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Stand By Me (1986)
In director Rob Reiner's coming-of-age film - an adaptation
of a Stephen King story (The Body):
- the opening voice-over narration by the Writer (Richard
Dreyfuss) - later identified as adult-aged Gordie Lachance - introducing
a flashback: "I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a
dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959 - a long time
ago"
- the quartet of young boys: Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton),
Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman), and
Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) - and their adventures, including the
train-dodging sequence
- the conversation between Vern and Teddy about Mighty
Mouse vs. Superman as they walked along the tracks: Vern: "Do
you think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?" with an obvious
conclusion proposed by Teddy: "Boy, you don't know nothin'. Mighty
Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy. No way a cartoon could
beat up a real guy"
- at the same time, Chris and Gordie were speaking about
their aspirations - when Chris urged Gordie: "You could be
a real writer someday, Gordie"
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Chris to Gordie: "You could be
a real writer someday, Gordie"
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- the tall tale (told by Gordie at nighttime campfire)
about a pie-eating contest when chubby competitor Davie 'Lard Ass'
Hogan - who had finished off a bottle of castor oil, consumed a raw
egg and five whole blueberry pies, and then sought revenge against
the tormenting bullies in his life by vomiting a projectile of half-digested
food onto them: "Diving into his fifth pie, Lard Ass began to
imagine that he wasn't eating pies. He pretended he was eating cowflops
and rat guts in blueberry sauce....Slowly, a sound started to build
in Lard Ass's stomach. A strange and scary sound like a log truck
coming at you at 100 miles an hour. Suddenly, Lard Ass opened his
mouth and before Bill Travis knew it, he was covered with five pies
worth of used blueberries"; a contagious barfing-fest soon broke
out: "...when the smell hit the crowd, that's when Lard Ass's
plan really started to work. Girlfriends barfed on boyfriends. Kids
barfed on their parents. A fat lady barfed in her purse. The Donelley
twins barfed on each other. And the Women's Auxiliary barfed all
over the Benevolent Order of Antelopes. And Lard Ass just sat back
and enjoyed what he'd created. A complete and total barfarama"
- the interesting question posed by Gordie around
the campfire: "Mickey's
a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog, so what's Goofy?"
- the long, poignant scene between the two twelve year-old
schoolboy buddies Chris and Gordie regarding how Chris was always
labeled a 'low-life' due to his family's 'black-sheep' reputation:
("It's the way they think of me") in their town of Castle
Rock in Oregon; he described how he had been blamed for a theft of
milk money: "No one even asked me if I took the milk money
that time. I just got a three-day vacation.... Yeah, I took it. You
knew I took it. Teddy knew I took it. Everyone knew I took it. Even
Vern knew it, I think. Maybe I was sorry, and I tried to give it
back....Maybe, just maybe. And maybe I took it to Old Lady Simons
and told her, and the money was all there. But I still got a three-day
vacation, because it never showed up. And maybe the next week, old
Lady Simons had this brand new skirt on when she came to school...So
let's just say that I stole the milk money, but old Lady Simons stole
it back from me. Just suppose that I told this story. Me, Chris Chambers,
kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think that anyone would have
believed it?...And do you think that bitch would have tried something
like that if it had been one of those douche bags from The View,
if they had taken the money? No way. Hell, no. But, with me, I'm
sure she had her eye on that skirt for a long time. Anyway, she saw
her chance and she took it. I was the stupid one for even trying
to give it back. (He started crying) I just never thought, I never
thought that a teacher... - Who gives a f--k anyway? I just wish
that I could go someplace where nobody knows me. I guess I'm just
a pussy"
- the stand-off scene after the discovery of the body,
when Gordie pulled a gun and threatened gang leader "Ace" Merrill
(Kiefer Sutherland) and his three buddies who wanted to claim credit
for finding the corpse: "You're not taking him. Nobody's taking
him...Don't move, Ace. I'll kill you, I swear to God...Suck my fat
one, you cheap dime-store hood"
- Gordie's last hopeful words to Chris who felt trapped,
as they said goodbye: "You can do anything you want, man";
followed by the Writer's voice-over summary of everyone's fate: "Chris
did get out. He enrolled in the college courses with me. And although
it was hard, he gutted it out like he always did. He went on to
college and eventually became a lawyer. Last week, he entered a fast-food
restaurant. Just ahead of him, two men got into an argument. One
of them pulled a knife. Chris, who had always made the best peace,
tried to break it up. He was stabbed in the throat. He died almost
instantly"
- the film's last line (accompanied by Ben E. King's
title theme song) in which The Writer lamented as he typed on his
computer monitor: ("Although I hadn't seen him in more than
ten years I know I'll miss him forever. I never had any friends later
on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anybody?")
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The Writer (Gordie) - Typing On His Computer: "I
never had any friends later on..."
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Four Boyhood Friends
Tense Train Dodging
Tall-Tale: Pie-Eating Contest Followed by Barfing
Gordie's Campfire Question About Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy
Chris and Gordie's "Milk Money" Talk
Stand-Off Against "Ace"
Gordie to Chris: "You can do anything you want, man"
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