Review of Stand by Me (literary)

            Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming age drama film directed by Rob

Reiner. It’s based on a novel The Body by Stephen King.

             The film is about a journey of four boys. After reading a report of a friend’s

death, the author, Gordie Lachance ( Richard Dreyfuss), decides to write the story

down. It was in September, right after a labour weekend. Gordie (Wil Wheaton)was

a quite, bookish boy at that time. He was in the age of 12 who has a foofball star

elder brother, Denny (John Cusack), and had a bad treatment in his family. Denny

was the pet of the family and Gornie was always ignored by his father. He couldn’t

make him happy. For Gordie, Denny was even better than his father. But he was died.

The three friends of Godie; Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp,

(Corey Feldman) and Ver Tessio  (Jerry O’Connell)were also not happy with their

families. Chris was from a family of criminals and alcoholics; the family caused his

sufferings. Teddy had poor eyesight and his crazy father held his ear to the stove. He

wanted to join the army. Vern was an overweight, shy boy and often picked on.

During that Labour weekend, news came out: a boy missed near this fictional town,

Castle Rock. If Gordie and his gang find him out, they would become local heroes.

Thus, the boys set out. They paused to fill canteens from Milo Pressman’s junkyard,

then, they met him and his dog, Chopper. When they walked by a train bridge, Vern

stopped walking. Gordie tried to help him and they were nearly run over by a

passing train. The boys reached a forest at the end of the day. Camp was set up, they

set together and talked about things they interested in. At night, Chris told Gordie

about his fear of being a kid from criminal’s family. That made him nothing except

stereotyped as a criminal. Later on in next morning, they went pass a swamp, which

infested with leeches. They stopped.

            The body of the missing boy was located. At that time, they met the local

 bullies, “Ace” Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland) and “Eyeball” Chambers. (Bradley Gregg)

Gordie threated them with Chris’ gun; they were safe. After that, they decided that

no one got credit for the body and it needed to be reported to authorities. The Body

is a reminding for Gordie: his fathat er likes his dead elder brother, Denny better

than him.

             Finally, the boys said goodbye to each other.

              At the end of the film, Gordie states that Vern married straight out of the

hight school. He has four children and becomes a folklift driver at a local lumberyard.

Teddy tries to join the army but refused because of his ears and eyes problems. He is

now doing odd jobs around the town. Chris becomes a lawyer. But he is killed at a

fast food restaurant when he tries to stop a fight. After finishing the narrating,

Gordie’s takes his son and his son’s friend swimming.

              The film is a coming age drama film and based on a novel. Gordie, Chris,

Teddy and Vern are all teenagers in this story. They have their own difficulties and

that make them want to make something by themselves. Then, a chance comes.

After finding the body, they become heroes. Seems that it’s only a normal story: a

group of young people try to do something to show their values. There are no

violence or sexual shots in the film (and even the novel), but I think it’s a good story

 if you think about it. Almost every shot of the film has trees (plants), boys and

sunshine, the music also sounds relax. Seems that it’s only a normal, American

afternoon; the boys are going to do some hiking or camping and enjoying

themselves. But that’s not the truth. They actually go for finding a body (not a

person, it’s a body), and they are not happy as what they look like. So a fine, funny

story becomes like this: a group of young who bears pain and has hardships, go out

and try to find a body to show their values. Even though there are no words and

shots to show the conflicts, still, these things can be seen from everywhere. The boys

have conflicts in their minds.  In the end of the film, the author states that Vern, the

most shy one of them, married straight out of high school. Teddy lives not so good

because his father harmed him terribly at that time. Chris, the one has the worst

family background, becomes a lawyer. Finally, his dream comes true. But he is

stabbed. He lived in an environment full of violence and now, he has a ability to stop

that. He doesn’t go too far; he is killed by stopping other people to use violence.

Gordie, the main character who was disliked by his father when he was young, loves

his son very much and also takes care of his son’s friends. They are still living in the

shadow of bad memories from their childhood. Maybe the story seems plain or

boring or even a little bit confused (I didn’t really understand it at the first time I

watch the film), but it has a beginning, ending, very clear and real.