Stand By Me (1986)

I've been wanting to watch Stand By Me for a while now as it was one of those films that annoyed me because of how it is constantly referenced in other films and TV shows and how its praised as a classic. But having finally watched I can say it deserves that status and its certainly one of the best Stephen King adaptation films ever made. While the Shawshank Redemption is my favourite of the King adaptations, Stand By Me is a unique specimen in how simple yet effective it is in telling its story and developing the characters through comedy and tragedy. The leading characters of Gordie (Wil Wheaton), Chris (River Phoneix), Teddy (Corey Feldman) and Vern (Jerry O'Connell) are acted brilliantly well and their dialogue is so entertaining that you see them as genuine friends on a journey. While there are some great scenes with suspense and tension, especially the train bridge scene, the best of Stand By Me comes from the heartfelt homie talks between the boys where they all have face their problems with their past, family problems and identity. I have to admit there were a few issues I had with the film being the 80sness of the bullies even though the film is stuck in 1959. Crazy bullies is a recurring theme in King's work but I find the films just make them into bloodthirsty psychopaths and it comes across like that in this film. But the film's biggest strength is that it has charm which many great films to this day don't even have.