By: Stephen Chen

Now I have an English teacher who is also a film study teacher, we are studying this old film for one to two weeks.

Film review – Stand By Me

“When the night has come.

And the land is dark.

And the moon is the only light we’ll see.

No, I won’t be afraid.

No, I won’t be afraid.

Just as long as you stand.

Stand by me…”

This is the theme song of Stand By Me, and the most popular song in the US in the 20th century. The song is still famous today, 50 years later. Just like the song, the movie Stand By Me is renowned. It received many honors and awards all around the world. Today I’d like to introduce this legendary film to you.

The movie is an adaptation of the novel by Stephen King. It tells the story of four 12-year-old boys (Gordie, Chris, Vern, Teddy) who want to find a dead body of a young man who tried to pick up berries and died in a train wreck. The dream to become hero brings these boys together and begins a 75km long, crazy, and unknown trip.

Moreover, these kids all have bad reputations in their town. Chris, the serious leader of their team, always lives with abuse and misunderstanding because of his criminal father. In the film, Chris claims that he stole some money from a classmate, but in reality, he returned the money to his teacher and it was actually his teacher, not him, who spent it. Although the second boy, Teddy, is often only seen as the son of an insane and criminal father, he sees his dad as a war hero. Perhaps the funniest character is Vern. He’s not only a fat boy but also the target of the other three boys’ jokes, which contributes to a lot of laughter for the audience. The final boy is Gordie. In spite of his reputation as one of the bad boys, Gordie is actually a gifted storyteller. I especially admire Gordie’s courage and strength when he keeps walking after being injured by a group of leeches.

The four boys face many challenges along the way and are very close to giving up for so many times, but they persevere and finally made it. They get the dead body from several rogues who are also trying to find the dead body to become famous.

Films with children being the main characters are often close with happy endings, and this film is no exception. The four boys return the dead body back to the policy but choose to stay anonymous heroes.

Unfortunately, one of the actors River (who played Chris in the movie) passed away soon after the film was made. Extend a salute to this little hero!