# 155 Stand by Me (1986)

Stand by Me is a movie based on Stephen King's short novel about four friends who set out on a journey to the woods to find a dead kid who was apparently hit by a train. It came out the year I was born, but it's surprising how some things, like human relationships and stereotypes, don't change over the years. I think this is why old dramas look better than movies of other genres.

What this movie does is take you back in time. I can't say that when I was twelve I had the same type of relationship with a group of kids my age, or that I had the same kind of adventures, but I certainly do remember having similar feelings, laughing and crying over similar things.

I think that the writers did an amazing job, so it was easy for the actors to play so convincingly. Of course I don't mean to downplay the children's acting, as they all did good. I was amazed that River Phoenix played so well in the break-down scene; later on I found out that the director made the boy think of a time in his own life when an adult had let him down and used it in the scene. It always interests me what happens to child actors when they grow up, and, once again, Phoenix's death proved us that early fame can wreck lives.

Not so many of Stephen King's stories have turned into good movies. Surprisingly only one of them (The Mist) is a horror film, and the rest of them are dramas. I liked everything about this movie. I don't agree with the idea that we'll never find any friends that will be closer to us than the ones we had when we were twelve. Or may be it is true, except for I would replace the word "twelve" with the word "eighteen". Anyway, Stand by Me is a great movie, with a young John Cusack as a bonus.

Favorite quote: "Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?"

Interesting fact: While practicing his lines, Jerry O'Connell was incredibly impressed that, as an 11-year old, he was being allowed to swear.