{"id":34189,"date":"2014-12-30T18:40:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T01:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34189"},"modified":"2021-04-06T19:27:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T02:27:18","slug":"stand-by-me-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34189","title":{"rendered":"Stand By Me (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Poster-205x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"205\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-34194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Poster-205x300.jpg 205w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Poster-87x128.jpg 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Poster.jpg 516w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 205px) 100vw, 205px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA writer (Richard Dreyfuss) reflects on his adventures as a 12-year-old (Wil Wheaton) setting out with his buddies (River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O&#8217;Connell) to locate the body of a missing neighborhood boy.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coming of Age<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Film<\/li>\n<li>Friendship<\/li>\n<li>Richard Dreyfuss Films<\/li>\n<li>Road Trip<\/li>\n<li>Stephen King Adaptations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nBefore hitting blockbuster gold with <em>The Princess Bride<\/em> (1987), <em>When Harry Met Sally<\/em> (1989), and <em>A Few Good Men<\/em> (1992), Rob Reiner helmed this adaptation of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Body_(novella)\">Stephen King&#8217;s novella &#8220;The Body&#8221;<\/a>. Framed as a bittersweet flashback film, the storyline centers on a sensitive young male who &#8212; like Timothy Hutton&#8217;s Conrad in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34040\"><em>Ordinary People<\/em> (1980)<\/a> &#8212; is reeling from the sudden death of his beloved older brother (John Cusack). A road trip is conveniently kicked into gear when Gordie (Wheaton) and his friends are presented with a coming-of-age quest they can&#8217;t resist: the rumored discovery of a classmate&#8217;s dead body, also sought after by a local bully (Kiefer Sutherland) and his gang. Reiner effectively evokes 1950s nostalgia through both period visuals and a finger-snapping soundtrack (including the popular Ben E. King title song); meanwhile, he balances the film&#8217;s darker themes and dicey situations (two of the boys are nearly killed by a train) with doses of levity &#8212; most famously in a gross-out storytelling sequence involving pie eating and copious vomit. However, unlike in Reiner&#8217;s later King-adaptation <em>Misery<\/em> (1990), the narrative here lacks a sense of either urgency or menace, making <em>Stand By Me<\/em> more of a sentimental reflection on boyhood bonds than a tale of adventure or deep personal growth.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The exciting railroad bridge sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Train.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Train.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"380\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-34193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Train.jpg 700w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Train-128x69.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Stand-By-Me-Train-300x163.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though most film fanatics will likely be curious to check it out once, given its status as a cult favorite. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0092005\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1986\/08\/08\/movies\/rob-reiner-s-stand-by-me.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reelviews.net\/php_review_template.php?identifier=1685\">ReelViews Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/18513\/stand-by-me#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.&#8221; Synopsis: A writer (Richard Dreyfuss) reflects on his adventures as a 12-year-old (Wil Wheaton) setting out with his buddies (River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O&#8217;Connell) to locate the body of a missing neighborhood boy. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Coming of Age Flashback Film Friendship Richard Dreyfuss Films Road Trip Stephen King Adaptations Review: Before hitting blockbuster gold with The Princess Bride (1987),&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=34189\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34189"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71177,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34189\/revisions\/71177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}