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an infinitely hot & dense dot 
I really enjoyed watching the movie that was assigned in class even though it was not made recently. I thought the main actors, although young, played their role very well and gave the viewer a good idea of the character they were portraying. It made me envy the boys when they were able to walk through the forest alone at night without the worry of predators attacking them. Nowadays I cannot even walk to my car at night without worrying a rapist or other predators are waiting to attack me from behind a building or vehicle. It is crazy how times have changed. Parents seem to be more worried now than their parents were when they were young, because they actually have a reason to be. Furthermore, I liked seeing the boys play outside and enjoy a game of cards. Twelve-year-old boys do not go outside and play as much as they did back then, but instead sit behind a computer or television. Even kids my own age do not seem to enjoy board games or a simple game of cards. Playing cards is one of my favourite things to do especially when spending time with my grandparents. I think it is a great way to connect with your grandparents because that is what they were used to do to pass time when they were young and by playing with them it makes them feel more involved and connected with you. Another part I liked in the movie was the way the boys stood up for each other and took care of each other. It is like the narrator said at the end of the movie: he never made friends as good as the ones he had when he was twelve. I got to admit I definitely agree with him.
I thought that Stand by Me was an awesome movie. I really enjoyed watching it, even though it is twenty-seven years old. This movie was about a group of four twelve and thirteen year old boys and their adventure to find a dead body. Two of the boys came from a twisted and broken family. Gordie’s older brother Dennis died in a Jeep accident, and at his funeral the dad turned to Gordie and said “It should’ve been you.” Teddy’s father was once in a drunken rage and held Teddy’s ear to the stove top. These boys were a family within themselves. Vern heard his brother and his friend talking about this dead body, so Vern rushed to his ‘gang’ and told him the news. According to the news a train had come by and killed Ray Broward and his body was somewhere by the river. So the boys head out to find this body. They wanted to somehow become “heroes”. They all lie to the parents about where they are, because they believe once everyone knows they found the body they won’t be in trouble for lying. The boys set out on their journey and realize they had no food so they pulled all their money together to get food. One night around the campfire Vern was asked if he could eat any food for the rest of his life what it would be. And his response was “that’s easy. Pez. Cherry flavor Pez. No question about it.” The boys have a couple close encounters with trains and scary dogs, but they finally made it to Ray’s body. But Vern’s brothers gang also made it to the body. Gordie scared them off with Chris’ dad’s gun. The boys decide not to bring the body back but rather made an anonymous call to the police. Throughout the story Chris and Gordie are continuously there for each other and they truly stand by each other. However, they lost touch, but Gordie was still deeply affected by Chris’s fatal death ten years later.
Christian Morales
9/13/12
I’ve seen “Stand By Me” multiple times since I was a child and I love it. The movie is based on the story “The Body” by Stephen King. Basically a story of a a group of friends, all with their own problems, who go out to find a dead body that Vern overhears his brother talk about. I’m not entirely sure why they would do this but that’s not the point. The group of friends involves families of parents with alcoholism, criminals, and psychopaths. I say psychopaths because any father who holds their son’s head to a stove should be institutionalized. On the way to finding the body they encounter many different dangerous scenarios. One being a junk yard with a very mean owner names Milos who also own a very intense dog who tries to catch them while they were filling up their canteens. I get that they need water so that part is fine, but when they cross over the bridge for the train, that’s when I thought there couldn’t have been a worse idea that they could have. The bridge is just for a train, which means if a train comes they would die if they were on that bridge. Two of them almost do die but luckily jump out of the way just in time. When they do find the body, they are threatened by the local bully who they all Ace. I have no idea how they all happened to be so interested in finding the body still the same time but still it happens. They were going to take the body but one of the kids, Gordie, threatens them with a gun that another kid, Chris, had brought. They make it out of there just fine but it gives you a feeling that if the story could have gone on then Gordie would have probably been beaten at a later date or maybe even killed. It is sad in the end to learn that one of the children, Chris, was killed trying to stop a fight going on at a store. Being a good citizen just doesn’t work out the way it’s supposed to sometimes. Over all it is a great movie and I enjoyed watching it again.
* 9/13/13
Lindsay Hoop
Stand by Me is a movie filmed and produced in the 1980s that is told with a first person narrative of one of the boys grown up. The group of the four boys decides that their going to look for the supposedly dead body of the missing boy just so they can become famous and get on TV. Gordie, the man who is telling the story from his point of view, had parents who never seemed to give him any of the proper attention because of his older football playing brother. His brother though, always looked out for him until he passed away in a car accident. Each of the boys had different issues at home with their parents, and never were around them enough to have a great bond. They leaned on each other for support, and valued each one of their special friendships. Each scenario they face shows how they help one another and are always looking out for each other. They always joke around and play fight, but in the end they would do anything for each other because of how much they care. Gordie dreams of how his dad tells him that it should have been him who died rather than his brother. That’s really messed up, and shows how his parents are infatuated with their oldest son. My favorite part was when the leaches were all attached to their bodies, and they dreadfully checked the underwear. When the four boys end up actually finding the body, they all agree to leave it up to the authorities to deal with rather than getting involved. Towards the end of the movie, Gordie explains how each of the four boys end up having different futures and aren’t really connected anymore. He continues on to take his kid to the pool, and moves on with life proving that memories last forever.
I really liked the movie “Stand by Me.” I had seen bits of the movie before but never taken the time to realize that is a narrated based movie. In my opinion having a narrator explain the story really adds more meaning and depth to the film. I liked how he told the story in past tense, taking us back in time and actually being able to see and discover things. Because the kid was a writer, he was able to give a full representation of each of his friends as a character in his story. He remembered little things about each of his friends that made them unique and was sure to share them with the audience. I felt like each of Gordy’s friends represented a side of himself that he kept inside, that is why they all got along so well. One of my favorite moments in the movie was when Vern and Gordy were running for their lives across the train track. Vern’s personality made the scene so humorous. Another one of my favorite parts of the movie was in the very beginning when Gordy introduced each one of the characters and a little bit about their background when they were playing in the tree house. On a serious note though I thought some of the best acting and truthful moments came out when the boy’s emotions were messed with. Both scenes where Teddy and Chris cried really hit the spot emotionally for me and made me feel for both of the characters. I feel like I really relate to Chris’s character. I am always trying to keep the peace between friends. I am there for my friends whenever they need me and have even been called the “mom” of my friend group because I take care of everyone.
Courage: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. Watching “Stand By Me” all I could think about was the infinite amount of courage Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern have. On their journey to find the body of a missing and presumably dead boy their age they encounter more dangerous and tough situations than most kids their age should see.
The theme of courage is persistent throughout the movie. The boys encounter numerous difficulties on their quest such as, initially lying to their parents, using a gun, escaping a “ferocious” dog, outrunning a train on a bridge, standing guard from coyotes in the night, combating leeches, and eventually finding the body of the deceased boy Ray. However, the biggest threat is what leads them on their pursuit: Vern’s older brother Billy. Unknowingly, Billy tells the boys he had an idea of where to find Ray’s body.
The boys confront Billy and his gang near the end when Ray threatens to beat them all in exchange to become a local hero finding the body! As Vern and Teddy run away Chris refuses to give up his well-deserved fame and glory. As Billy pulls a knife Gordie comes to Chris’ rescue with the gun. It takes all his strength and courage to stand up to a gang, yet he does, for his friend.
I truly enjoyed watching “Stand By Me,” the plot line especially captivated me. The opening scene seems to have no relevance until the very last seconds of the movie. The writers made the plot line interesting, starting from the end and then jumping back to the beginning. The full circle has an effect on the viewer that draws them in, thinking ‘How does this connect?” This is a technique I can use in my papers for this class and throughout my college career.
Zoe Unger
Kaylyn Lambertt
I really enjoyed watching “Stand By Me.” This movie is narrated just like the wonder years by the main character Gordie while he is an adult flashbacking to when he was a kid. He is telling his story as he writes his novel, which is revealed at the end. During the movie Gordie and his three friends set out on an adventure in hopes of finding the body of Brower. Throughout the movie the boys not only help each other out when faced with problems like bullies, leaches, and just being afraid, but they also find themselves. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Gordie and Chris were walking through the woods and Chris has told Gordie to stick to writing. He said that if his parents weren’t going to be there for him then that he would and he’d make sure that he kept writing his stories regardless of what his parents thought. This part really touched my heart because it showed that even though Chris is known as a “bad boy” in town because of his family he’s really a nice genuine kid deep down inside who is misunderstood by everyone except Gordie. The friendship between Gordie and Chris was my favorite. They stuck with each other through everything. Both coming from different households and lifestyles yet still having so much in common, feeling left out by their parents. Gordie and Chris brought out the best in each other, especially towards the end when Gordie had convinced Chris to take college classes and he ended up being a lawyer, something that Chris would never had predicted. I believe that the title of the movie means that through whatever happens friends will always stand by each other, be it something good or something bad. I’d reccommed this movie to anyone
I really enjoyed the movie. I have seen it before it was assigned, so I already had an idea of what to expect. I the movie I find the journey of the four boys as a bonding experience. Before they go on the journey they are just four misfit kids that share a tree house and hang out together. As they go on the journey together they reveal information about themselves or their family situations that they hadn’t previously told each other. Out of the four of them Chris and Geordie are the closest. The loss of Geordie’s brother has made his family go numb and he has become the forgotten child. Geordie’s family cannot get over the fact that their pride and joy of a first child is dead. Chris has a dad that does not care. He was even able to steal his gun without being noticed. Vern is the overweight kid who is afraid to break the rules. The journey gets Vern to go outside of his comfort zone. Teddy is labeled as the crazy one his father is a war veteran and is thought to be crazy because of it. Teddy has a burned ear because of his father but still idols him and wants to be a soldier like him and often pretends to be a soldier on their journey. The boys are on a quest to find the dead body of the boy from town that disappeared and is presumed to be dead. One of the boy’s older brother is a part of a rough group of guys and knows where the body is. The rough group of guys want to go get the body for a reward. the four young boys are determined to find the body as well. After overcoming not only personal issues, but also terrain issues like almost getting hit by a train, and being covered in leaches they boys were able to find the dead body.
The relationship between Chris and the main character is unbelievable. The two are closer and more open to each other than anyone else in their friend group. Most people never open up so freely to one another. I know I have never been so close to someone like this my entire life. It surprises me how they freely discuss situations and support each other when they are separate from everyone else. Over the course of their travel the relationship seems to already have been built and simply seems to be getting stronger. One of my favorite scenes was when the group took turns standing guard over the night. It was my favorite because their personalities were clearly expressed in the way they guarded. The begging of the story was major foreshadowing. “I was only twelve when I saw my first dead body.” I didn’t expect them to successfully find the dead kids body, but instead I expected one of them to die by one of the forces of nature. When the one kid was going to try and train dodge I expected him to get killed. When the kids had leeches on them I expected someone to possibly die. The narrator from the start kept me on my toes the entire time. Suspense overwhelmed me as I prepared to watch one of the kids get killed on the screen, however I was wrong. They all made it out safely. This story was very entertaining. I enjoyed it overall, I didn’t like the begging though. It felt a little slow. I started to enjoy the movie sometime during their trip. I’m not sure what it was about the begging that turned me off. Perhaps it was the initial image I had of Chris and the other boys. Smoking and cursing in the tree house gave me the impression that they weren’t at all friendly in any manner. It surprised me to see the close relationship the group was able to hold.
-Brian Lyn-
In the movie Stand By Me the boys are trying to break away from their last names. The movie begins with the four boys in the tree house. Each boy is thoroughly described and you can see each ones unique characteristic. Based on my opinion of the movie I would say each of them is trying to break the mold of their families. Also I feel like the older gang foreshadows the younger boys. The boys are each different and have different values in life. Each of the boys has a boy who is older then them that are just like them. Chris is sort of the leader of the group in my opinion. He brings in the weapon which helps show his power. The leader of the older gang always tries to show he has power no matter what. For example when the two cars raced each other and the leader of the gang forced a truck to crash. He did this in order to display his power and seniority over all the other members of the gang. Geordie is lost without his brother. His brother was more of a father figure then his own dad was. This created an internal problem with Geordie causing him to have nightmares and bad memories. Both Teddy and Vern are trying to break the mold of their families in order to fit in with their group. They try to smoke and do crazy things like finding the dead body, which is for older people to do. Basically they are all very mature for there age. They wish they were older because everything would be much easier. The commentary added to the depth of the film. It helped create a stronger ending and made it deeper. This movie is and will always be a classic and I strongly recommend it to everyone.
I can honestly say that I’m not the biggest fan of the movie Stand by Me (1986), which was directed by Rob Reiner. The movie is filled with dramatic and adventurous scenes of four boys who go out and seek the body of a dead boy they once knew around the neighborhood. One part that I didn’t like about the movie was how it starts off with Gordie sitting in his car. He then finds out that his childhood friend Chris has recently died, which is devastating news to him. Chris was actually Gordie’s best childhood friend and they use to hangout in their tree house together all the time. Gordie is actually a writer now and decides just to retell the adventure that he, Chris, Teddy, and Vern went on when they were all younger. Throughout the entire movie, Gordie’s future self is the narrator and tells you what was going through his mind as a child, and also what all of his friends were thinking too. I’m not the biggest fan of this type of narration because I think it’s rather boring. Yes, the narration style is effective by having Gordie grow up a little and mature and now know that some of the things he did was wrong, but I still rather of had him just think like a child. In the beginning of the movie, Chris gives Gordie a gun and tells him that it wasn’t loaded, and then Gordie fires the gun and soon realizes that it was actually loaded. As an adult, Gordie knows that he should’ve never played with the gun, also that he should’ve told Chris not to take it, but as a child, he really didn’t know better. One of the only things that I liked about the movie was that I could somehow relate to it. I always have hung out and a group of four guys and we would always go on adventures together. Every group has a Gordie, a Chris, a Vern, and also a Teddy. If it wasn’t able to relate to Gordie’s childhood to my childhood with my friends, that I probably wouldn’t have liked the movie at all.
I did not enjoy “Stand by Me.” I don’t really know what it was by I just could not get into it. Also, to me it was difficult for me to wrap my head around that they wanted to go and see a dead body. And that was the whole reasoning behind the long trek. The four boys set into the woods following some train tracks until they reach the dead boy’s body. They were also hoping to get credit for finding it. The boys find out more about each other while on their journey which I found to be very clichéd. Throughout the film, you find out the home lives of each boy are all less than ideal. The one thing I found to be missing at the end was that there was really no closure. Gordy never confronted his father and made things right like I was expecting there to be. He was still living in the shadow of his late older brother and could not make his parents more than acknowledge his existence. The thing that bugged me throughout the film was that Gordy let his hat get taken and never got it back. As if the significance of his older brother giving it to him did not outweigh the fear he had for those boys. To me this shows that Gordy more resented the thought of his brother. Even after he had been passed he was still all his parents would think about and Gordy was still invisible. At the end when they confronted Ace and the bullies he should demanded his hat back. That would have seemed more right to me. Also, I found it ironic that Chris was stabbed and killed when he was older because it could have happened so many years before by the hand of Ace had Gordy not intervened.
Based on the novel “The Body” by Stephen King, “Stand by me” is the tale of four boys who set off on a summer vacation adventure, however it is so much more than that. The four boys, Gordie, Vern, Teddy, and Chris, set off to find the dead body of a kid from their town. The tale is told in the first person narrative style by an older Gordie who is recalling the tale for a piece he is writing. The adventure takes them through junkyards, rivers, train tracks, and wilderness. An adventure of this magnitude would sadly never be attempted in this day in age. In this age of sheltered childhoods and over protected parents, an adventure of this caliber may never be attempted let alone completed. This causes the film to be dated, but that does not take away from how brilliant this film is. Three of the boys have problems with their fathers. Teddy’s dad stormed the beaches of Normandy, burnt his sons ear, and is currently in jail. Although never directly stated, chris’ dad has various problems including a drinking problem. Gordie’s dad was obsessed with Gordie’s older brother because of his talent in football. Gordie was constantly ignored by his father when his older brother was at home, and when his brother unfortunately passes away, Gordie’s father is sorely depressed and continues to show general lack of interest in Gordie. The adventure to find the body becomes much more than just a trip with their buds. Some of the boys find themselves and are forever changed. Chris , a local delinquent, wants to be more than what his stereotype defines him as. We find out later that he breaks the mold and takes pre-college courses with Gordie, and later becomes a lawyer. Vern does not change at all but rather is content with how he is. Although he has a good heart, Teddy is doomed from birth. He tries to join the army, but is unable to due to the injury he received from his father and his poor eyesight. He ends up following his father’s footsteps and ends up in jail. As a child you may not see it, but children like teddy are everywhere. The sad truth is that these doomed children very rarely succeed. Gordie lacks confidence due to his father’s lack of interest in him. When they come up on the body, a gang of older teens led by a young Jack Bauer threaten the boys if they try to tell the officials about the body before they do. Ace (Jack Bauer) threatens Chris with a knife, but Gordie gains the courage he needs and saves Chris with a gun. The kids make it out with their lives and learned about themselves on the way. But like old Gordie says at the end is what is the most insightful. He tells us that he never had friends like when he was twelve. When you are young, the major differences do not matter with friendship, but as you grow older those differences are what drive some friends apart.
The movie “Stand By Me” is a first person narrative filmed in the 1980’s. I had never even heard of the movie before we had it assigned in class, but I really liked it. The movie is about a group of four boys who are on an adventure through the woods to find a dead body they heard about. The movie is told from a grown up Gordie, who is one of the boys in the group. Gordie has a rough life at home. Gordie’s father does not really seem to love him. He focused all of his attention on Gordie’s brother who was a football star. Unfortunately he was killed in a car accident. I found it incredibly heart breaking that Gordies’s father turned to him at the funeral and said that it should have been Gordie. That is just the worst thing you could possibly say to anyone in that situation. I also found it interesting how this group of twelve year old boys was able to just leave home and go on a two day adventure through the woods. Today no twelve year old would ever take off through the woods for any reason. Kids these days stay inside and play video games. I think it would have been really fun to grow up in a generation where adventures in the woods were the norm for boys growing up. I also found it very interesting how when the boys finally found the body Gordie threatened the gang of older guys with a gun, in order to protect his friend. I also really liked how he insisted that no one was taking the body. I think Gordie did this because it reminded him of his dead brother. Gordie had a lot of respect for his brother because he was the only one who really encouraged Gordie and seemed to love him. I think he wanted to leave the other kid’s dead body alone out of respect for his brother.
“Stand By Me” is a movie from 1986 about of group of boys on a mission. Their mission was to find the body of Ray Brower, a young boy about the same age as the group of boys In the group of boys was a boy named Gordy. Gordy was also the narrator of the film. He is narrating from an adult’s point of view, looking back earlier in his life. By doing this, it gave him time to think about this experience that occurred earlier in his life. In order to find this body, the easiest way is to walk along the train tracks. Along the way, the boys face a ton of adversity. They encounter food problems, problems at the junkyard, and problems with the older boys in their town. The biggest form of adversity came in Gordy’s life, and it was when his brother died. His brother died before the start of the film, and it had a lasting effect on Gordy throughout the film. The death of is brother really was the driving force in Gordy wanting to find the body, because it had such a strong effect on him. This adversity is an important theme in the film. The boys go through so much just to find the body to give him justice. When they encounter the boy along the way; they continue to fight to find the young boy who died. They will do anything and fight through a ton of adversity to get justice for the boy. Adversity is a huge part of life in any person’s life. It has the ability to come in many forms, and not always in the form of death. In life, people have to fight through adversity, and that makes the person that fights through the adversity the best person they could be. In this case, the four boys fought through adversity in many ways in order to find the body, and to bring justice.
This film is narrated by the main character in the movie, Gordie, as an adult reminiscing about his childhood. Gordie and three of his close friends set out on an adventure to find the dead body of a boy they used to know. The boys’ intention was to become the heroes of their town. Throughout the movie, the boys become closer and discover themselves. They always help each other out when one is being bullied or afraid. Two main themes I noticed were courage and friendship. The boys come across many obstacles that could have stopped them, such as their parents, nearly getting hit by a train, and entering a swamp infested with leeches. During all of these situations, the boys help each other, and stay together. When they find the body, Gordie thinks about how his father always liked his brother better than him. At this point, Ace and his gang of bullies show up. They pull out a knife and try to take the body. However, Gordie does not let them, as he brought his handgun. Being humble, Gordie decides the body will be called in anonymously and no one will receive the reward. This is another time when the boys stand up for each other, this time with weapons involved. I noticed that this story is very unrealistic, even for the time it was made. If this had happened today, their would be search teams out looking for the boys, and it is not very common for a boy to take his father’s gun, and his father not notice for the amount of time that they had it. Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was an inspiring film, which showed the fun of being a kid, standing up to bullies, and had several funny moments as well. As displayed in “Stand By Me,” nothing is stronger than friendship.
“Stand By Me” is a movie from 1986 about of group of boys on a mission. Their mission was to find the body of Ray Brower, a young boy about the same age as the group of boys In the group of boys was a boy named Gordy. Gordy was also the narrator of the film. He is narrating from an adult’s point of view, looking back earlier in his life. By doing this, it gave him time to think about this experience that occurred earlier in his life. In order to find this body, the easiest way is to walk along the train tracks. Along the way, the boys face a ton of adversity. They encounter food problems, problems at the junkyard, and problems with the older boys in their town. The biggest form of adversity came in Gordy’s life, and it was when his brother died. His brother died before the start of the film, and it had a lasting effect on Gordy throughout the film. The death of is brother really was the driving force in Gordy wanting to find the body, because it had such a strong effect on him. This adversity is an important theme in the film. The boys go through so much just to find the body to give him justice. When they encounter the boy along the way; they continue to fight to find the young boy who died. They will do anything and fight through a ton of adversity to get justice for the boy. Adversity is a huge part of life in any person’s life. It has the ability to come in many forms, and not always in the form of death. In life, people have to fight through adversity, and that makes that person the best person they can be. I loved how the four boys tried so hard, and fought through so much adversity to find the dead body of a boy their age that they didn’t even know, just so they could bring justice to the boy.
Kyle Fanelli
9/15/13
This is one of my top five all time favorite movies. It is based on the Stephen King novella The Body. The Body is a slightly true story because Stephen King based the boys off of himself and some friends he had growing up. The plot of the movie is a boy, from Castle Rock, Oregon, goes missing in the woods. After eavesdropping on his brother Vern and his friends go out looking for the missing boy. Gordie, played by Wil Wheaton, is the main character and narrator of the story. He is a quiet kid who enjoys writing even though his father disapproves of it. His best friend Chris comes from a poor family who are known criminals and alcoholics. The other two main characters are Teddy, a child who was abused by his father and yet still profoundly loves him, and Vern, the stereotypical chubby kid. I think all of the child actors played their characters very well. My favorite scene from this movie is the pie-eating contest because I like the hats that the Benevolent Order of the Antelope wears. I think the sadist scene is when the boys gets back to town and the narrator version of Gordie explains what happened to everyone. Chris and himself eventually saw Teddy and Vern less and less as time went on. Vern got married straight out of high school, has some kids, and died in a forklift accident at work. Teddy attempted to join the Army, but was rejected because of his eye and hearing problems. He would end up serving time in jail and then doing odd jobs around town. Chris went on to become a lawyer, but was fatally stabbed at a fast food restaurant. Gordie became a successful writer based on fact that he seems to have a decent/large-sized house.
I personally enjoyed “Stand by Me” because of how the beginning and the end tie together perfectly. I really liked how reading the article about the man stabbed to death trying to break up a fight in the fast food restaurant triggered his past memories of when he first saw a dead body which later turned out to be Chris’s. “Stand by Me” kind of reminded me of “the Outsiders” because of Ace’s gang and by the way the kids behaved and what they did. I feel bad for Gordie because he lost his brother at a very young age and his parents preferred Denny over him. Its almost as if Gordie’s parents mentality is “I wish it would’ve been you in that car crash instead of Denny. Teddy has a very high sense of respect for his father even though his father is in a mental hospital. Teddy has a burnt ear because his father held him down on the stove top but despite being abused by his father, Teddy still defends his father when Milo calls him a loony because even though his father physically abused him, he holds him at a very high standard for serving in world war 2. I think Chris is the most disturbed character out of all the boys. Chris was born without a way out basically, his family was already known for being dishonest, so even though Chris is actually nice on the inside because he returns the lunch money to a teacher, he is still blamed for it and takes the fall for it because of his family name. These boys aren’t the regular bunch of 12 year olds, they’re on a quest to find a dead body, something 12 year olds don’t usually do. They encounter gangs, they have a gun, they nearly get ran over by trains and they find a dead body. I thought it was a great movie, I love how the end ties it all together with the beginning.
After watching this movie, it fascinates me to see how times have changed, yet children today still suffer through harsh childhoods that may be equal to or less than the characters of “Stand By Me.” The background childhood of the narrator of the story, Gordie, can be described as a struggle because his parents have experienced the loss of his brother causing the family to distance from each other, his father disapproves of his career choice along with his friends, and he himself also looks in sadness on how his brother loved him. Gordie’s situation is no better than his other friends as they are known as kids that come from a family with a mentally unstable father, and a family with a bad reputation. With the character’s background in place, the film continues with Gordie’s friends on a mission to do something ironic to their “thieving kids” reputation, and that is to located the body of a dead person whom they are aware of because it had been hidden there by one of the group member’s older brother. Gordie and his friends embark on this mission to become “heroes” but on their way to the location they are hit with the harsh realities of teamwork. The first run into problems occurs when Teddy attempts to dodge a train, and as the group tries to pull themselves together from the near loss of their friend, it can be seen that Teddy tries as hard to hold onto the belief that his father is truly special and not a “looney” as other people tend to call him. Once more time passes, Gordie and Co discuss their stories as well as their feelings. During these moments, I can glance into what Chris says about how he wishes that he had a father similarly to Gordie’s seemingly disapproving father. This shows a deep layer of his character, and how observers such as myself, or others would misjudge him without knowing his true intentions of becoming a better person than his family members. The night ends with the group of friends enjoying a comedic tale told by Gordie himself, yet the next day is not so comedic when the Gordie finds a leech attached to him, which causing him to break down and remember how his father does not love him. This brief expulsion of emotion also gives me the chance to view how he feels broken inside yet he tries to live through his father’s rejection by thinking about his brother’s care and his perseverance in becoming a writer. Despite all of these shortcomings, the group successfully finds the body, but do not get the opportunity to become heros because of a major scuffle with another group that also found the body. The ending of this Gordie’s tale is bittersweet because although he and Chris did make the most out of their lives (Gordie is a writer, and Chris becomes a lawyer), Chris ends up being stabbed and his other friends live marginal lives based on society’s standards. Even so, the ending pleases me as it lets me see that even through rough circumstances Gordie and his friends made the most of their time together on that one eventful mission and that his friends are happy with their own lives.
I thought this movie was a little darker than I expected it to be. The entire plot was based around discovering the body of a dead child. Also, towards the end, the several groups fight over the dead body. Though the darkness was a relevant part of this story, the scattered comic relief helped to keep me from walking away completely depressed. I thought narration was really well done. It helped open up the main characters mind, keeping the viewer well informed on situations and feelings. In my opinion, I felt like all four boys were attempting to escape from the shadows of their families. Chris from the criminal aspect of his family, Teddy from his mentally ill father (who is responsible for his scarred ear), and Vern who is trying to escape his childhood in general. Unfortunately, almost none of them succeeded. At the end, the narrator describes the outcome of each of their lives. Vern works for a lumber yard in Castle Rock where he has four children and no college education. Teddy ends up going to jail for a short time and having no real consistent job. Chris ended up becoming a lawyer but is the basis of this movie, because he was murdered. Chris is the only one that is semi-successful/is still alive. Also, I believe the journey to find the body of the young boy helped the boys to really understand who they were. I think it was more of a soul searching journey. A famous quote that describes the journey well is “Life is about the journey, not the destination” Overall, I found this movie to be a good story of the hardships of growing up in rough household. Also how it is even harder to escape the shadows of a less than satisfactory childhood. I think the movie was well done and very insightful.
I really liked “Stand By Me”. I thought the form of narrative was really interesting. Having the older Gordon narrate back on his life provides some insight that wouldn’t have been available without the time passed and the wisdom he had later in life. I thought that the flashbacks were really interesting too because knowing that Gordon’s brother died already and then seeing him made each scene that he was in even more sad and more important. Gordon seemed like a normal kid that was trying to have a good time with his friends, but underneath there was the fact that his parents didn’t give him any form of love. When his brother Denny was alive, his parents only really paid attention to him because he was such a star in football. He was probably the kind of guy that was good in everything – academics, athletics, and almost everything else in life. Gordon was always simply his little brother, nothing more. From the few flashbacks in the movie, it seemed like Denny was a really nice brother, and a better father figure than his actual dad. He tried to tell his parents about Gordon’s story and how good it was. After his parents ignored him he whispered to Gordon that he really loved the story. Gordon was getting ignored so much that his dad wouldn’t even pass him a plate of food. But since that was a flashback for Gordon, you could tell that hearing he was a good writer from his brother really meant a lot to him. Another great father figure for Gordon was his friend Chris. He was the same age as him, but he had wisdom way beyond his years. Even though he was having his own struggles with never being able to get out of that town, he made sure to help his friend by telling him how good of a writer he could be one day if he really tried.
The movie “Stand By Me” is about children in there teens dealing with several different problems. This movie is a drama that took place in 1986 and was based off of the novel “The Body” by Stephen King. Chris gave Gordie the false impression that the gun wasn’t loaded which was wrong of him. The first conflict was when Gordie accidentally shot off the gun because he didn’t know it was loaded. Chris shortly apologized to Gordie after this occurred and told him that what he did was wrong. After this unfortunate event Gordie and Chris both got bullied by two men that were clearly much older than them. I believe that this is greatly an issue because there is a huge negative effect that will be given off to both these kids. Also it is illegal for people over the age of eighteen to be committing such acts of violence towards these kids. When Teddy decided that he wanted to kill himself I feel as if he’s missing out on the beauties of life. Teddy is extremely young and doesn’t yet understand the value of life and what he’s missing out on. Gordie seemed to be neglected by his father because he didn’t play any sports by his father and a store clerk. This shows that Gordie should play sports because that’s whats normal for boys to do and also he is expected to play sports because of his older brother Dennis, that’s a stud at baseball. “So what everybody is weird” is a quote from this film that portrays that everyone is somewhat different and that everyone has certain things about them are different but this shouldn’t be frowned upon, its what makes us different. Also this video shows that people should surround themselves with people that will make them better and enhance there life not down themselves.