I watched the old movie STAND BY ME yesterday, and you should too. {You really oughta)
I was sitting on my couch on day 3 of house arres …. (ummm) …. Quarantine with COVID. Yep, finally got it. I tend to be a late adopter on a lot of things but I r-e-a-lly could have passed on this one. It felt as if I weighed 400 lbs. on day one. By yesterday I was feeling well enough to do some chores around my place, but after folding laundry, vacuuming, (finally) and cleaning out my fridge, (That one was sorta life and death, no real choice there) household chores had pretty much taken the measure of me. As I lay immobile on my excuse for a couch, I happened upon Stand By Me in my trusty Netflix feed. “Oh yeah, sweet movie if I recall correctly” I thought to myself as I willed my feeble finger to hit play. I was instantly transported to Castle Rock, Oregon circa 1959.
If you’ve seen it before, watch it again. (It’s even better than you remember.) Like fine wine, it’s aged remarkably. If you’ve never seen it, it will introduce you to a childhood that’s (sadly) not even possible anymore. Pre internet, pre cell phone, kids who rode bikes and played outside. A childhood consisting of; to borrow a line from the movie, “The kinds of things that seemed really important until you discover girls.”
An instant classic in its day, the 1986 film was the directorial debut of Rob Reiner. Mr. Reiner was better known at the time as an actor from the groundbreaking TV show All In The Family. He then went on to direct a string of successful, innovative films. When Harry Met Sally, This Is SPINAL TAP, (another must see), A Few Good Men, and many others.
It’s based on the Stephen King novella The Body. The movie is a love letter to a bygone era. It tells the story of four young boys who embark on a two-day adventure in a small town. I won’t give away the plot, but it’s not a typical “boring” small town adventure, and it also piques the interest of the local gang of teenaged thugs, headed by the brilliantly understated performance of a young Kiefer Sutherland. The gang heads in the same direction as the young boys, which culminates in a heart pounding standoff between the two tribes. I recall reading a review at the time that said “Other actors came in and acted tough. Kiefer came in and was tough.” Mr. Reiner was also able to deftly tease out remarkable performances from the other four young actors at the center of the film. Wil Wheaton, the late River Phoenix, Corey Haim and Jerry O’Connell. Everything begins with the writing of course. Mr. King included so many small nuances from being at that age. Which the young boys translated into feats of acting seemingly beyond their years.
I highly suggest everyone reading this either revisit or discover this gem of a film. Every man out there will recognize either himself or someone he knew on the journey of going from a boy to a young man. I hesitate to use the cliché “You’ll laugh, and you’ll cry’ but it’s true. Also, check out Rob Reiner in the aforementioned iconic TV show All In The Family It tackled a lot of tough and profound issues and was the kind of content we proud Liberals used to produce before we became known as “snowflakes” and became (too) woke( for our own good). It probably couldn’t have been made today, and that would be a damn shame and a loss for Humanity. Just one man’s opinion of course….
Be good,
-Mark Rockford Winsor-
A-a-a-nd, as long as I’m in the recommending mood…. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest based on a Ken Kesey book. (Books are ancient devices made out of paper)