{"id":8390,"date":"2018-05-02T12:47:49","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8390"},"modified":"2026-10-10T17:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T21:53:50","slug":"stand-by-me-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8390","title":{"rendered":"Stand By Me-1986"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stand By Me-1986<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Rob Reiner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Wil Wheaton<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #752<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed May 2, 2018<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stand by Me (1986) is a sweet, coming-of-age story that every male (or female, for that matter) who grew up in small-town America will undoubtedly relate to.<\/p>\n

Set mostly outdoors in the remote Pacific Northwest, the film shows the deep bonds of friendship as four youths set out on a journey of discovery over a Labor Day weekend.<\/p>\n

In 1986, I could relate to the film, and today, Stand By Me still holds up well.<\/p>\n

Stephen King, a tremendous author known mostly for horror novels, wrote a short story titled “The Body” in 1982. Stand By Me is based on this story.<\/p>\n

Instead of traditional horror, however, the story is more of a straight-up adventure, though in pure King style- a dead body is front and center (naturally).<\/p>\n

Rob Reiner directed Stand by Me, and its success led to other mainstream achievements for Reiner (1989’s When Harry Met Sally and 1990’s Misery, also a King novel).<\/p>\n

Ben E. King’s legendary theme song plays over the closing credits and became a smash hit again in 1986.<\/p>\n

The film starts intriguingly as the main character, Gordie, as an adult, learns that his childhood friend Chris Chambers has tragically been stabbed to death.<\/p>\n

Gordie then narrates a flashback to the summer of 1959, when he and three other boys embarked on a childhood adventure on Labor Day weekend.<\/p>\n

Along with Gordie (Wil Wheaton), we meet Chris (River Phoenix), a rebellious boy with a troubled home life, Teddy (Corey Feldman), who is scarred as a result of being burned by his mentally ill father, and Vern (Jerry O’Connell), an overweight kid insecure about his looks.<\/p>\n

The wonderful aspect of Stand by Me is that each of the four central characters is flawed, whether physically or by some other insecurity, giving each character depth.<\/p>\n

Each character is highly empathetic to an audience member who may see themselves in them.<\/p>\n

This point carries through the entire film. Through conversational scenes with one another, each weakness is exposed and dissected- Teddy becomes vulnerable about his relationship with his father when a character refers to him as “loony”.<\/p>\n

Vern’s weight bothers him, and Chris wants to be more than people expect him to be.<\/p>\n

To avoid being weighed down by too many dramatic elements, Stand by Me incorporates much-needed humor. My favorite sequence is the delightful story in which Godie regales the other boys one night as they camp outdoors.<\/p>\n

Town legend has it that a rotund man, who picked on a boy nicknamed “Lard-Ass,” enacts the perfect revenge on the townspeople one summer as he enters a pie-eating contest, resulting in a torrent of vomiting.<\/p>\n

Reiner shoots this scene well and brilliantly balances the film’s differing tones, all while keeping it within a cohesive package.<\/p>\n

The film belongs to its young actors, each of whom is cast brilliantly. Of course, Corey Feldman and River Phoenix went on to major success in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Phoenix, who tragically died in 1993, and Feldman, who suffered numerous setbacks in his short career, are forever youthful, with promise and poise in this film.<\/p>\n

In Phoenix’s case, he seemed most on course for leading man status with his dashing, youthful looks and clean-cut appearance. Watching in later years, it is bittersweet to watch both actors and recollect the promise of each.<\/p>\n

Mixing drama and comedy, and at its core a true adventure story best watched on a summer evening, Stand By Me (1985) is memorable and poignant.<\/p>\n

Its late-summer setting, outdoor camping, and green scenery endure and stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has taken a meaningful journey as a kid or made lasting memories in their youth (which should be all of us) can appreciate this timeless gem.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium<\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Picture- Drama, Best Director-Rob Reiner<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Feature, Best Director-Rob Reiner, Best Screenplay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stand By Me-1986 Director Rob Reiner Starring Wil Wheaton Scott’s Review #752 Reviewed May 2, 2018 Grade: A Stand by Me (1986) is a sweet, coming-of-age story that every male (or female, for that matter) who grew up in small-town America will undoubtedly relate to. Set mostly outdoors in the remote Pacific Northwest, the film … Continue reading Stand By Me-1986<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,205,11649,192,12696],"tags":[11134,1331,5753,5598,11038,1278,1443,10945,1079,1442,1441,1285,11037],"class_list":["post-8390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1986-films","category-adventure-films","category-coming-of-age","category-dramas","category-labor-day","tag-bradley-gregg","tag-corey-feldman","tag-dick-durock","tag-frances-lee-mccain","tag-jerry-oconnell","tag-john-cusack","tag-kiefer-sutherland","tag-marshall-bell","tag-richard-dreyfuss","tag-river-phoenix","tag-rob-reiner","tag-stephen-king","tag-wil-wheaton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8390"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24762,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8390\/revisions\/24762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}