STAND BY ME (1986)

“I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was 12…Jesus…does anyone?”

Celebrating the 35th anniversary of its release is the classic coming of age film STAND BY ME (1986) directed by Rob Reiner.

Adapted from Stephen King’s novella ‘The Body’ the film was nominated for an academy award for screenplay in a story of four young friends—played by Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell—who go on an overnight hike to find the dead body of a missing youth.

To build camaraderie.among the four boys, Two weeks prior to shooting, Reiner brought them together to play theatre games (from Viola Spoilin’s ‘Improvisation for the Theatre’). The move certainly paid off, as one senses the genuine comfort and connectedness among the young actors. One of the major themes of the film is friendship, and the film seems to have captured it effortlessly,

The dynamic of looking backward at childhood friendships is elevated by the narration of Richard’s Dreyfus as the adult version of the Will Wheaton character. In most cases, I’m not a fan of narration, as it often feels like exposition glue binding a broken narrative together. However, STAND BY ME is different, we benefit from the tone and and extra layer from the narrator’s words steeped in self-recognized nostalgia.

And then there is the song. The title of the film is derived from the Ben E. King’s tune of the same name. The popularity of the film gave the song a resurgence to the point of it re-entering the Billboard top 100, and peaking at #9. There is magic in that music and how well it works cinematically for the story. Like it wears the nostalgia on its sleeve as it swells timelessly to King’s voice registering like a memory.

I remember hearing the song often the year the film was released. I recall how well the it matched the images from the film used in the music video. At the time, I enjoyed the movie a lot, particularly the characters, as they were roughly close to my age and it embodied that endless sense of summer.

Not having seen the film since it’s release on video, revisiting it a few months ago was a nice trip, jumping back in time, not that I related to the setting, but rather it felt like I was accessing a feeling locked in a memory. Especially now that it registers differently as a person who is now older than the narrator.

STAND BY ME is available for streaming through the CTV app.