On S List of Movie Reviews
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Stand by Me (1986)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
8/04, 2/25
2/25:
Stand by Me is pure grade A cheese.
It's the script that's so bad, forcing everybody to give corny performances. The concepts are fine and should
be kept in as they are. Had the movie been made during the 50's, the conversations among kids would sound better
and, more importantly, cleaner. That's why Rob Reiner directed great classics such as
This Is Spinal Tap,
The Princess Bride,
Misery, and A Few Good Men but failed when it came to
The Sure Thing and When Harry Met Sally... due to language.
The four kids (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell) tried their best, and I'm
not going to fault them. But let's not kid ourselves: Gordie and Chris were closet homosexual lovers. There have
been plenty of moments to support this theory.
On the other hand, Teddy hated Vern and would've bullied him badly if they still stayed acquainted. The whole
time, I had these four kids pegged as future school shooters, but after seeing the dead body, they found
humanity for the first time which caused them to forget any notion of killing.
At least, the ending is well-done. After Gordie mentioned the outcome of the other three kids, I wondered what
happened to the leader of the gang (Kiefer Sutherland). He probably went to prison or died of drugs. Of all
scenes, the most memorable is the kids being covered with leeches with Gordie having the worst moment of his life.
All in all, it's not that Stand by Me hadn't aged well but rather it was never good to begin with.