Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Stand By Me is a Columbia Pictures presentation, and is rated R for pervasive strong language, crude humor and some tense situations. The running time is 98 minutes. Originally released in theaters August 8, 1986.

INTRODUCTION
Stephen King's film adaptations sometimes seem to flop when transferred to the big screen. Take some of the ones between 1984-1986: CHILDREN OF THE CORN was absolutely dumb, SILVER BULLET was suspenseful and scary yet garnered many so-so reviews, and MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE was mindless, guilty fun which made every critic's Z-list. But Stephen King wrote a more personally intriguing coming-of-age story called The Body which was released on his "Different Seasons" collection.

In adapting the story for the motion picture version, director Rob Reiner and screenwriters Raynold Gideon & Bruce Evans made the perfect nostalgia movie. More than any movie about coming-of-age ever made, we are taken to back to the 1950s, and a time when boys could be boys. Where we could all hang out with our friends for good times yet still face the daunting truth of growing up with said partners. Stand By Me is an unforgettable meld of childish comedy, serious issues, believable and sympathetic characters and a perfect way to describe the trials of, well, being a boy.

STORY
The narrator is a grown-up Gordie LaChance (Richard Dreyfuss), and in the whole movie (except for the beginning and the ending which I won't give away), and he says in his first line: "I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being." BUT WAIT! Read on and find out that you're not watching a horror movie.

We then go back to when Gordie was that age, at the closing of the summer of 1959 in the small Oregon town of Castle Rock, and 12-year-old Gordie (Wil Wheaton) is a young boy who is completely ignored by father (Marshal Bell), and we learn Gordie had a caring older brother named Denny (played in brief flashbacks-within-a-flashback by John Cusack) who sadly died in a car wreck a while ago. His parents are still grief stricken, and Gordie is starting to lose his dreams of being a writer.

Gordie has three good friends by his side though, including best friend Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), who himself knows how it feels to be ignored being that he's been branded the "boy from a bad family" and charged with stealing milk money from his school. His reputation as a bad kid is fueled by the fact that he's kid brother to an older delinquent named Eyeball (Bradley Gregg). But Chris is sensitive yet tough, a peacemaker and overall aware kid, and helps Gordie in his moments of despair.

Then we have the final two members of the group, who are stooges in a way. Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) is the braggart and weirdo of the group, a risk-taker who loves to talk like an army general and make people flinch. His father tried to burn off one of Teddy's ears, yet Teddy keeps his old man respectful since he stormed the beach at Normandy, yet lives in an asylum.

And finally there's Vern Tessio (a very young, chubby Jerry O'Connell), a husky coward who has a bizarre family life. And imagination, too, as we learn he tried to play treasure searching sticking a quart jar of pennies under his house, yet has no map because his mom trashed it. Nine months have passed for poor Vern and he STILL hasn't found them!

While the kids are hanging out playing scat and talking crap in their clubhouse, Vern brings up how he overheard his brother Billy (Casey Siemaszko) and his friend Charlie Hogan (Gary Riley) talk about finding a dead body of a kid hot by a train, a boy named Ray Brower. Overcome by the notion to be recognized as heroes by their town, they set out on a weekend trek to find his dead body. On the way they dodge trains, get hungry, sware continuously, hang out in a grimy junkyard owned by a meiser and his "lethal" dog Chopper, have a run-in with leeches, bare their souls, and a lot more things.

But the boys will have to be strong when they run up with Eyeball, Billy and Charlie and their gang, led by the rude, cigarette-lipped bully Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland), who raise some trouble of their own and won't take "no" for an answer in telling the boys to lay off the body. There is a supsenseful ending, but I won't tell.

OVERVIEW
The cinematography by Thomas Del Ruth is absolutely serene, and every scene outdoors looks beautiful, only enhanced by the features of the DVD. Even 16 years old, it looks good. The train track scenes, even with wide-angle lens shots, pack a punch.

There is an abundant amount of suspense, too. The train dodging scenes are really edgy and the ending will leave you amazed. And the dialogue is fun too, as it touches on everything from Annette Funicello's breasts to "Wagon Train". Only one problem: these kids get away with too much vulgar profanities to make you realize they're not totally innocent. The film would've gotten a PG-13 maybe had the language got toned down, but the R-rated material the four preteen actors get handed do make them display better characters, though. Just make sure you avoid the heavily censored TV version.

DIRECTION
Rob Reiner delivered his best directorial effort to date, delivering comedy, wit, tension and a few surprises here and there. He brings some excellent emotion out of his young stars and delivers plenty of great train-dodging shots.

ACTORS
Wheaton hits all the emotional notes with stride, the late Phoenix blends bravado and frailty in fine equality, Feldman is amazingly energetic as Teddy, and O'Connell is a hoot as scaredy-cat Vern. Toghether these four young actors play off each other with true talent and chemistry. And if you want a very convincing antagonist, look no further than Kiefer Sutherland, who is a nasty and even a little funny in his role as Ace. It's also fun to see the charming John Cusack and screen star Richard Dreyfuss in their brief roles. Dreyfuss even has the right narrative voice to carry the movie. He gets sarcastic, cool and tender, the right blend of adjectives to guide you through each scene, from the innocent adventures of our four young heroes, and to the no-good deeds of the older gang (which includes games of "chicken" and "mailbox baseball").

MUSIC
The sound is good as well. The train sounds are clear and the musical score by Jack Nitzsche (which is entirely orchestra-based and brooding) retains its edge at the most sentimental moments of the film. Whenever we get a more upbeat tune, it's a golden oldie from the 1950s. "Yakety Yak", "Rockin' Robin", "Lollipop", even a Buddy Holly tune pops up. But the highlight of the soundtrack is the title song, the immortal Ben E. King/Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller-written oldie which plays at the end credits and appears in orchestral strands many times during the film. The soundtrack of oldies not only fits the mood but the scene changes, as we hear a song like "Get A Job" when we see Ace and his gang and "Let The Good Times Roll" with the younger kids.

SEX/NUDITY
Some sex-related dialogue (Annette's t*ts and the Connie Palermo conversation) and shots of the boys in their underwear.

VIOLENCE/GORE
Ace almost burns Chris with a cigarette, and later pulls a knife on the boy. You do see a slightly grisly shot of the dead kid's body and leeches drawing some blood.

CONCLUSION
Overall, this film is the one-and-only film about now and then that manages to really make you chuckle and root for the protagonists even in their darkest hours. And you get taken away to a time where boyhood was a priority and times were innocent. May this film never grow too old.

DVD DETAILS
The DVD version I first found was just of a widescreen of the film, but Columbia/TriStar released a "Special Edition" DVD, which also contains an anamorphic widescreen version of the film. The picture and sound quality have been digitally mastered to a surprisingly excellent quality.
There are three alternate language options (French, Spanish and Portuguese) and seven total subtitle options (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai and Korean). There are also scene selections (28 chapters) with motion images.

Rob Reiner's audio commentary on the disc manages to explain pretty much his thoughts about the movie as well as many techincal details and interesting stories, my favorite one being about the "yank your bush" situation.

A few of these comments also show up in a half-hour long documentary which contains recent interviews from Rob, Stephen and the cast and crew, including the three remaining boys who are all grown up. Together they each share thoughts on their characters, their cast and crew, and the atmopsphere on set.

There is also an audio track which features the musical score by itself. Also, there's the music video of the 1986 rerelease of the Ben E. King title hit, which features appearances by Wheaton and Phoenix. Finally, there's the talent bios on the cast and crew.

There aren't any deleted scenes and not even a trailer or TV spots (unless you count the trailers of THE KARATE KID and FLY AWAY HOME). Still, it's as special enough as this DVD edition could be.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings