Stand By Me – Official Review

Today’s film is a timeless classic in every way that a film can be – set in the 50s, made in the 80s, and just as relevant today – Stand By Me (1986) is one of Rob Reiner’s best. Of course he has several other classics in his filmography, including A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and my personal favorite of his – The Princess Bride. Richard Dreyfuss plays (the grown-up version of) Gordie Lachance, a middle-aged writer reminiscing about his last weekend of summer break in 1959, just as he (the kid version of Gordie stars Wil Wheaton) and his three friends – Chris (River Phoenix), Teddy (Corey Feldman), and Vern (Jerry O’Connell) – are about to enter Junior High.

Dreyfuss’s narration provides rumination-laced commentary on their quest to find a young man from their town who has gone missing and is presumed dead. Along the way, they contend with a gang of older (and more violent) teens, led by Ace (Kiefer Sutherland) who are also on the hunt. John Cusack plays the role of Gordie’s older brother Denny, officially providing this movie with ensemble cast status.

On the surface, Stand By Me is about the playful, honest, and pure bond of friendship shared among four 12-year-olds growing up together in the same small town. But underneath, it’s about the looming cloud of adulthood that is slowly settling over them as they’re forced to grow up. The magic of this film (based on a Stephen King story – The Body) is in its ability to capture that moment in time when a kid takes a genuine look into the distance, and perceives, for the first time, that their life is inevitably leading to the same place as everyone else – the grave. The spirit of death hovers over the entire story from beginning to end in a way that doesn’t leave us feeling hopeless and gloomy, but nostalgic for those last days we all experienced just before having the curtain of innocence rolled back on us.

I think most of us, like Gordie, have some point in our past that we wish we could return to – and if we could only just get back there; and we would hold on to it for dear life. Likewise, we all have friends and loved ones that we’ve lost along the way – either because death took them away from us, or because life took us away from them.

This film cuts deep into the core of our hearts with such tact and precision that it’s almost unnoticeable, but there it is, in plain sight, in the very title of the movie – soulfully woven into the narrative with Ben E. King’s beautiful song nudging gently at one of the deepest longings that any human being can yearn for: that when our time comes, we will have someone to stand by us too.