Wonkette Movie Night: Stand By Me

'Geez, Gordie. Why couldn't you have gotten breakfast stuff? Like Twinkies and Pez and Root Beer?'

Spoilers ahead.

Stand By Me is based on the short story The Body by Stephen King. A close-knit group of four boys embarks on an adventurous journey, a search for a missing boy. A tale of growing up, friendship and the times spent with youthful cohorts on the trek to adulthood. At the beginning of their expedition they are children, 12 to 13 years old, a time of big changes. The odyssey they have embarked on will force them to confront grown-up issues that may help shape the adults they become.

Along the way they face trouble from a bully, perfectly portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland with bleached blond hair and a switchblade. As Ace Merrill he torments the narrator of the story, Gordie Lachance, and his BFF Chris Chambers. Ace and his thugs also have plans to find the missing boy, Ray Brower, as a couple of them were the first to spot his dead body, an accidental death likely caused by a train.

As the group of four hikes its way along the train tracks, they encounter physical and emotional challenges. In a run across a junkyard, they flee a dog named Chopper that they imagine as a ferocious biter of balls, but not the kind you play baseball with. A lesson learned is that things are not always as bad as you imagine them to be.

Together they lean on each other, each boy having personal and family issues that they need to face as much as the leeches that cover them after jumping in a pond. As their jaunt becomes a thoughtful passage, the boys will come face to face with their own mortality. A realization that the body they have uncovered is just like them.

Their friendship gives them a strong foundation to grow and helps them understand the true meaning of what it means to “Stand By Me.”

An excellent cover of the Ben E. King song by Florence & The Machine.

Stand By Me stars River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, and Richard Dreyfuss. Directed by Rob Reiner.

Stand By Me is available on the Internet Archives. With subscription on MGM+, AMC+ and $3.99 in the usual places.

To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules, go to WonkMovie.

Our cartoon is from 1943, The Underground World starring Superman, it is also the final appearance of Lois Lane in a Superman cartoon.