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The COOLEST Games Ever Made
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"STAND BY ME" page!
"I was twelve going on thirteen the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of nineteen-fifty-nine. A long time ago. But only if you measure in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only 1281 people, but to me it was the whole world..."
RELEASE DATE= 1986
The story!
Stand By Me is the story of true friendship and the loss of innocence. It brings all childhood insecurities, fears, and dreams into sharp, crystal-clear focus. It begins, as childhood stories often do, with curiosity. Four friends, each with his own emotional baggage, decide to go on an adventure: to find the dead body of a boy who has mysteriously disappeared. Our quartet, being young and adventurous, see the excitement as outweighing the possible dangers and risks.
The group consists of Chris Chambers, a very bright, outspoken boy, full of bravado on the outside, yet full of insecurity on the inside. Chris is intelligent, but being constantly beaten by his father, as well as having to live down his brother's bad reputation, have made him fearful and hopeless in regards to his future. His best friend is Gordie Lachance, a boy also full of fear for his future. Ever since his popular, older brother was killed in an accident, Gordie has become "the invisible boy" to his parents. They no longer see him or hear him emotionally. Physically they are there, but emotionally they are not. Then there is Teddy Duchamp, the son of an emotionally disturbed man who has abused him all his life. Teddy lives in constant denial of his childhood pain and creates a fantasy world in which his father is a good, loving hero. Vern Tessio rounds out the quartet. Vern is a fairly fat, clumsy boy who is constantly being pushed around by his older brother.
On the journey to find the body of this dead boy, our heroes discover themselves first and foremost. Each boy, in his own way, has to face his fears, but not alone; they all have each other to lean on. This movie is about true friendship in the purest sense...the ultimate acceptance of who you are with no strings attached. These boys love and accept each other with all their frailities and insecurities, and they do not expect anything from each other; they just love each other. This is what true friendship is all about. Along the way to their discovery, the boys have to face outside dangers, like the junk man and his dreaded dog, "Chopper". They are also being closely followed by Ace Merrill and his gang of hoodlums, including Chris' older brother, Eyeball. These older boys have decided that they want to find the body first, so off they go in pursuit. But it's the inside dangers that the movie focus on. Chris' insecurities of being able to break the pattern of his family's reputation is brough out in a poignant scene with Gordie. Gordie, in turn, shares with Chris the burden he bears of being a poor substitute for his brother who had died.
The climax of the movie occurs toward the end, when our quartet of young heroes reach their goal and find the dead body of the missing boy. Just at the moment of their triumph, they are stopped in their tracks by Ace's gang. Being afraid of them their whole lives, our heros could easily back down. During their journey, however, they discovered inner resources of strength and courage. And, in the end, they stand by each other and do not back down. They had faced their fears and had become stronger for it. Ultimately, the boys eventually go their separate ways, and the closeness of that summer journey is never repeated. But the lessons they learned and the love they shared with each other endures. These boys, in a short summer, learned the ultimate human lesson: that fears are meant to be shared, that love is meant to be shared, and that we are stronger and braver when we stand together.
Vern, Chris Teddy and Gordie
THE CAST!
Wil Wheaton (Gordie Lachance)
A willowy, doe-eyed young actor who has convincingly played smart and sensitive kids in films and TV since age nine, Wil began his career appearing in commercials at age seven, and gained respect with an effective starring role in Stand By Me. He later achieved celebrity as Wesley Crusher, budding boy genius and eventual acting ensign, on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). He began concentrating on features in the early 1990s with limited success in the absurd but entertaining Toy Soldiers (1991), as a troubled preppie cadet turned terrorist fighter, and in the talky, stagy December (1991), as a thoughtful pacifist reacting to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Jerry O'Connell (Vern Tessio)
Jerry had no credits previous to Stand By Me, but has since appeared in several films and TV series. His most recent work includes the films Jerry Maguire (1996), Joe's Apartment (1996), Scream 2 (1997), and the TV series Sliders (1995-1997). About the making of Stand By Me, he said that he and the other three in the lead roles totally became their characters for the summer of 1985, when the film was shot. Their rowdiness on-screen often manifested itself off-screen. The quartet's motel swimming pool mysteriously drained itself one night.
River Phoenix (Chris Chambers)
River was convincing as a bespectacled, brainy youngster in his feature debut, Explorers (1985), but Stand By Me was his breakthrough. He gives an impressively mature performance as a knowing, tough kid in this poignant coming-of-age drama. That same year (1986) he played Harrison Ford's eldest son in Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Running On Empty (1988), but will forever be remembered for his role in My Own Private Idaho (1991) and as Chris Chambers in Stand By Me. Chris's life is ultimately the stuff of tragedy, as was that of the actor who brought him to life on screen. Death by itself is not tragic, but a death that could have been avoided certainly is, and most regard River's passing in 1993 as a tragedy. Director Rob Reiner had this to say about River: "I did get the sense that he was searching and confused about things, and insecure... He didn't have a lot of technique - you just turned the camera on, and he would tell the truth."
Corey Feldman (Teddy Duchamp)
Corey was already a veteran child actor by the time he appeared in Stand By Me. He is well-known for his role as Mouth in The Goonies (1985). He is also famous for the "Corey and Corey" movies (with '80s teen idol Corey Haim) such as License to Drive (1988) and Dream a Little Dream (1989).
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