By Owen Quinn author
“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
Stand By Me, from the pen of Stephen King, is a classic and yes, I often do the theme song on karaoke. You all know the cast so won’t waste our time and if you don’t, why not?
The horror elements comes from a dead body out in the woods and the boys all having horrors at home that they are too young to deal with. They intend to find the body and become local heroes but they have a gang of local bullies to deal with.
Friends change over the years due to where life takes us and circumstance. But even when we lose touch, we don’t lose our memories of our time with them. Life is mad at twelve years old and your network back then was your friends.
They were your confidants, your backup and the only ones you could rely on.
The story is triggered when Geordie learns if the death of his best friend Chris Chambers.
That triggers their search for the body on Labour’s Day weekend.
Chris comes from an abusive home and his drunken father doesn’t want him top do that as a career. Geordi’s brother was killed in a car crash while Teddy’s father is seen as a loon but is suffering from PTSD.
Puberty is a weird time for anyone but it is a point where we begin to see that life is not as black and white as we thought. Kids can die too. What happens behind closed doors is not always pretty, people are treacherous and can abuse their power where kids are concerned.
When Chris admits he admits being poor and reveals he stole milk money. He confessed and returned the money but his teacher said nothing, pocketed the money and gave Chris detention. It is these things that drive him to be the writer he wants to be and escape the life he has. The scene where he tells one of his stories is magical and for boys, the most horrible thing that can happen is to have a leech on your penis.
The moment where Chris sees a deer while by himself is beautiful. It is a special moment he keeps to himself and I certainly have memories like that.
Stand By Me is a movie about friendship and the ties that bind us, even if we drift apart. As I said, friends come and go but the adventures we had with then=m never leave us. It is the journey of self discovery, finding the strength to stand up against bullies and do what’s right no matter what the world says.
By deciding not to take the credit for finding the body but leaving an anonymous phone call instead, they have grown during that weekend and shown more morality and openness than most adults.
What life was like before we grew up.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 