NUSRAT JAHAN
“It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.”
It is not often that you find a movie that was better than the book. However, Stand by Me delivers and gives you just that. Coupled with great direction by Rob Reiner and some seriously great acting, Stand by Me is lauded, by some, to be the best coming-of-age movie to have ever been filmed. And of course, yours truly believes that this was rather better attempt of a movie adaptation for Stephen King’s novel than the infamous The Shining.
Stand By Me is Rob Reiner’s masterpiece that dwells in the feeling of nostalgia, telling a beautiful story of friendship. The film takes us back to our childhoods and reminds us of the friends we made. It elaborates on how certain memories we made with our friends helped shape us into the person we are today. That is exactly where the universal appeal of Reiner’s film kicks in- we may not have had the same experiences but we can still draw a connection with the characters. I am sure the movie was something that made people go “I wanna have that kinda adventure with my friends too”, and that it was a favorite amongst those who grew up watching it.
The movie was based on a novella called “The Body” by Stephen King and, Raynold Gideon and Bruce Evans were responsible for the great screenplay. The plot is dated back to 1959 (it’s 1960 in the book though) and revolved around four 12-year-old buddies from Castelrock, Oregon. These kids listened in on a chat about the location of the corpse of boy who has been missing for a long time. Everyone in town knew about this particular missing case, and hence the boys decided to embark on a mission to find the missing boy and come home as heroes. The kids decide to tell their parents that they are sleeping over at each other’s place since the journey the mission was not going to be completed overnight. Gordie (Will Wheaton) he knew that his parents would not notice if he was gone, since they were still mourning the loss of their Gordie’s elder brother (played by John Cusack in the flashback scenes) which happened due to a car accident, a few months back. Chris (River Phoenix) came from a broken home and he went on the adventure even though he knew he would get in trouble for it, as he thought it was a better option than spending the night in with his deadbeat dad. Teddy (Corey Feldman) was the kid who bore scars of the abuse he received from his mentally unstable father; he lived with his mom. Vern (Jerry O’Connell), is the one who came up with the idea of going on a journey but was, ironically, the first one wanting to back down when it came to it. The story is narrated by a grown up Gordie (Richard Dreyfuss) in 1985.
The phenomenal acting is what makes the film a favorite, even today. River Phoenix’s acting, in particular, was so effortlessly natural that he was definitely the star. The chemistry between his character and that of Wheaton’s leaves us longing for the affection of that childhood best friend we never had. On the other hand, Corey Feldman probably had one hell of an agent since he starred in some of the best films from that age (Gremlins, The Goonies, The Burbs, and The Lost Boys). Though the adventure is not what you would call an “adrenaline rush” inducing one, the narration made it epic. Small moments like the camp-fire huddle and finding out the pond is full of leeches (Sorry for the spoiler!) makes the entire thing stand out even more. Each and every scene feels like an authentic account of someone’s life. The film also has an amazing soundtrack which utilizes some great songs from the 50s. Stand by Me has definitly set the bar high for the standard of a coming-of-age film.