Wonkette Movie Night: Stand By Me
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.
Our next Movie Night, July 13, is appropriate considering the weather. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐭.
"Junior: Syncopators. Does that mean you play that very fast music... jazz?
Sugar: Yeah. Real Hot.
Junior: I guess some like it hot. I personally prefer classical music."
https://open.substack.com/pub/ziggywiggy/p/wonkette-movie-night-july-13-some?r=2knfuc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Great movie, soaked in nostalgia, about a time in young adolescence when boys are leaning as much or more on their friends as on their parents. The narrator says something about being 13 just once, and how you never have friendships like that again, and he’s right. You have other meaningful ones, especially and maybe most similarly in college when you are uncertain again and about to step out into the world an adult.
At 13, and exactly at 13, I had one summer with two buddies that I still remember very fondly, 37 years later. You are leaving grade school behind, embarking on middle school where kids start “going together” and having very confusing feelings. At 13 most boys are hitting puberty, which can be awkward and stressful. You start noticing girls or guys or whoever you like, and you feel things deeply. That’s what Stand By Me represents for me. Those 4 boys understood they were going through an awkward and emotional time between childhood and young adulthood. It’s scary, because you are practicing independence from your parents by leaning heavily on your friends. But you are still a kid, in many ways, and you need that security.
It’s a great story, directed with tremendous affection by Rob Reiner, and acted believably by the boys and memorably by Keifer Sutherland and a cameo by John Cusack. And yeah, Gordy choosing raw hamburger on a hot summer hike is a very odd choice. Maybe some canned chili, Gordo?