Stars: River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Marshall Bell, John Cusack, Bradley Gregg, Gary Riley, Casey Siemaszko, Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Oliver, Kiefer Sutherland, John Cusack, Casey Siemaszko

Director: Rob Reiner

Summary: Critically acclaimed story set in 1959, which tells of four friends who go on a overnight camping trip to find a missing teenager's body, but ultimately find out a lot about themselves. Based on a short story by Stephen King.

Based on Stephen King's novella THE BODY, director Rob Reiner's STAND BY ME is the disarmingly tender and subtly sublime story of four kids on the precipice of early adulthood who embark upon a quest. There's Gordie (Wil Wheaton), the intelligent, creative one with the obviously bright future. His best buddy, Chris (River Phoenix), hardens his image in order to hide the pain from the physical abuse he endures at home, all the while harboring the hope of escaping that image. Rounding out the foursome are Vern (Jerry O'Connell), the pudgy tagalong, and Teddy (Corey Feldman), a loyal and funny but troubled kid with a death wish.
When the four boys hear about a dead body 20 miles down the railroad tracks from their small Oregon town, they clandestinely set upon the unwieldly journey to lay eyes on this rare find. Amid numerous misadventures, Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy savor what may be their last chance to revel in the simple life of children; around the corner is a future that could tear them apart, not to mention a tough teen gang who desires local fame by finding the body first. Enhanced by excellent performances and an engaging plot, STAND BY ME ranks among the best of the myriad coming-of-age films to dot the 1980s cinematic landscape.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

A sleeper hit when released in 1986, Stand by Meis based on Stephen King's novella "The Body" (from the book Different Seasons); but it's more about the joys and pains of boyhood friendship than a morbid fascination with corpses. It's about four boys ages 12 and 13 (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell) who take an overnight hike through the woods near their Oregon town to find the body of a boy who's been missing for days. Their journey includes a variety of scary adventures (including a ferocious junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches and a treacherous leap from a train trestle), but it's also a time for personal revelations, quiet interludes and the raucous comradeship of best friends. Set in the 1950s, the movie indulges an overabundance of anachronistic profanity and a kind of idealistic, golden-toned nostalgia (it's told in flashback as a story written by Wheaton's character as an adult, played by Richard Dreyfuss). But it's delightfully entertaining from start to finish, thanks to the rapport among its young cast members and the timeless, universal themes of friendship, family and the building of character and self-esteem. Kiefer Sutherland makes a memorable teenage villain and look closely for John Cusack in a flashback scene as Wheaton's now-deceased and dearly missed brother. A genuine crowd-pleaser, this heartfelt movie led director Rob Reiner to even greater success with his next film, The Princess Bride. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Feature Length Commentary By Director Rob Reiner, Featurette, Filmographies, Isolated Score, Menu Music, Music Video Ben E King stand By Me
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1986
Release Date:	December 4, 2000
Runtime:	85 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 11012
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Stand, Me, Drama
Genre:	Drama