STAND BY ME

Well, finally I got around to seeing this beloved coming-of-age film, directed by Rob Reiner during his remarkable run of films that had started two years previously with 'This Is Spinal Tap'. 

There's nothing flamboyant here, it simply delivers on its promise of a slice of childhood nostalgia, recounting the adventures of four twelve-year old boys one weekend in 1959.

They have accidentally learned (as one does) the location of the dead body of a local boy who is missing, the only problem being that it is some twenty miles away, so off they hike to find it and thereby make themselves famous.

Although this is an adaptation of a Stephen King story, there's no horror element, and indeed dramatically speaking not a lot happens en route to the body, other than when a couple of the boys are almost crushed beneath an oncoming train. 

But no matter, this is a vibes movie in which we can bask in the warm glow of the friendship between Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern.   

The story is told in voiceover by a grownup Gordie (played by Richard Dreyfus) but thankfully the film just about avoids the cardinal sin of 'telling not showing', by keeping the voiceover on a tight leash.

Gordie's older brother (played in flashbacks by a very young John Cusack) was killed in a car accident a few months earlier, and as the film progresses Gordie’s suppressed grief slowly comes to the surface, culminating in his breakdown when the dead body is discovered.

Chris (well played by a 15-year old River Phoenix) is the leader of the boys.  Despite coming from 'the wrong side of the tracks' he is emotionally mature enough to at times act as a parent to Gordie, whose actual parents are so devastated by grief themselves that they have been neglecting him.  

The relationship between Chris and Gordie is at the emotional heart of the film, acting as a counterbalance to the more comedic moments such as when the boys bicker amongst themselves, or tease each other, or when Gordie regales them with a gross-out story he has been developing about a pie-eating contest.

To add a bit of jeopardy there is a gang of teenage punks led by Kiefer Sutherland who also want to find the body, leading to an inevitable confrontation which ends happily for our young heroes, although yet again I am surprised at how readily available guns are in the US.

I'm not sure that if I'd watched this film in the cinema when it came out in 1986 I would have been especially wowed by it.  I guess its growing reputation over time is a testament to the nostalgia felt by 'Baby Boomers' for their lost youth.  And yes I dare say that if you were a white middle-class boy growing up in the late 1950s then you likely did have an idyllic childhood, provided that is you didn't get killed by a car or a train, or get knifed or shot, all of which seemed to be prevalent hazards judging by this film.

RATING: ✓ Cheers