Stand By Me

1986 was an important year in cinema. Films such as “Aliens,” “Blue Velvet,” “Ferris Buller’s Day Off,” “The Fly,” “An American Tail,” “Big Trouble In Little China” & Platoon” became household names due to their memorable moments, storylines, characters, and cult status. One film in particular came out as these movies was none other than a Stephen King adaptation called “Stand By Me” based on a short short titled, “The Body.”

Stand By Me became a critical and box office success. This film along with that god awful “Maximum Overdrive movie,” which was the only time Stephen King directed, because he wanted to make his vision come true, but it was epic disaster and to this day, he regrets making his film debut. You can’t win em’ all.

With the anticipated release of the 2017 version of It. I want to spread the word of mouth to get you fellow movie goers aware of Pennywise floating his way to the silver screen and my article about Stand By Me is similar to It’s coming of age theme related to friendship, the primary theme in both stories.

This article contains no potential SPOILERS whatsoever, feel free to read it, just in case if you haven’t got a chance to view it.

Positive & Negative Elements

Positive: Will Wheaton, (Sheldon Cooper’s archenemy) the late River Phoenix, (also Joaquin Phoenix’s real life brother) Corey Feldman & Jerry O’Connell, all did an excellent job on their respective performances.

Fun Fact: Michael Jackson asked Rob to contribute to the song named after the film. Rob however, politely refused, because he thought the original Ben E. King version suited better to fit the film’s time period.

The Four Main Characters were interesting and relatable at the same time including their backstories.

Besides The Four Leads, Supporting Cast consisting of John Cusack & Kiefer Sutherland, both did a decent job. Don’t forget Richard Dreyfuss as The Narrator.

Rob Reiner (Meathead from All In The Family) did a decent job directing the film.

Character Development involving The Four Leads as the story progresses.

Cinematography looked spot on good without any Shaky Cam or Dutch Angles.

The film takes place in The 1950’s and Rob Reiner (the film’s director) did a lot of research to make sure this time period felt authentic as possible.

The Primary Theme depicted in this movie is all about bonding together. Friendship is the obvious theme for the four leads.

Not really a crucial plot point related to the story, there’s an interesting funny camp story told by Will Wheaton’s character, Gordie, involving a pie eating contest. After he’s done with this story, his friends act like a focus group on debating about the ending.

The story itself is based on Stephen King’s childhood memories in The 1950’s. Will Wheaton’s character Gordie is based on King himself. Most King’s characters are writers.

I think The Best Word coined by one of the characters is “Bulltrue.” If this word is on The Dictionary, I’ll give it Bonus Points for that.

Stephen King’s signature tropes were used sparingly and they worked out pretty well without shoving them down our throats.

The story is set in Castle Rock. Another trademark of King’s is when most of his works are set in a small town. A production company known as “Castle Rock Entertainment” was founded by Rob Reiner. It also produced “Seinfeld.”

The Ending will make you bawl. I suggest you to bring yourself a couple of tissues. According to King, he cried at the end. Well played. I can’t tell you all about it.

Negative: I couldn’t find anything wrong with this particular picture. Similar to ” The Shining,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” Stand By Me is another flawless adaptation. I’ll give it Bonus Points for taking a lot of effort in the making of this picture.

The Final Verdict: A FOR APEX!

In my opinion, I thought Stand By Me was excellent. Once again another flawless Stephen King adaptation with an APEX badge of approval. I highly recommend this masterpiece for those who haven’t seen it yet. So what are you waiting for, go and give it a watch if you’re excited to see the 2017 version of It.