As most people I know will tell you, I think Wil Wheaton ranks up among the Gods of cinema, (no snide comments and sniggers from the back there please Mr Editor!) and in Stand By Me, one of his earliest movies, he is joined by a stellar cast comprising of River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O�Connell.
A classic coming-of-age comedy drama it tells the tale of four friends, the scholar (Wheaton), the kid from the wrong side of the tracks (Phoenix), the disturbed kid (Feldman) and the dopey kid (O�Connell) and their trek through the wilderness to find a dead kids body (and also to find themselves). The film starts out as told by �The Narrator� (played by Richard Dreyfuss) who it pretty quickly becomes apparent is the grown up version of the Wheaton character, Gordie.
Every good movie has an equally good baddie, and the baddie in Stand By Me is a doozie. Kiefer Sutherland plays the sinister Ace Merrill, who in the majority of his scenes steals the show (and who in my opinion is badder here than the villain he played in The Lost Boys).
Although this film is excellent in parts director Rob Reiner did, I feel, add some scenes unnecessarily. I specifically mention the �barfarama� story. I think this scene was added to explain to the viewers that Gordie is a writer, but then we knew he was a writer from the outset (see �The Narrator� comment above). So that scene seems a little superfluous to me. On the whole though, Stand By Me is one of the ultimate teen flicks in my opinion, and the actors are superb.
P.S. �If Mickey�s a mouse, Donald�s a duck and Pluto�s a dog�what the hell IS Goofy?� That question STILL vexes me. |
