack Nitzsche and cinematography by Thomas Del Ruth.Four young lads, one journey, one body and friendships never to be forgotten...There are few films able to marry comedy and poignancy with much success. There are even fewer that can do that whilst also being able to sit on the thin line between sappy and sweet. Stand by Me is one such film; a film that richly deserves its place in the top five of lists concerning the greatest coming of age movies ever made. Never preachy and refreshingly honest in its telling, Stand by Me hits all the right buttons to make it work. The cast are uniformly great, notably young Wheaton and Phoenix, the script pings with aware dialogue for the youngsters and the relationship building on the journey for the youngsters smacks of a profane reality rarely seen in cinema. The soundtrack rocks, literally, with period vitality, and when the comedy darts in and out of the drama, it's big on laugh value: including one vomit based story that will forever take some beating. But it's arguably the third act that cements the film as having timeless appeal, for here it gets taut, touching and poignant. The nostalgia is not mawkish and the finale certainly not twee. A film for anyone who was ever twelve years old and needed friends. 9/10

Really good quality for an old film and really enjoyed watching it again after all these years great film and great price too

Arguably one of the most absorbing films ever made. From start to finish it mixes melancholy with humour and genuine pathos. Superbly acted, written, directed and structured, as well as well located and shot, nary a foot is put wrong. From the opening line (that apes that of the novella) to the heart-warming coda of the narrator finishing his memoirs, this rare feature fits in an entire childhood of 4 troubled boys in 1950s America through the eyes of one, focussing on one eventful camping trip along a railway line to find the dead body of a child.There is very little here that is not perfect. It is emotional without being saccharine; it is funny without overstretching; the performances are all perfectly nuanced; and the story engages throughout. Most of Stephen King's best yarns come from his shorter fiction. Different Seasons (from where this is taken) also has the equally formidable 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' which became one of the other few similar films that can be said to equal this, 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Everyone seemed to be on top of their game. Reiner, King, Wheaton, Phoenix, Feldman. And Jerry O'Connell has never been better.If you have yet to see this I recommend it passionately - it will become one of your very favourite films.