Genre Grandeur – Stand By Me (1986) – Encore Review 3 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Realistic Films, here’s a review of Stand By Me (1986) by me.

Thanks again to Prime Six for choosing this month’s interesting and unique genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Diego of Lazy Sunday Movies. We will be reviewing our favorite Psychological thrillers.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Oct by sending them to psychodiego@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice Diego!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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When Prime Six first suggested this genre, I was quite excited because it’s such an amazingly unique choice and it’s even more subjective than most other genres.  Most genre’s deal with something that personifies the story of the film itself, but this one solely has to do with how each and every person perceives a particular film. I decided to choose 5 movies that I believe are extremely realistic and each one falls into a completely different “normal” genre.  My fourth choice is from the genre of coming of age films…

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“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” – The Writer

Number of Times Seen – Too many to count (1st time was at a video night with friends in ’87, video, cable, 13 Oct 1992, DVD, 17 April 2013,  2 Mar 2015, 7 Oct 2015 and 25 Sep 2016)

Link to original review – Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – In 1959, a group of four 12 year old boys go on an adventure to find the dead body of a boy their age who went missing a few days earlier.

My Take on it – This is a spectacularly written film and most people are surprised that it was written by Stephen King.

He truly is the master author because he is not only able to write horror but so many more genres including a coming of age story like this one.

His ability to create unique characters who are so deeply developed is amazing.

In this film, we get 4 friends who are so very different yet the have a bond of friendship that is so incredibly strong.  As the story progresses, that bond is strengthened more and more.

Every time I watch this amazing film, I am reminded about how important it was for me as a kid to have close friends and am always slightly envious of the friendships that the characters in this movie have.

The cast is superb and they all seem to click so well together that it’s easy to believe that they are real friends which helps make this movie seem so realistic.

The setting is so believable due to the music and cinematography that help transport us back to the world of 1959.

King has stated numerous times that this is one of his favorite adaptations because it is able to help him reminisce about his childhood from which this is based on.

If you’ve never seen this movie, I think it’s about time to check it out…

Bottom Line – One of my favorite films because it does such a wonderful job of capturing what it means to have close friends while you’re growing up. The cast is superb and they all click so well together. The music and cinematography help set the time and place so well that you really feel transported back to the late 50’s.  King has said that this was one of his best adaptations and I definitely agree with that.  The writing is amazing because we can easily see how the bonds between the characters strengthen more and more as the movie moves along.  We all really wish we had friends like this. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In an interview by Stephen King in the special features of the DVD, he reveals that the scene with the leeches actually did happen to him, when he was a child. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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