Must See Movie Monday - Stand By Me

Film: Stand By Me
Released: 1986
Rated: R
Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell
Short Summary: A writer recounts his boyhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.




Why It's A Must See Movie

This film was suggested by a friend and follower. Which reminded me that I have had this movie in my collection for sometime and couldn't remember watching it. I always end up watching Stand By Me when it's on TV instead. Luckily I found the DVD so I could watch the movie again last night. I have to say it is a must see. Everyone loves a coming of age movie. At least I do anyway.

As is the case with some of the other picks for this segment this movie is based on a book. Stephen King's novella The Body to be exact. I surprisingly haven't read this book yet (I have read a lot of Stephen King's works), but I keep meaning to. Even though I can't really compare the film to the book material I would still say that Stand By Me is a successful adaptation. Firstly because every scene in it propels to the next. Secondly because the characters are well developed and their backgrounds are shown in a way that isn't contrived or boring. A sin that a lot of adaptations can fall into. Lastly the movie actually makes me want to read the book. I just feel that adaptations don't necessarily have to be totally like the book, but they should good enough to make you want to read the book. This is the case with Stand By Me. I do think they were right to change the name of the piece to Stand By Me. I mean The Body really doesn't sound like a coming of age film with twelve year olds in it. Haha! Stand By Me definitely says more about not only the film but the friendship you see in it.

Lets talk about casting. Brillant! Even the adult and older teen characters are casted spot on. You can tell that there was a lot of thought put into who was going to play each role. When the movie involves four child actors this is something that I imagine is hard to do.

Mostly what makes this film a classic is that it gets you really engaged in the emotions of the characters and their journey. The kids are written like kids. They think like kids think which is so great and gives the situations gravity. It also shows us the beauty of true friendship at that age. Kids that are willing to stand up for each other and comfort each other when they need it. It's a lovely story idea.

I suggest checking out Stand By Me if you haven't seen it. This is also your chance to do as I did and re-watch it. I enjoyed it immensely. If you get it on DVD make sure to watch the featurette on the special features. It's very interesting. I love featurettes.