Stand By Me

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092005/

Much like my review for The Thing, I feel I should prompt my readers to cast their eyes over one of my personal blogs, Wherever, Whatever, Have A Nice Day, before you read the below review as I feel it's important that you know where I'm coming from.

Most of the classic films I have reviewed this year have been seen at my favourite independent cinema, The Prince Charles Cinema in London. Stand By Me was no exception. I can't thank them enough for letting me tick another film off my cinematic bucket list. I just wish a certain little lady had been here to watch it with me.

For those who've never seen Stand By Me, it's a story of 4 boys who live in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. One of the boys, Vern (Jerry O'Connell) overhears his brother talking to a friend about how they witnessed the accidental death of a boy who had since been reported missing. They'd stolen a car and driven out to a lake and saw the boy get hit by a train. They don't want to tell the cops because they'll get in trouble for stealing a car. Vern immediately runs and tells his friends, Gordie (Wil Wheaton), Chris (River Phoenix) and Teddy (Corey Feldman). They realise that if they 'found' the body themselves, while on a camping trip, they'd be hailed as heroes. So they set out on a 30 mile trek to find the body of a dead kid. But they end up discovering more than they bargained for along the way.

So you've read the blog post right? Then you know that Stand By Me is the film that made me discover River Phoenix. The actor who's life (and death) has had the biggest impact on my life, the decisions I make, the people I mix with, ultimately, he shaped my integrity and the things I believe in. So that makes Stand By Me a film that had a HUGE impact on my life. It kinda made me the person I am today. 

So what do I think of it? Well excuse me for saying d'uh! I love it of course! Parts make me laugh, parts make me cry and when Gordie shouts "TRAIN!!!" I still get nervous even though I know they make it across the bridge! As my brother just pointed out to me (though it wasn't really necessary), Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix give career defining performances. Performances which show vulnerability, courage and ultimately, strength. They portray complex emotions that their youth could surely not have prepared them for. And along with Feldman and O'Connell they show us a friendship that has lasted long after the camera's stopped filming.

Rob Reiner does a beautiful job of directing his young cast, never making the audience feel like they are inappropriately watching a bunch of young boys in the woods. He instead makes you feel like you are one of the gang and on their side no matter what they are doing, talking silly around a camp fire, trudging through a leech infested swamp or standing up to the bullies. I couldn't imagine any other director handling the material as well as he did.

Which brings me to the novella. Which, don't be too shocked, I have actually read. And love. With the exception of a few extra scenes that are in the story but not in the film, it's virtually exactly the same. Which as I know from reading IT by Stephen King, and watching the adaptation, is not an easy thing to do. I take my hat off again to the screenwriters and Reiner for sticking so close to the source material.

The only niggle I have is that the PCC's copy of the film hadn't aged very well and it meant that the film skipped dialogue during some of my favourite scenes. For this I deduct half a point as it did somewhat spoil the overall experience. If I was watching a perfect copy, it would have been a perfect 10. As it stands, Stand By Me gets 9.5 out of 10.

Review dedicated to my best friend, Miranda Abigail Tennant, who died 3 years ago today. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

Viewing Date - 4th December 2011

Original UK Release Date - 13th March 1987

Cast Overview:

Wil Wheaton ~ Gordie Lachance

River Phoenix ~ Chris Chambers

Corey Feldman ~ Teddy Duchamp

Jerry O'Connell ~ Vern Tessio

Kiefer Sutherland ~ Ace Merrill

Casey Siemaszko ~ Billy Tessio

Gary Riley ~ Charlie Hogan

Bradley Gregg ~ Eyeball Chambers

Jason Oliver ~ Vince Desjardins

Marshall Bell ~ Mr Lachance

Frances Lee McCain ~ Mrs Lachance

John Cusack ~ Denny Lachance

Director ~ Rob Reiner

Writer(s) ~ Raynold Gideon (Screenplay), Bruce A Evans (Screenplay) and Stephen King (based on his novella The Body). 

Wherever, Whatever, Have A Nice Day

I don't really know where to start this one as I hadn't planned to write it. At all. I was talking to my brother this evening and he asked me about my writing, more specifically when I was going to write a personal blog. It's funny because my reviews have a broad audience and my viewing figures for those are going through the roof at the moment. But my personal blogs (the ones written by me that are about something and nothing) are only read by a handful of people. And yet those people are constantly asking me to write more of them.


I'm not even sure why? To me, my thoughts and feelings are distinctly average. And the people who ask for more personal blogs are people who know me quite well. I can't understand what there could be about my ramblings that these people find so infinitely entertaining.


And yet here I am writing a personal blog. And not because it was requested either, just because I felt like I wanted to.


I was sitting watching My Own Private Idaho. Kinda like this post it was unintentional. I put it on because I wanted to see the bike that Keanu Reeves' character Scott rides around on. And I just ended up sitting and watching it. And then I thought maybe I should write a blog entry about River. 

But then I thought I'd probably have to start at the beginning. And that's quite a commitment to a blog post at this time of night. But you guys asked and now you're gonna get it. Big time.

I think we should start with Star Trek, because that's really where this story began. My brother got me into Star Trek The Next Generation (or TNG if you're a Trekkie - which I openly admit I am!) when I was...I'm gonna say 11 or 12. Being that age I had the obvious crush on Wesley played by Wil Wheaton. Now anyone who knows me will tell you that when I commit to a crush, I go all out. Posters, books, magazines and most importantly I obtain EVERYTHING they've EVER done! So with Wil, one of my first purchases was Stand By Me.

Now as much as I love sweet Gordie (even to this day Stand By Me remains one of my all time favourite movies and I now follow Wil Wheaton on Twitter), I couldn't fail to notice his slightly tougher and equally hot friend Chris played by River Phoenix (remember I was the same age as they were so it's not as creepy as it sounds). Committing to my crush as only I can, I obtained everything River had done. And as he was already past the point of making new movies that wasn't a great deal. 

As I discovered River so late in his career there came a point when I had to learn of his death. And I won't lie, for a pre-teen girl with a silly crush on a movie star, it hit me bloody hard. I devoured every book about him, scoured charity shops and car boot sales for people selling old magazines that might contain articles from when he was alive. I got a copy of every one of his movies. The unlucky number for River being 13. He starred in 13 feature films before he died of a drug overdose at the tender age of 23. 

Like I said, for such a silly little girl with a stupid crush it hit me a lot harder than it should have. River's death broke my heart. If emo had been a term when I was 12, I'd have encompassed it fully during my River mourning period. I cried. A lot. Wore black. A lot. Listened to emotional music. A lot. 

And to this day it upsets me if people I know and love, take drugs. Like, REALLY upsets me. I can't explain it to them. I just have a fear I guess, of seeing them lying on a pavement, convulsing, choking on their own vomit. Dying. And no amount of "well it's only a pill" or "I only do coke every now and then" will EVER make those thoughts go away. I will never understand why they risk their life for a night of feeling free or feeling confident. And I will NEVER do it myself. 

So I suppose I'm thankful to River, for making me the kind of person who will always be 'boring' and 'stuck up', because I'd rather be that and alive, than where he is right now. 

I want to end on a slightly cheerier note - apologies, I didn't intend for this to be a depressing post - by asking a question. Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain was published in 1997. Six years after My Own Private Idaho was released. Do you think the campfire scene in Idaho provided her with some of her inspiration?

Night folks. Thanks for reading.