This week is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the movie Stand By Me. Like me, you should plan to watch it again. It is a movie that many of us connect to over and over again. For example, about a year ago, I discovered that a childhood friend had passed away. I had lost touch with the friend when we were both kids and he moved away, but I still felt close to him. The best explanation I could give to anyone at the time was a line from Stand By Me, where the writer character played by Richard Dreyfus looks back and writes, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
Below is a clip from the film, but you should check out Will Wheaton’s new blog entry, “I was twelve going on thirteen when I made the movie that changed my life.” Wheaton, who played Gordie in the movie, discusses reuniting with the surviving cast members Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell. And he talks about coming to terms with the death of River Phoenix. It is a moving must-read for any fan of the movie.
There are some other good articles about the anniversary around the web. Popdose has a thoughtful piece about the movie’s anniversary, including some discussion of the Stephen King book that was the source for the film. SlashFilm lists twenty-five lessons from the film. And NPR has an audio story that includes an interview with Wheaton that he discussed in his blog post. Few movies hold up as well as Stand By Me, which is a genuine classic about being young and growing up. As Wheaton notes in his blog post, “[M]ovies like Stand By Me come along once in a generation.” That is true, if we are lucky.
