Best. '80s. Movie.
Its a bittersweet story of four friends at the end of childhood who both found and lost themselves in a two-day quest. Plot summaries here."I never had any friend later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
- Gordie Lachance
Stand By Me (1986)
Wil Wheaton * River Phoenix * Corey Feldman * Jerry O'Connell
Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Stephen King (novel); Raynold Gideon & Bruce Evans (screenplay)
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay
Wil Wheaton * River Phoenix * Corey Feldman * Jerry O'Connell
Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Stephen King (novel); Raynold Gideon & Bruce Evans (screenplay)
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay
"In all our lives, there is a fall from innocence. A time after which, we are never the same."
- Gordie Lachance
I was moved when I first watched it, I was moved when I saw it again, and even when I viewed it again and again after that. Even now as I'm all grown up, re-watching it still leaves me feeling vulnerable - like it did the first time I saw it when I was nine years old.
Those four actors - Jerry O'Connel, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman were absolutely phenomenal at such a young age. Especially Phoenix and Feldman.
Of course whenever I remember this movie, I can't help thinking about where they are now.
Feldman became one of The Lost Boys with Stand by Me co-star Keiffer Sutherland. Though he was a very cute kid, he didn't grow up to be a very attractive man and his career didn't flourish much after his teen years.
The child-star-turned matinee idol River Phoenix died in 1993 of a drug overdose. Speculators tried to pin his untimely demise on Jonny Depp, then a co-owner of the club just outside which Phoenix fell, accusing Depp of pushing illegal drugs. River was 23 years old.
River is remembered in part today through his equally talented brother Joaquin (formerly Leaf Phoenix).
Wil Wheaton went on into the '90s with his other iconic role, Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Recently he played a villainized version of himself in a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory. He's also now a Twitter celeb.
Chubby little Jerry O'Connel was next seen in My Secret Identity; by then he had grown up into a teen hottie. He has had several movies and television shows since then. He's now married to the gorgeous Rebecca Romijn (a.k.a. Mystique of the X-Men movies)
