Main Cast: John Cusack, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Kiefer Sutherland
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Based on the Stephen King short story The Body, Rob Reiner's easygoing nostalgia piece is set in Castle Rock, OR, over Labor Day weekend, 1959. A quartet of boys, inseparable friends all, set out in search of a dead body that one of the boys overhears his brother talking about. The foursome consists of intellectual Gordie (Wil Wheaton), born leader Chris (River Phoenix), emotionally disturbed Teddy (Corey Feldman), and chubby hanger-on Vern (Jerry O'Connell). The boys' adventures en route to the elusive body are colored by the personal pressures brought to bear on all of them by the adult world. Richard Dreyfuss, playing the grown-up Gordie, narrates the film, while Kiefer Sutherland dominates every scene he's in as a brutish high-school bully. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A likable film punctuated by standout performances, Stand by Me is an interesting variation on the standard coming-of-age period film. Based on a short story by Stephen King, Stand by Me deals with preteen concerns instead of teen ones. Director Rob Reiner successfully keeps the nostalgia and sentimentality in check; and he places a remarkable amount of faith in his young cast. Of the four leads, River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton deliver sensitive, complex performances which belie their age. Jerry O'Connell and teen heartthrob Corey Feldman round out the cast, and Kiefer Sutherland and John Cusack appear in small but memorable roles. For Reiner, the film was a significant shift in tone after the comedies This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and The Sure Thing (1985). It marked his first attempt at more serious fare; his success with the comedy drama of Stand by Me would pave the way for his later hits, When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Misery (1990). ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Scott Beach - Mayor Grundy; Marshall Bell - Mr. Lachance; William Bronder - Milo Pressman; John Cusack - Denny Lachance; Dick Durock - Bill Travis; Bradley Gregg - Eyeball Chambers; Jason Oliver - Vince Desjardins; Popeye - Chopper; Gary Riley - Charlie Hogan; Casey Siemaszko - Billy Tessio; Ken Hodges - Donelley Twin; O.B. Babbs - Lardass Heckler #1; Geanette Bobst - Mayor's Wife; Art Burke - Principal Wiggins; Rick Elliott - Jack Mudgett; Andy Lindberg - Lardass Hogan; Kent Lutrell - Ray Brower; Jason Naylor - His Friend; Charlie Owens - Lardass Hecklers; Scott Korey Pollard - Moke; Chance Quinn - Gordon's Son; Madeleine Swift - Waitress; Susan Thorpe - Fat Lady; Bruce Kirby - Mr. Quidacioluo; Lee McCain - Mrs. Lachance; Matt Williams - Bob Cormier
Credit
Jane Jenkins - Casting, Janet Hirshenson - Casting, Sue Moore - Costume Designer, Rob Reiner - Director, Jim Behnke - Second Unit Director, Robert Leighton - Editor, Jack Nitzsche - Composer (Music Score), Celest Ray - Musical Direction/Supervision, Monty Westmore - Makeup, Dennis Washington - Production Designer, Thomas del Ruth - Cinematographer, Steve Nicolaides - Production Manager, Ray Gideon - Producer, Bruce A. Evans - Producer, Andrew Scheinman - Producer, Richard McKenzie - Set Designer, Henry Millar - Special Effects, Richard Thompson - Special Effects, Rick Barker - Stunts, Brian Carson - Stunts, Ray Gideon - Screenwriter, Bruce A. Evans - Screenwriter, Stephen King - Short Story Author
The film is narrated by an adult Gordie LaChance, known as "The Writer" (Richard Dreyfuss), writing the memoir about his youth. Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, over Labor Day weekend in September 1959, Gordie (Wil Wheaton), and his friends Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) and Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) learn from their friend Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) that the dead body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking blueberries in the woods, has not been found. While under his porch looking for his buried jar of pennies, Vern overheard his older brother talking about finding the body while in the woods with a friend. The boys then embark upon a two-day journey near Castle Rock to see and find the body.
Gordie is a quiet, bookish boy with a penchant for telling stories and writing, rejected by his father following the death of his football-star older brother Denny (John Cusack) in a Jeep accident. Chris is from a family of criminals and alcoholics and breaks the generational curse, he is usually stereotyped accordingly. Teddy is an eccentric and physically deformed after his mentally unstable father (whom Teddy sees as a war hero who "stormed the beach at Normandy") held his ear to a stove and nearly burned it off, thus forcing him to wear a hearing aid. Vern, overweight and timid, is easily scared, and thus often picked on.
Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Gordie's talent for storytelling pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
The film also contrasts a gang of bullies called the "Cobras," who are led by local hood John "Ace" Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland). Crucial to the story are the often sophomoric interpersonal exchanges among the four main characters.[1] The boys find the body in the end, but decide to leave it to the authorities to deal with. They also refuse to allow Ace to take the body away after Gordie threatens him with a gun.
The film ends with the boys returning home to Castle Rock and saying goodbye to each other. The Writer states that Vern later married and became a fork-lift operator for a lumber company in Castle Rock and Teddy tried to join the military, but due to poor eyesight and his ear they refused to let him in, he eventually served jail time and now he was doing odd-jobs around Castle Rock. Chris later moved out of Castle Rock and became a lawyer. However, The Writer reveals that Chris was recently stabbed and killed when he tried to break up a fight in a line at a fast food place. The Writer then finishes his memoir and takes his kid and his friend out swimming.
Gordie's campfire story
During a scene where the boys are sitting around a campfire, Gordie tells a story about an obese boy named Davie Hogan, but because of his weight everyone, including his family, calls him "Lardass". All his life, Lardass has been beat-up and picked on until one day, the day of the county fair pie eating contest, Lardass decides to get revenge. Lardass enters the contest without admission and is harassed by the crowd as he takes the stage. However, just moments earlier, Lardass drank a bottle of castor oil and swallowed a raw egg. During the contest, Lardass imagines that the pies he is eating are filled with "rat guts" until it makes him sick causing him to vomit on the person next to him. Eventually, it causes a "barf-o-rama" amongst the crowd as Lardass happily watches. When asked about what Lardass does next, Gordie replies: "I guess that he celebrated with a couple of cheeseburgers."
