Stand By Me (DVD)

Fans of Stephen King will be glad to know that one of the best page-to-screen adaptations of his work is finally getting the Deluxe DVD treatment it deserves. While 1986’s Stand By Me is certainly not a horror film, it embodies everything we fans of the fright-maven love about his work: scary moments set in everyday life that are so genuine your skin crawls; full-bodied, well-rounded human characters; and an undeniable realism no matter how extreme the situation.

Rob Reiner expertly directs four preteen boys into awe-inspiring performances as misfit friends who are on the journey of their young lives: To view the corpse of one of their classmates whose remains lie, still unreported, just beyond the railroad tracks where he was struck and killed. At first, it seems like a lark — to see the body (incidentally, the story upon which this movie is based is entitled The Body) — but things happen along the way that change them forever, shaping them into the men they will someday be.

Wil Wheaton (later played as an adult by Richard Dreyfuss) is the main identifiable character, but everyone gets equal time. His clique of buddies are poignantly played by River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman; the bully is teen-evil personified thanks to Kiefer Sutherland, and John Cusack is wonderfully sympathetic as the idolized older brother of Wheaton’s character.

Stand By Me is not only a strong and emotional coming of age classic, it’s also a movie that I don’t think could be made today — especially in its honest, unflinching portrayal of young boys swearing, smoking and playing harmful pranks. Our puritanical, PG-13 friendly world probably just couldn’t, er, ‘stand’ it.

The two disc set is loaded with newly-produced additional release material. There is over the movie commentary from Reiner which is both interesting and informative, but never all that engaging — I recommend the “Making Of” featurette, in which he says basically the same things, but with a little more zest.

The “Making Of” featurette is entitled Walking The Track, and runs approximately 35 minutes. We get brand new interviews with Reiner, the stars of the film, and best of all, Stephen King himself. It’s wonderful to learn of their impressions with nearly 20 years’ perspective. They talk about everything from the famous leech scene, to how losing River Phoenix in 1993 affected them all. It’s all absolutely interesting and compelling, and for real fans of the movie, it is a must-have.

The second disk features an isolated music score, with videos and some other specially-produced tidbits.

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson