[KING'S CORNER] Stand By Me (1986)

Stand By Me - King's Corner Review

Welcome to King's Corner. A recurring series of reviews based on the film and TV adaptations of Stephen King's novels and collections, reviewed and released in order of the original source material publishing date.

Director: Rob Reiner

Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland

Written by: Raynold Gideon, Bruce A. Evans

Produced by: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon, Andrew Scheinman

Cinematography by: Thomas Del Ruth

Original Score by: Jack Nitzsche

Synopsis:

A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.

Thoughts:

One of the staples of Stephen King's work as a writer is in placing children at the front and centre of his stories. Usually it is in the face of some kind of other worldly threat and in placing people of such a young age in danger it adds a layer of peril due to their perceived vulnerability as they have to come of age in order to survive. They also form the basis for so much iconic imagery in his work. Just look at Georgie's deadly encounter with Pennywise in 'IT' or the vampiric Ralphie asking his brother Danny to be invited inside in 'Salem's Lot'. They are indelible moments that helped make King a prominent figure in horror within pop culture but arguably his greatest story centred on children is one that has no threat from anything supernatural. It is a simple story of a man recalling the time he and three of his friends went in search of a dead body back in the summer of 1960. 

The third novella from his 'Different Seasons' collection subtitled 'Fall From Innocence', 'The Body' is another Castle Rock story. It follows writer Gordon "Gordie" Lachance as he reminisces about his childhood friendship with Chris, Teddy and Vern, particularly one summer where they set out on a journey to find the dead body of a missing boy named Ray Brower. One of the most personal stories to King, it seems to be based on a combination of two stories from his childhood. The first (outlined in his book Danse Macabre) took place when he was four years old. He was playing with a friend who lived by a railroad track but he returned home an hour later white as a sheet with no memory of what happened. His mother later found out that the boy had been killed while playing near the tracks but King never witnessed the event. His response was down to him being told about the incident or witnessing the aftermath of it. The other story took place years later when he lived in Durham, Maine. His friend Chris Chesley asked if he wanted to see a dead body. They went to Runaround Pond where a man who had drowned was being pulled out of the water which was an unpleasant but a highly impactful moment in his life. 

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The other influence on the story was based on a story his college roommate George McCloud (to whom the story is dedicated to) was writing but he never completed it. It was based on his time in a summer camp as a child. A group of boys told George about a dead dog he could see down the nearby railroad tracks. With this basic idea he changed the dog into a boy and put a lot of his own experiences into the character of Gordie, as outlined in a talk he gave at the Billerica Library in 1983. The story was said to follow the same incidents that happened in King's novella. Whilst McCloud thought nothing of it when the novella was released he put forward accusations of plagiarism when he saw a TV advertisement for 'Stand By Me'. He wanted his name added to the film and to get a cut of the money but King refused it ending their long friendship. In King's unauthorised biography, 'Haunted Heart', by Lisa Rogak, she quotes McLeod, saying, "If he's near something, he will absorb it like a sponge. It's his strength and naturally it's his weakness, too." 

The story's journey to the big screen was far from straightforward. In 1983 producer Bruce A. Evans gave the novella to Karen Gideon (the wife of his writing partner, Raynold Gideon). They both were fans of the novella so they sought to get the rights to it and King was willing to sell it to them for $100,000 and 10% of the gross profits which would be a hard sell to any studio because there could be no stars attached to it given the nature of the story. They took the project to director Adrian Lyne to try and sell the project but every studio turned them down before Embassy took a chance with them. In an article for Variety magazine in 2016 Evans described how difficult it was saying, “It was dark, there was not a girl in it, no one knew how to sell it. Of course, what attracted us to it was that it was a coming-of-age story without girls or buying rubbers or first kisses or all of that. It was about kids becoming aware of their own mortality." Lyne left the project so they sent the script to Rob Reiner to see if he was interested and he was.

Everything was falling into place but when Embassy was bought over by Columbia Pictures it spelt doom for the project as they planned to cancel it until Norman Lear (co-owner of Embassy and developer of the tv show All in the Family that starred Reiner) put $7.5 million of his own money into the film to complete it as he had faith in Reiner and the script. Originally the film was going to retain the title of the novella but Gideon was concerned that it was misleading so Reiner came up with the least unpopular title, 'Stand By Me'. 

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There is an argument to be made that 'Stand By Me' is the greatest coming-of-age film ever made. I'm not American nor did I grow up in the late 50's/early 60's yet I can connect with these four boy's through their journey in a profoundly deep manner. The way in which they explore mortality, maturity and friendship in such an intimate manner is what has allowed audiences worldwide to emotionally resonate with these characters, making it the universally beloved film that it is to this day. That is in no small part thanks to Reiner's direction. In choosing to make Gordie the lead it provided a focus for these themes that branch out through his interactions with his friends. It is a simple yet highly effective decision that allows the emotions of the story to open up gradually. 

The film opens with Gordie (played by Richard Dreyfuss) as an adult reflecting on the news that his childhood friend had been fatally stabbed after trying to break up a fight. Whilst he does this he sees two children cycling past taking him back to the summer of 1959 (a change from 1960 in the novella) where we meet each of his childhood friends. When you look at the casting of the four boys it really is a case of capturing lightning in a bottle in terms of how perfect they were for each of their respective roles. In an interview with NPR in 2011 Wil Wheaton (who plays the younger version of Gordie in the film) summed it up perfectly by saying, "Rob Reiner found four young boys who basically were the characters we played." 

As the twelve year old version of Gordie, Wheaton plays the part with a great deal of sensitivity given how softly spoken he is. There are breaks from it when he engages with banter with the other boys but for the most part there is a great deal of subtlety at play as he constantly faces an internal struggle over who he is and who he is expected to be. You just have to look at how he interacts with adults in the film, be it his parents or the local shopkeeper. He is disconnected from them due to this sense of expectation in the wake of his recently deceased older brother Denny (played by John Cusack). You see this burden weighing down on him throughout. Despite being (in his own words) "the invisible boy" at home in the shadow of his older brother, Denny was his greatest cheerleader. Now that he is gone, things have become worse for him. All of this pent up emotion gets released towards the end, at the discovery of Ray Brower's body. Gordie looks down at him and all he thinks about is how it should have been him that died and not his brother. Feeling unloved, Chris (played by River Phoenix) puts his arm around him showing him more love and support than anyone else has up until this point in his life. It is such a beautiful and powerful moment that even thinking about it has me welling up as I write this. Even at such a young age you get the feeling that Wheaton would never top his performance here. 

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As Chris, the leader of the gang, River Phoenix gives a very soulful and moving performance. He is very much someone who has been hardened by the burden of his troubled family name. It is an inescapable and choking reputation but instead of wallowing in it and living up to the expectations attached to it he decides to be a better person. This is most prevalent in how thoughtful and supportive he is with Gordie. He is someone who knows how to adapt to the different personalities in the group and that highlights the maturity in not just the character but in Phoenix's performance. Like Gordie he has an emotional reckoning when he opens up to him about being accused of stealing the milk money at school. The way he delivers the line, “I just wish I could go someplace where nobody knows me" is so raw and poignant it is heartbreaking to watch which is a credit to how good an actor Phoenix was especially for his age. 

The wildcard of the group, Teddy (played by Corey Feldman) is like the other side of the coin to Chris. Like him he comes from a troubled home having an abusive father suffering from PTSD who has scarred him physically and emotionally. Instead of trying to rise above it, there is an acceptance to it that he tries to hide behind a joking veneer. He always feels like he has something to prove (given his father's heroism in World War II) which is evident when he tries to dodge the train but this all stems from a severe lack of emotional maturity on his part. That erratic behaviour is most evident in the aftermath of Gordie escaping from the infamous junkyard dog Chopper. In the space of minutes he goes from acting childish, to furious before being driven to tears over how upset at how the town perceives his father. The manner in which Feldman switches gears between these emotions is nothing short of brilliant making it one of his most memorable performances. 

The final member of the gang Vern (played by Jerry O'Connell) might seem like the least remarkable of the gang as he is always the butt of their jokes and a bit of an idiot but that's the point. He serves as a reminder of how ordinary people more times than not go on to live ordinary lives. The way in which O'Connell delivers his lines and adds levity to the film at just the right moments easing the emotional heft of the film. He is the constant reminder that at their heart these four boys are still just children and he is that embodiment of their innocence.

It wouldn't be a Stephen King story without the inclusion of a bully and here we have Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland). There isn't a lot to the character, he just serves to be a mean bastard of a bully. You could say that he represents everything the boys hate about Castle Rock acting like a pseudo warning of what they could become when they get older. Sutherland plays the role in such a chilling and remorseless manner that you genuinely believe he would kill any of the boys to protect his ego. 

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The overall look and music utilised in the film (with the exception of the title song) can sometimes get overlooked given the film's focus being on character. The hazy look of the woods and the pure blue skies create an indelible image of the perfect summer which adds to the nostalgia of the story. The jukebox soundtrack which includes the likes of Buddy Holly, The Coasters and Jerry Lee Lewis gives the film a degree of authenticity but the standout of the soundtrack is the titular song, 'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King. The use of the song not only revitalised the popularity of it but the lyrics are a perfect summation of the deep rooted nature of the gang's friendship at this time in their lives. 

Amongst the many iconic scenes in the film such as the boys running away from the train or the leeches in the swamp, probably the most memorable one is Gordie telling them his story about the revenge of David "Lardass" Hogan (played by Andy Lindberg) in a pie eating contest. It plays out almost like its own short story from Stephen King that would not go amiss as being part of something like 'Night Shift' or 'Skeleton Crew'. To Reiner's credit, he presents it with those kinds of arch trappings in a disgustingly brilliant way. Although it is the simple story of a bullied boy puking on his town as an act of revenge, it is a reflection of how the boys are perceived in Castle Rock. They aren't football stars, they are trouble makers who will never amount to anything. It also feels like their last moment of true innocence before they discover the body. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2014 King said it was the best adaptation of his work and talks about how emotional he was when Reiner screened it for him for the first time. He said, "When the movie was over, I hugged him because I was moved to tears, because it was so autobiographical." There is no doubt that 'Stand By Me' is one of the greatest films adapted from a Stephen King story thanks not only to the incredible performances and chemistry of the four boys but in how Reiner retains the honesty and authenticity of King's story to the point that you feel like you are the fifth member of their gang. Even though it was deeply personal to King, there is so much to the film that audiences around the world can relate to as we all have at least one special memory from our childhood we can look back on with a smile and a tear. This is summed up perfectly by Gordie typing the final line of his story at the end of the film when he writes, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Joseph McElroy