Amazon.com Essentials:
A sleeper hit when released in 1986, Stand by Me is
based on Stephen King's novella "The Body" (from the book Different
Seasons); but it's more about the joys and pains of boyhood
friendship than a morbid fascination with corpses. It's about four
boys ages 12 and 13 (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry
O'Connell) who take an overnight hike through the woods near their
Oregon town to find the body of a boy who's been missing for
days. Their journey includes a variety of scary adventures (including
a ferocious junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches, and a treacherous
leap from a train trestle), but it's also a time for personal
revelations, quiet interludes, and the raucous comradeship of best
friends. Set in the 1950s, the movie indulges an overabundance of
anachronistic profanity and a kind of idealistic, golden-toned
nostalgia (it's told in flashback as a story written by Wheaton's
character as an adult, played by Richard Dreyfuss). But it's
delightfully entertaining from start to finish, thanks to the rapport
among its young cast members and the timeless, universal themes of
friendship, family, and the building of character and self-esteem. Kiefer Sutherland makes a memorable teenage villain, and look
closely for John Cusack in a flashback scene as Wheaton's now-deceased
and dearly missed brother. A genuine crowd-pleaser, this heartfelt
movie led director Rob Reiner to even greater success with his next
film, The Princess
Bride. --Jeff Shannon
