Growing up isn't easy for anyone. There are times when you feel no one understands you at all. Although growing up is tough, the friends you have at a young age are the friends you'll remember for the rest of your life. Stand By Me is a very wonderful film, a masterpiece on a small scale. The film is full of great insights into the minds of a group of four boys who decide they want to see what a dead body looks like, and it sparks their interest even more that they actually knew this dead person. A young boy's mind is full of many things, they feel lost sometimes, strong at others, but mostly they feel invinceable. Rob Reiner has directed a film about four young boys who discover life is quick, sometimes merciless, and magical. I've seen this film numerous times and it always seems better than the time before. This is a perfect little film.

Currently, "Stand By Me" is rated #180 on IMDb--a very, very impressive score that would indicate that this is a great film. However, try as I might, I have no idea why the film is rated this highly and I thought the movie was just average to above average and no more.

This film is based on a story by Stephen King and is directed by Rob Reiner. It has a very interesting cast of kids all about age 12--Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton--all before they became stars.

These four boys decide one summer to go looking for a dead body--the body of a kid who is missing and who was hit by a train. They know about where the body is because one of them overheard one of the older punks talking about discovering it. Almost the entire film consists of the four boys trekking cross-country to find the body. Along the way, they have some adventures, curse a lot and experience togetherness.

There were two things I really liked about the film--the nice 1950s music and the acting of two of the characters. Wheaton and Phoenix were blessed to have been given well-rounded and interesting characters to play--and both were outstanding. On the other hand, Feldman and especially O'Connell played characters that seemed much more like caricatures--difficult to believe and rather stereotypical. Something I didn't like was the language, as f-bombs and lots of other nasty language abounded. Now I know that some kids talk like this, that's true, but it tended to make the kids less likable AND made the film less family-friendly--which it easily could have been.

Overall, the film really was adequate and nothing special. I expected special but only once or twice (such as with a poignant scene with Wheaton) was I left thinking the film was anything other than a coming of age story and nothing more. I just didn't get it...

Interesting that in Stand By Me the four kids who were our protagonists in the film all went on to have successful careers. One of them, River Phoenix has passed on to legend as a result of his early demise.

This was quite a novel film in the sense that it had no box office names at the time it was released. That probably aided director Rob Reiner because all of these future celebrities come off as real kids.

Reiner got all kinds of good results with his location shooting finding some of the woodsiest areas he could for effect. This film is shot 95% out doors and real out doors at that.

Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, and Corey Feldman are our 12 somethings who hear of a rumor that a kid they knew was hit by a train and his body is some miles away in the woods. It's summer and they decide to mount an expedition to find the body. The film is their odyssey into the woods.

Stand By Me got one Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. The writing is superb with the dialog that is given with these 12 year olds with hormones kicking in. The story takes place in the 50s. Richard Dreyfuss plays the adult Wil Wheaton and narrates the film and also makes an appearance at the end.

Kiefer Sutherland who is a bit older gets his first notice as the town bully in the small Oregon town this all takes place in.

This film is a legend because it is an eternally true story and will be popular centuries from now. Superb film making.