REVIEW: Stand By Me (the movie)

One of the more beguiling aspects of watching blockbuster hit films from a few decades ago is knowing what will happen to the actors in the movie several years down the road. ‘Stand By Me’ may be one of the best examples of this (second to ‘The Outsiders’) because of the relatively early age of the actors used. The unusual thing about ‘Stand By Me’s cast is that 24-years later, all of the actors have a noteworthy place in America’s collective celebrity consciousness, except, somehow, for the lead role.

At 15, River Phoenix (vegan) gives an outstanding performance as Chris Chambers, the stalwart leader of the gang. Young River Phoenix is indiscernible from young Geoff Rowley

Little did the viewers in 1986 know, that in a short 7-years in the future, R-Pho would be OD’ing on a West Hollywood sidewalk. But dying young isn't really that bad (if you're a famous actor/musician). Between ages 15 and 23, River Phoenix had already made known to the world the depth of his acting (not musical) ability and had probably nailed more chicks (and dudes) than I’ll ever nail in my life. It’s sad that he died, but, really, what did the future hold for him? Even if he survived that exceptionally powerful bump of Persian Brown, he would’ve only ended up in rehab, and then either found his way into a zealous cult/religion that he would credit with his chemical and spiritual salvation, or onto ‘Celebrity Rehab with Doctor Drew’ after years of hopelessly struggling with substance abuse. He also would’ve inevitably made some grave career missteps along the way which would’ve probably included some poorly received children’s films and at least two discreditable endorsement deal.

Corey Feldman’s (vegan) performance leads the audience to believe, at the time, that he’s a deeply disturbed kid with grim psychological issues that barely come to the surface. Decades later, people now know that that is just Corey Feldman, and not his character, Teddy Duchamp.

Of the four main characters, Jerry O’Connell (law student), is remarkably the only one with a legitimate acting career still intact all these years later. And, for what would be astonishing to the 1986 audience, many of those roles include portrayals of lead alpha male types. Way to go, Jerry!

I don’t know what the fuck happened to Wil Wheaton. I remember him as the baby-faced adolescent that somehow wound up on the Starship Enterprise in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’ but couldn’t really say what happened to him after that.

Richard Dreyfuss is a legend and will undoubtedly be until he dies. Recently, I thought his depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone’s ‘W.’ was nothing short of spot on. John Cusack is still a household name, although I can’t imagine his co-starring in ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ is doing anything to secure that status. And Keifer Sutherland can be seem every Monday night on ’24.’

Actually, there is one actor from ‘Stand By Me’ whose future is far worse than Wil Wheaton’s. If you look up the actor Gary Riley, who played Charlie Hogan
on Wikipedia, you'll find the following paragraph:

"Currently, there is conflicting information regarding the health of this actor. There is a claim that the actor died on June 10, 2007 as a result of an automobile accident. This claim is currently unverified. An alternate explanation regarding this claim is that the person who died had the same name as the actor Gary Riley but was a different and unrelated person[1]. There is presently no information on the Internet that can verify either the actor's death or that the actor is presently alive."

That's bad either way you slice it. Either he is dead, which is bad, or he isn't dead and is totally unable to make it widely known to the public that he is in fact not dead because his cultural status has slipped so far into obscurity that news of his life is deemed hopelessly lackluster to the internet elites. Bummer.

Regardless of the futures of the individuals acting in the film, there's a lot of heart and a compelling story that seems a little campy now, but was probably vanguard at the time. For the most part 'Stand By Me' still holds up decades after it's original release date.
THUMBS UP!