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* EditedForTelevision: Some TV broadcasts do an [[SpecialEffectsFailure extremely bad job]] of changing the final line visible on Gordie's computer monitor to remove the mention of God.
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* HeyItsThatGuy. [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Quato]] wished Gordy died instead of Denny.
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By not be a note. Feel free to change it.
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* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk. Though alive in the movie, their lives have gone absolutely nowhere.]]
to:
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk. Though alive in the movie, their lives have gone absolutely nowhere.]]]][[note]] Although one could make the case of Vern actually just having a peaceful small-town life in the end, married, with kids, and a simple job.[[/note]]
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* FourManBand
** OnlySaneMan: Chris.
** TheSmartGuy: Gord.
** The Pervert: Teddy.
** ButtMonkey: Vern.
** OnlySaneMan: Chris.
** TheSmartGuy: Gord.
** The Pervert: Teddy.
** ButtMonkey: Vern.
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* HypotheticalFightDebate: The boys discuss whether WesternAnimation/MightyMouse could beat up Franchise/{{Superman}}.
-->'''Teddy:''' Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy.
-->'''Teddy:''' Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman is a real guy.
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*** But was it an invented dream, or was he simply having a memory in the dream? The disdain they visibly treat him with means the line isn't exactly out of character.
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-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your [[BeastialityIsDepraved dog's pregnant.]]
to:
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your [[BeastialityIsDepraved [[BestialityIsDepraved dog's pregnant.]]
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Changed line(s) 96 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
to:
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your [[BeastialityIsDepraved dog's pregnant.]]
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* SadistTeacher
to:
* SadistTeacherSadistTeacher: [[spoiler: One topic mentioned frequently throughout the first-half of the movie is how Chris stole money from the class. During a talk with Gordie, he reveals he'd given the money back to their teacher, but the teacher decided to spend the money on herself and still accuse Chris of stealing the money.]]
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* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Teddy.
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* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Gordie and Chris; Vern and Teddy.
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* DawsonCasting: All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close, except RiverPhoenix, who was fifteen. None of the older boys were under 20, Ace's gang, Gordie's brother, and Lardass.
to:
* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close, except RiverPhoenix, who was fifteen. None of the older boys were under 20, Ace's gang, Gordie's brother, and Lardass.Lardass.
* DeadpanSnarker: Teddy.
* DeadpanSnarker: Teddy.
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* RacingTheTrain: The film has the boys racing a train on foot.
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* DawsonCasting: All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close, except RiverPhoenix, who was fifteen. None of the older boys were under 20.
to:
* DawsonCasting: All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close, except RiverPhoenix, who was fifteen. None of the older boys were under 20. 20, Ace's gang, Gordie's brother, and Lardass.
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* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close (RiverPhoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
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* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close (RiverPhoenix close, except RiverPhoenix, who was fifteen but looked younger) as were fifteen. None of the older boys.boys were under 20.
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The twelve-year-old Gordie (played by TV's WilWheaton) and his three friends journey into the woods near their home to look at the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "The Revenge of Lard-Ass Hogan") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
to:
The twelve-year-old Gordie (played by TV's WilWheaton) Creator/WilWheaton) and his three friends journey into the woods near their home to look at the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "The Revenge of Lard-Ass Hogan") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
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* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
to:
* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix (RiverPhoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
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* DramaticGunCock: Gordie defending himself against Ace and his switchblade knife.
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* BittersweetEnding
to:
* BittersweetEndingBittersweetEnding: Though some would just say its a straight DownerEnding.
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* TheFatGuy: Vern.
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** Gordie's parents barely can bring themselves to respond to his presence, and the novella makes it clear that this is not something that started after Denny's death - Gordie once swore at the dinner table just to see what would happen ("Please pass those goddamn spuds."), and the only response was his mother telling Denny that his aunt asked how he was doing.
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* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk.]]
to:
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk. Though alive in the movie, their lives have gone absolutely nowhere.]]
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* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving them knowledge of it and they realised that young kids tend to curse like sailors as they do here.
to:
* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving them knowledge of it and they realised realized that young kids tend to curse like sailors as they do here.
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** It's even worse in the book - Denny is a loving older brother in the movie, but in the book he doesn't interact much with Gordie, as they are 10 years apart in age, so there isn't much chance for it.
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* TheFifties
to:
* TheFiftiesTheFifties: Although the book takes place in 1960, the movie is set in the summer of 1959.
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* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as Their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
to:
* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as Their their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
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** Reiner also asked River Phoenix to think about the biggest moment an adult had let him down when he had to cry during the campfire scene. He got very emotional and Reiner comforted him for long afterwards, but it paid off: The take was by far the best and the one used in the final film.
to:
** Reiner also asked River Phoenix to think about the biggest moment an adult had let him down when he had to cry during the campfire scene. He got very emotional and Reiner comforted him for long afterwards, but it paid off: The the take was by far the best and the one used in the final film.
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* KarmaHoudini: Ace and His gang unfortunately.
to:
* KarmaHoudini: Ace and His his gang unfortunately.
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* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving Them knowledge of it and They realised that young kids tend to curse like sailors as They do here.
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* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving Them them knowledge of it and They they realised that young kids tend to curse like sailors as They they do here.
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* TheUnfavorite: Gordie's parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyways. As it is, Denny (the brother) was the one who paid the most attention to him.
to:
* TheUnfavorite: Gordie's parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyways.anyway. As it is, Denny (the brother) was the one who paid the most attention to him.
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* WellDoneSonGuy: Gordie desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like His father hates him.
to:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Gordie desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like His his father hates him.
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-->''*Chris and Gordie laugh*''
to:
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the Namespace stuff changing
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''StandByMe'' is a 1986 ComingOfAge film directed by Rob Reiner based on the novella ''The Body'' by StephenKing. Set in the fictional Castle Rock, Oregon (Maine in the original story) in 1959, the film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, now a freelance writer.
to:
''StandByMe'' is a 1986 ComingOfAge film directed by Rob Reiner based on the novella ''The Body'' by StephenKing. Creator/StephenKing. Set in the fictional Castle Rock, Oregon (Maine in the original story) in 1959, the film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, now a freelance writer.
writer.
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* AuthorStandIn: Gordie Lachance, the sensitive and imaginative boy StephenKing used to be.
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* AuthorStandIn: Gordie Lachance, the sensitive and imaginative boy StephenKing Creator/StephenKing used to be.
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* BoringReturnJourney: Granted, they used a rough path on the main journey.
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* BoringReturnJourney: Granted, they used a rough path on the main journey.
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* NightmareSequence: In ''The Body'', [[spoiler: Gordie dreams that Vern and Teddy drag Chris into water and drown him.]]
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* NightmareSequence: In ''The Body'', [[spoiler: Gordie dreams that Vern and Teddy drag Chris into water and drown him.]] ]]
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** Although he does have a jerkass older brother.
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** Although he does have a jerkass older brother.
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* SpaceWhaleAesop: The book definitely has this. Don't go looking for dead bodies or you will acquire a death curse. But then, the book ''The Body'' was written by StephenKing. The film ''StandByMe'' would cause you to forget that it is based on a book written by the horror master himself.
to:
* SpaceWhaleAesop: The book definitely has this. Don't go looking for dead bodies or you will acquire a death curse. But then, the book ''The Body'' was written by StephenKing.Creator/StephenKing. The film ''StandByMe'' would cause you to forget that it is based on a book written by the horror master himself.
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----
to:
----
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* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
to:
* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.abusive.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
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* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
to:
* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.
abusive.* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
* BlondGuysAreEvil: Ace.
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----
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----
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ptitle killing
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* [=~Why Couldn't You Be Different?~=]: Gordie's parents prefer his brother the football star, and when the brother dies in a car crash they lament that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it wasn't Gordie instead]].
to:
* [=~Why Couldn't You Be Different?~=]: WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Gordie's parents prefer his brother the football star, and when the brother dies in a car crash they lament that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it wasn't Gordie instead]].
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[[quoteright:326:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stand-by-me-poster_8303.jpg]]
->''"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"''
-->--'''The Writer'''
''StandByMe'' is a 1986 ComingOfAge film directed by Rob Reiner based on the novella ''The Body'' by StephenKing. Set in the fictional Castle Rock, Oregon (Maine in the original story) in 1959, the film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, now a freelance writer.
The twelve-year-old Gordie (played by TV's WilWheaton) and his three friends journey into the woods near their home to look at the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "The Revenge of Lard-Ass Hogan") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
The film contrasts the four main characters, who are depicted as well-meaning and relatively virtuous, with a gang of bullies called the "Cobras", who are led by local hood "Ace" Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland).
See 1995's ''NowAndThen'' for basically the [[GenderFlip girl version]].
----
!! This Movie Contains Examples Of:
* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
* AngryGuardDog: The legendary Chopper, who is said to be trained to attack with [[GroinAttack anatomical precision]].
* AuthorStandIn: Gordie Lachance, the sensitive and imaginative boy StephenKing used to be.
* BerserkButton: Teddy goes ballistic after Milo Pressman calls his father a "looney".
* BewareOfViciousDog: [[spoiler:Subverted]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Chris, towards Gordie.
* BigBrotherMentor: Denny was this to Gordie.
* BittersweetEnding
* BoringReturnJourney: Granted, they used a rough path on the main journey.
* ButtMonkey: Vern.
* ChekhovsGun: Literally. The handgun that Chris shows Gordie before the boys start their trip is forgotten until [[spoiler: Ace and his gang show up and Gordie(movie)/Chris(book) uses it to scare them off]].
** Not quite. The kids each brandish the pistol when they take turns keeping watch at night.
* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as Their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
* DiesWideOpen: The late Ray Brower is found by the boys this way. They cover his face with debris.
* DysfunctionJunction: This film cracks the mask of the seemingly picture-perfect and wholesome EverytownAmerica of the 1950s open with a baseball bat.
* EnforcedMethodActing: Wil Wheaton has written several times on his experiences making the movie. In one scene that involved the boys running from a train, Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell didn't look scared enough, so Reiner started screaming at them to make them cry. Afterwards, he felt terrible about it and comforted both of them. And to ensure that the child actors really looked intimidated by his character, Kiefer Sutherland supposedly bullied them in real life (although Wheaton doesn't recall it happening to him). The scene with the leeches in Wheaton's hand and...[[GroinAttack other]] places, however, was not real.
** Reiner also asked River Phoenix to think about the biggest moment an adult had let him down when he had to cry during the campfire scene. He got very emotional and Reiner comforted him for long afterwards, but it paid off: The take was by far the best and the one used in the final film.
* EverybodySmokes: They're 12, but all of the main four smoke. Even the generally wholesome lead, and the timid chubby one.
* TheFatGuy: Vern.
* TheFifties
* FourTemperamentEnsemble
* FramingDevice[=/=]NostalgicNarrator: The Writer (aka the adult Gordie, played by Richard Dreyfuss) recalls and narrates the events of the film after learning that [[spoiler:Chris was stabbed to death while trying to break up a fight at a restaurant.]]
* FreeRangeChildren
* FurryConfusion: The boys express confusion that both Goofy and Pluto appear to be dogs.
* GangOfBullies
* GirlyRun: Used by Wil Wheaton as an acting technique.
* GroinAttack: If there are worse places on the human body to find a leech, we can't think of them. No wonder Gordie [[{{fainting}} faints]].
** "Chopper, sic balls!"
* HeyItsThatGuy. [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Quato]] wished Gordy died instead of Denny.
* IllKillYou: Said by Teddy to Milo Pressman, and later by Gordie to Ace Merrill.
* InstantLeechJustFallInWater
* {{Jerkass}}: Teddy Duchamp, Milo, and Ace's gang.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Chris Chambers.
* KarmaHoudini: Ace and His gang unfortunately.
* TheLoad / TheMillstone: Vern, especially on the RailroadTracksOfDoom.
* MisterSandmanSequence: The entire soundtrack. ''[[EarWorm Lollipop, lollipop]]...''
* NightmareSequence: In ''The Body'', [[spoiler: Gordie dreams that Vern and Teddy drag Chris into water and drown him.]]
* OhCrap: ''"[[BigWordShout TRAAAAAIN!]]"''
* ParentalAbandonment: Only the hopelessly naive Verne has ''any'' semblance of a happy family.
** Although he does have a jerkass older brother.
* PinkySwear: Chris really ''really'' didn't know the gun was loaded.
* PrecisionFStrike: Sorta. He doesn't ACTUALLY say a swear, but the line is so spot-on that it FEELS like one of these.
--->'''Gordie:''' "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood!"
** Also see YourMom below.
* RailroadTracksOfDoom: The bridge.
* RealSongThemeTune: Ben E. King's classic actually made the Top 10 chart all over again thanks to its use in the film.
* RoadMovie
* SadistTeacher
* SeinfeldianConversation: Half the conversations the boys have.
--> Vern: Do you think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
--> Teddy: What are you, cracked?...Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Superman is a real guy.]]
* SpaceWhaleAesop: The book definitely has this. Don't go looking for dead bodies or you will acquire a death curse. But then, the book ''The Body'' was written by StephenKing. The film ''StandByMe'' would cause you to forget that it is based on a book written by the horror master himself.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk.]]
* TheStoryteller: Gordie.
* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving Them knowledge of it and They realised that young kids tend to curse like sailors as They do here.
* TreehouseOfFun: The boys hang out in one of these at the beginning of the film.
* {{Troll}}: Milo when he taunts Teddy about his dad being a "loony".
* TrueCompanions:A quintessential example.
* TheUnfavorite: Gordie's parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyways. As it is, Denny (the brother) was the one who paid the most attention to him.
* VomitChainReaction: The "Lard-Ass" story.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: The "Lard-Ass" story.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Gordie desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like His father hates him.
* WeWillMeetAgain: Ace says this after Gordie pulls the gun on him.
** While it's not depicted in the film, King's original story has Ace and his gang giving each of the boys a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown after they return to town.
* WhatTheHellHero: While Ace has no problem threatening kids Gordie's age with knives, he thinks Gordie holding him and his friends at gunpoint is taken things too far.
--> '''Ace:'' We're not gonna forget this, if that's what you're thinking. This is big time baby.
* WhereAreTheyNow
* [=~Why Couldn't You Be Different?~=]: Gordie's parents prefer his brother the football star, and when the brother dies in a car crash they lament that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it wasn't Gordie instead]].
** The "YouShouldHaveDiedInstead" factor is only implied in a dream sequence. True, they both criminally ignore Gordie after the accident, but they never go that far.
* [[YouKnowImBlackRight You Know I'm French, Right?]] At the beginning of the movie, Chris, Teddy, and Gordie are sitting in their tree-house, playing cards, when Chris decides to tell a joke.
-->'''Chris:''' How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your back yard?
-->'''Teddy:''' Hey, I'm French, okay?
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
-->''*Chris and Gordie laugh*''
-->'''Teddy:''' Didn't I just say I was French?
* YourMom: Lampshaded by the adult Gordie's narration, in which he comments that "finding new and disgusting ways to insult a friend's mother was always held in high regard." Also played straight:
-->'''Chris:''' Why don't you go home and [[PrecisionFStrike fuck your mother]] some more?
-->'''Ace:''' ''[pulls out a knife]'' You're dead.
** Gordie pulls out a nice one to smack a children's rhyme in the face.
-->'''Gordie:''' Shut up.
-->'''Chris, Teddy, and Vern, in unison:''' I don't shut up! I grow up! And when I look at you, I throw up! AACCKK!
-->'''Gordie:''' And then your mother comes and licks it up.
----
->''"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"''
-->--'''The Writer'''
''StandByMe'' is a 1986 ComingOfAge film directed by Rob Reiner based on the novella ''The Body'' by StephenKing. Set in the fictional Castle Rock, Oregon (Maine in the original story) in 1959, the film is told through the recollections of the main character, Gordie Lachance, now a freelance writer.
The twelve-year-old Gordie (played by TV's WilWheaton) and his three friends journey into the woods near their home to look at the body of a boy named Ray Brower, who was struck by a train while picking berries. Through the boys' misadventures and conversations, the viewer learns about each character's personality. Each of the boys, for varying reasons, lives in the shadow of their fathers and older brothers. Gordie's talent for storytelling (as illustrated by his improvised short story "The Revenge of Lard-Ass Hogan") pegs him as the most likely of the four to have a promising future.
The film contrasts the four main characters, who are depicted as well-meaning and relatively virtuous, with a gang of bullies called the "Cobras", who are led by local hood "Ace" Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland).
See 1995's ''NowAndThen'' for basically the [[GenderFlip girl version]].
----
!! This Movie Contains Examples Of:
* AbusiveParents: Teddy's ear is disfigured due to his father's pressing it down on a hot stove in a drunken rage. Chris's father is also violently abusive and Gordie's is emotionally abusive.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Chris, and his family, are shunned and put down by most of the town.
* AngryGuardDog: The legendary Chopper, who is said to be trained to attack with [[GroinAttack anatomical precision]].
* AuthorStandIn: Gordie Lachance, the sensitive and imaginative boy StephenKing used to be.
* BerserkButton: Teddy goes ballistic after Milo Pressman calls his father a "looney".
* BewareOfViciousDog: [[spoiler:Subverted]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Chris, towards Gordie.
* BigBrotherMentor: Denny was this to Gordie.
* BittersweetEnding
* BoringReturnJourney: Granted, they used a rough path on the main journey.
* ButtMonkey: Vern.
* ChekhovsGun: Literally. The handgun that Chris shows Gordie before the boys start their trip is forgotten until [[spoiler: Ace and his gang show up and Gordie(movie)/Chris(book) uses it to scare them off]].
** Not quite. The kids each brandish the pistol when they take turns keeping watch at night.
* DawsonCasting: Averted. All the boys are the same age as Their characters or at least very close (River Phoenix was fifteen but looked younger) as were the older boys.
* DiesWideOpen: The late Ray Brower is found by the boys this way. They cover his face with debris.
* DysfunctionJunction: This film cracks the mask of the seemingly picture-perfect and wholesome EverytownAmerica of the 1950s open with a baseball bat.
* EnforcedMethodActing: Wil Wheaton has written several times on his experiences making the movie. In one scene that involved the boys running from a train, Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell didn't look scared enough, so Reiner started screaming at them to make them cry. Afterwards, he felt terrible about it and comforted both of them. And to ensure that the child actors really looked intimidated by his character, Kiefer Sutherland supposedly bullied them in real life (although Wheaton doesn't recall it happening to him). The scene with the leeches in Wheaton's hand and...[[GroinAttack other]] places, however, was not real.
** Reiner also asked River Phoenix to think about the biggest moment an adult had let him down when he had to cry during the campfire scene. He got very emotional and Reiner comforted him for long afterwards, but it paid off: The take was by far the best and the one used in the final film.
* EverybodySmokes: They're 12, but all of the main four smoke. Even the generally wholesome lead, and the timid chubby one.
* TheFatGuy: Vern.
* TheFifties
* FourTemperamentEnsemble
* FramingDevice[=/=]NostalgicNarrator: The Writer (aka the adult Gordie, played by Richard Dreyfuss) recalls and narrates the events of the film after learning that [[spoiler:Chris was stabbed to death while trying to break up a fight at a restaurant.]]
* FreeRangeChildren
* FurryConfusion: The boys express confusion that both Goofy and Pluto appear to be dogs.
* GangOfBullies
* GirlyRun: Used by Wil Wheaton as an acting technique.
* GroinAttack: If there are worse places on the human body to find a leech, we can't think of them. No wonder Gordie [[{{fainting}} faints]].
** "Chopper, sic balls!"
* HeyItsThatGuy. [[Film/TotalRecall1990 Quato]] wished Gordy died instead of Denny.
* IllKillYou: Said by Teddy to Milo Pressman, and later by Gordie to Ace Merrill.
* InstantLeechJustFallInWater
* {{Jerkass}}: Teddy Duchamp, Milo, and Ace's gang.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Chris Chambers.
* KarmaHoudini: Ace and His gang unfortunately.
* TheLoad / TheMillstone: Vern, especially on the RailroadTracksOfDoom.
* MisterSandmanSequence: The entire soundtrack. ''[[EarWorm Lollipop, lollipop]]...''
* NightmareSequence: In ''The Body'', [[spoiler: Gordie dreams that Vern and Teddy drag Chris into water and drown him.]]
* OhCrap: ''"[[BigWordShout TRAAAAAIN!]]"''
* ParentalAbandonment: Only the hopelessly naive Verne has ''any'' semblance of a happy family.
** Although he does have a jerkass older brother.
* PinkySwear: Chris really ''really'' didn't know the gun was loaded.
* PrecisionFStrike: Sorta. He doesn't ACTUALLY say a swear, but the line is so spot-on that it FEELS like one of these.
--->'''Gordie:''' "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood!"
** Also see YourMom below.
* RailroadTracksOfDoom: The bridge.
* RealSongThemeTune: Ben E. King's classic actually made the Top 10 chart all over again thanks to its use in the film.
* RoadMovie
* SadistTeacher
* SeinfeldianConversation: Half the conversations the boys have.
--> Vern: Do you think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
--> Teddy: What are you, cracked?...Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Superman is a real guy.]]
* SpaceWhaleAesop: The book definitely has this. Don't go looking for dead bodies or you will acquire a death curse. But then, the book ''The Body'' was written by StephenKing. The film ''StandByMe'' would cause you to forget that it is based on a book written by the horror master himself.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Vern and Teddy. Vern dies in a house fire in the book, and Teddy kills himself and others by driving drunk.]]
* TheStoryteller: Gordie.
* TotallyRadical: Averted. Both King and Reiner grew up in the period in which it was set, giving Them knowledge of it and They realised that young kids tend to curse like sailors as They do here.
* TreehouseOfFun: The boys hang out in one of these at the beginning of the film.
* {{Troll}}: Milo when he taunts Teddy about his dad being a "loony".
* TrueCompanions:A quintessential example.
* TheUnfavorite: Gordie's parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyways. As it is, Denny (the brother) was the one who paid the most attention to him.
* VomitChainReaction: The "Lard-Ass" story.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: The "Lard-Ass" story.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Gordie desperately wants his father's love and not to feel like His father hates him.
* WeWillMeetAgain: Ace says this after Gordie pulls the gun on him.
** While it's not depicted in the film, King's original story has Ace and his gang giving each of the boys a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown after they return to town.
* WhatTheHellHero: While Ace has no problem threatening kids Gordie's age with knives, he thinks Gordie holding him and his friends at gunpoint is taken things too far.
--> '''Ace:'' We're not gonna forget this, if that's what you're thinking. This is big time baby.
* WhereAreTheyNow
* [=~Why Couldn't You Be Different?~=]: Gordie's parents prefer his brother the football star, and when the brother dies in a car crash they lament that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead it wasn't Gordie instead]].
** The "YouShouldHaveDiedInstead" factor is only implied in a dream sequence. True, they both criminally ignore Gordie after the accident, but they never go that far.
* [[YouKnowImBlackRight You Know I'm French, Right?]] At the beginning of the movie, Chris, Teddy, and Gordie are sitting in their tree-house, playing cards, when Chris decides to tell a joke.
-->'''Chris:''' How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your back yard?
-->'''Teddy:''' Hey, I'm French, okay?
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
-->''*Chris and Gordie laugh*''
-->'''Teddy:''' Didn't I just say I was French?
* YourMom: Lampshaded by the adult Gordie's narration, in which he comments that "finding new and disgusting ways to insult a friend's mother was always held in high regard." Also played straight:
-->'''Chris:''' Why don't you go home and [[PrecisionFStrike fuck your mother]] some more?
-->'''Ace:''' ''[pulls out a knife]'' You're dead.
** Gordie pulls out a nice one to smack a children's rhyme in the face.
-->'''Gordie:''' Shut up.
-->'''Chris, Teddy, and Vern, in unison:''' I don't shut up! I grow up! And when I look at you, I throw up! AACCKK!
-->'''Gordie:''' And then your mother comes and licks it up.
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