Hacker Cinema
Stand by Me
1986 · Film · 89 min
Directed by Rob Reiner
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
13 positive9 neutralfrom 22 commenters
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24 comments on Hacker News
Apt Pupil! Yes, I remember reading that and loving it. Didn't know they made a movie of it. Stand By Me was originally titled The Body in Different Seasons. I must have read that 30+ years ago.. might need to re-read that some day. Wait.. wasn't Shawshank from Different Seasons too? Called something like 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'.. I may be trippin .. don't feel like web searching it lol
Terrible. I enjoyed many of his films, and count Spinal Tap, Misery and Stand by Me among my favourites. Rest in Peace!
I'd forgotten what an unusually strong and culturally-resonant line of movies the man had without (I think) the popular acclaim you might associate with them, like a low-profile Spielberg.
Spinal Tap
The Princess Bride
When Harry Met Sally
Sleepless in Seattle
Stand By Me
etc
A great loss, RIP
Can you believe that This is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand by Me, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men were all directed by the same man? What an eclectic set of masterpieces.
if it wasn't an Arnie reference, could it have been a Stand By Me reference, "Chopper, sick balls"? or Eric Bana's Chopper: "if you keep stabbing me, I'm gonna die"?
clearly, i'm the type where everything is a movie reference, or it's a missed opportunity
It’s my opinion, and probably only my opinion that the shorter his stories, the better they are. I love love love his short stories, but his novels are only meh for me—-two exceptions being the The Stand and Misery. I have read most of his stuff except for anything released in the last 3 years or so.
I think even his short stories adapt better to movies as well…Shawshank, Stand By Me, The Green Mile…all three to me are simply awesome movies but were heavily adapted from the source story. Misery was good as well, but I kind of blame the casting of Kathy Bates as a genius move that really made that one work.
I find it interesting that I like a lot of movies based on Steven King's writing (The Shining, Stand By Me, Shawshank Redemption, and Misery are top of mind), but I don't particularly care for Steven King's writing style or many of the books that are considered his best. I didn't care for 'IT' at all. It's like Lovecraft, I appreciate the ideas, body of work, and talent, even if it needs a different style for me to get into it.
You remind me a bit of the boy (Cory Fieldman) asking "And then what happens?" in the movie "Stand By Me"
My favorite Stephen King adaptations were from his shorts vs novels. Shawshank and Stand By Me are deserted island movies for me. But I agree, short stories are just long enough to put a concept out there with just enough to establish characters, motives, plots, yet leave enough room to expand on for the movie version without conflicts from deviating from canon.
Oh, I forgot Will was in that one!
Stand By Me is one of my favorites!
Crazy that’s a Stephen King adaptation!
I liked Joaquin Phoenix’s brother’s character better in that film, though. He plays a child from an unstable family. He died an untimely death :(.
Will Wheaton was impressively good in the popular 1986 movie Stand By Me, also with River Phoenix and Kiefer Sutherland. I believe this was the role that made him famous, years before Star Trek.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_by_Me_(film)
Wil's character on TNG was my least favorite, even as a kid watching TNG growing up, but I don't believe that is his fault. Clearly the writers did not know what to do with him, and its likely his performance is a result of whatever direction he was given. In the later seasons, particularly in his final episode regardless of the ridiculous "traveler" storyline, his acting is much better, likely as a result of older and more easily relatable. I guess this is all to say he was good at acting, you only need to watch "Stand By Me" to see that. If he had been worse at it its likely his mother would not have been so successful at forcing him to continue to do it.
Naw, King's novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" was totally solid in its own right before the movie. Same with "The Body" and its earlier subsequent "Stand By Me". Both of those from "Different Seasons".
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?" --Stephen King in his short-story "The Body" (which became _Stand by Me_ the movie.)
Totally relate to that.
"Different Seasons" is my favourite collection, and out of the 4 total stories in it, 3 became movies (The Body became Stand By Me, Apt Pupil, and The Shawshank Redemption). Can't recommend this collection highly enough.
I couldn't disagree with that at all. I enjoy reading Stephen King books, at times, but there aren't that many of them that have become great films.
Off the top of my head the best King films have been "The Shining", "Misery", "Pet Semetry", "Stand by Me", & "The Shawshank Redemption".
So many more films have been terrible (I've not seen the recent version of "It").
I've felt a very small version of this in watching certain movies. When I saw Stand By Me, I understood Stranger Things and Super 8 a lot more.
A movie was made 1986 based on this called "Stand by Me". It was a favorite when I was young. River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton are in it. It may seem dated and shallow compared to the story, but it's worth watching.
Philosophy/Psychology:
The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind, / Julian Jaynes. Hard to tell if crazy or genius, but well worth a read. Read at 38, wish I had read this at 20 or so. Most of us take our inner voice for granted, but should we really? And what if there was evidence supporting the idea that there's another inner voice, but our modern upbringing suppresses it (but it does reappear with some illnesses, under duress, etc)?
Fiction:
Different Seasons / Stephen King. A collection of four stories, NOT your usuall King horror genre; one of which became the movie "Stand By Me". another became "The Shawshank Redemption", the third became "An Apt Pupil", and the fourth will likely never become a movie. All are excellent. I actually read it at 16, which was the right time, but I'll list it here anyway; if you've seen the movies and liked them, it's worth reading - the stories are (a) much more detailed than the movies, in a good way, and (b) related in small ways that make them into a bigger whole than the individual stories.
Management (software/hardware oriented):
Peopleware / Demarco & Lister - read after I was already managing dozens of people. Wish I had read it long before. This book is basically a list of observations (with some supporting evidence and conclusion) about what works and what doesn't when running a software team. Well written, and insightful.
The mythical man month / Fred Brooks - wish I had read this before first working in a team larger than 2 people. Written ages ago, just as true today; A tour-de-force of the idea that "man month" is a unit of cost, not a unit of productivity.
You can find them in a few anthologies.
Those two were published originally in Different Seasons, which had three of its four novellas adapted into movies. (Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil)
the film is "Stand By Me"
On Writing is a great book and I recommend it even if you have no interest in writing.
As far as King's writing goes some of my favorite work of his are his short stories The Body (basis of the film Stand By Me) and The Breathing Method. You can find them in a few anthologies. The latter is actually my favorite for the odd way it's split into an inner and an outer stories and his vivid description of the 'club' and what it means to the character. I'm still puzzling over the possible metaphorical meaning of the story encapsulation there in relation to the symbolism of both. Or maybe there is none. Shrug. But it's an awesome piece.
I think you meant "Stand by me" instead of Lean on me :) Great movie btw, I have the same childhood nostalgia when I watch it.
I have too many to list. Here are some of the highlights that come to mind.
2001: A Space Odyssey -- had a profound effect on me as a child. It both reinforced my interest in science and opened my mind to the sheer size and scale and mystery of the universe. The original Cosmos series did likewise, and I think it's far better than the remake with Tyson. Sagan just communicates the sense of awe and wonder a lot better.
Wargames -- definitely made an impression on my pre-teen self and helped get me into "hacking" (sense #2), which led here through a long and winding road.
Stand By Me -- a profound film about the end of childhood. (The Stephen King novella 'The Body' is good too, probably almost his best work.)
Primer -- the best sci-fi of the past decade. When you don't have a big budget to plaster FX all over the screen, it's got to be in the writing. Big budgets do sometimes ruin cinema.
Enter the Void -- this is a weird recent one that stuck with me. This is definitely a binary reaction film. I loved it, others hate it. It communicated the profound sense of loss that comes when you're forced to leave a thing unfinished and move on, followed by the sense of hope that comes with a new beginning. It was also just the visual aesthetic of that film. It haunts me. The artistic ethos of this film felt as if someone lifted dreams directly from my soul and rendered them on screen. Night flights over neon cities is probably what I'll dream about as I die.