Stand By Me is a summer's end coming-of-age story directed by Rob Reiner, based on a short story by Stephen King.
The movie tells the story of four boys, best friends, who spend the last weekend of summer together on a quest to find the dead body of a missing boy. Deep down the boys know this is the end of their friendship. The day after Labor Day they go into Junior High, where they will be separated by academic achievement. As they go on this journey they explore the meaning and mystery of being 12 years old.
The movie features four authentic performances by the young boys, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell. It's a tribute to Reiner that he was able to direct them so well. Prior to this Reiner was more well known for playing Archie Bunker's son-in-law on All In The Family. This movie demonstrated that he was a director to be taken seriously and he considers this film his favorite.
The title of the original Stephen King story was "The Body" and that is not a very good title for a coming of age adventure/drama film, so Reiner chose the name of the song Stand By Me, by Ben E. King, to serve as the movie's title. The song plays over the closing credits.
Music plays an important role in the film. The pop hits of the late '50's are continuously played throughout the film. I don't know if music has ever been more innocent and fun, then the early days of Rock and Roll.
The music also made me think of the songs that I remember from my childhood. I recall that I loved hearing Downtown and Georgy Girl on the jukebox at the Breezy Point Beach Club. In the summer of 1972 when I was 12, there are two songs that I remember hearing over and over. The first was Don McLean's American Pie. My brother listened to this a lot and it played on the radio frequently. The other was a country hit called Delta Dawn. I would go on long drives all over Long island with my parents and they listened to WHN Country radio and Delta Dawn was a big hit for both Tanya Tucker back then.
At The Movie House rating ***
2 comments:
Delta Dawn was by Helen Reddy
Good review...Now, considering the fact that you are apparently a sophisticated movie goer, there can be no doubt that you will soon be reviewing the greatest coming of age end of summer movie ever made...a true classic and one of my "Desert Island movies"...of course...American Gtafitti...we expect a review shortly
Actually Tanya Tucker recorded it first and it plaayed on country and western stations before Helen reddy rerecorded it a year later na dmade it a pop hit. I always remember that I found it confusing that there were two versions of teh same song.
By coincidence the greatest summer's end coming of age story, American Grafitti is scheduled for viewing tonight.
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