The 1986 drama filmStand By Mefollowed a group of four 12-year-old boys on a hike to find a missing boy’s dead body and featured a bittersweet ending that saw them go their separate ways.Stand By Meis considered one ofthe best coming-of-age filmsof its time, with a strong young cast that included Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell. Wheaton played narrator Gordon “Gordie” Lachance, a young boy who dreamed of being a writer and was grappling with the recent tragic death of his younger brother.
The older version of Gordie, played by Richard Dreyfuss, narratedStand By Meas he wrote the story of his crazy hike with his friends. Themovie was directed by Rob Reinerand isbased on the Stephen King novellaThe Body.The movie’s title was changed to match the song that plays in the end credits, Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.”Stand By Meis often considered one ofthe best Stephen King movie adaptations, and it still holds up decades later due to its relatability and the bond between the main characters.
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Why The Boys Didn’t Take Ray Brower’s Body At The End Of Stand By Me
The Boys Made An Anonymous Phone Call Instead
Stand By Meis set in the small fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon in 1959, where a boy named Ray Brower had recently gone missing. Vern overheard his older brother, Billy, talking to his friend, Charlie, about finding Ray’s body but not telling the police since it might have gotten them in trouble for another crime. The boys set out on a multiple-day-long hike across the railroad track to where Billy said Ray’s body was, hoping to become local heroes by finding it.
Yet, when they arrived and saw Ray’s dead body, things suddenly changed. The hike there was filled with boyish fun, but when they saw Ray, they realized he was a boy just like them. After they scared off another one of Billy’s friends, Ace, and his gang, Gordie told them they weren’t taking Ray’s body. When Teddy said they came all that way, and they were supposed to be heroes, Gordie replied, “Not this way, Teddy.”
Kent Luttrell played Ray Brower inStand By Me. He was initially just cast as Corey Feldman’s stand-in, but Luttrell toldPortland Monthlythat he was asked to play Ray the same day the scene was shot because the mannequin didn’t look right.
Gordie and the boys realized that there was nothing heroic about exploiting another young boy’s death just to get their name in the paper or appear on the news. Instead, they made an anonymous phone call to the police and told them where to find the body. They may have come all that way to find Ray’s body, but the journey ended up being more important than their destination. The kids inStand By Mewere forever changed by seeing Ray’s body, and, sadly, nothing was ever quite the same between them again.
How Stephen King’s Childhood Inspired Stand By Me’s Story
Stand By Me Was Semi-Autobiographical
The Body,the Stephen King bookthatStand By Mewas based on, was inspired by the author’s childhood. King’s stand-in in the autobiographical story was Gordie, with their biggest connection being that they both grew up to be writers and were aspiring storytellers as children. It’s even mentioned in oneStand By Mescene that most of Gordie’s stories are horror, which is the genre King is best known for. ThoughStand By Meis a coming-of-age story, it has horror elements.
Though King and his friends never went on a hike searching for a dead body like Gordie and his friends did, Ray’s death was inspired by an event in King’s childhood. When King was four, he visited his friend’s house by the railroad tracks, and the child was struck and killed by a train. King claims he doesn’t remember seeing his friend die and was told about it later, but it’s another connection between King and Gordie inStand By Me.
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Why Gordie Doesn’t Tell His Friends About The Deer
Gordie Didn’t Tell Anyone Until He Wrote About It
Gordie stood out among his friends inStand By Me. He went along with their crazy ideas, but as Chris pointed out, he had a brighter future than the rest of them thanks to his passion for writing. Teddy, who had an abusive father, was particularly seen as a lost cause, and he often acted recklessly. Gordie was more introspective and level-headed than his friends, outside of Chris, who didn’t have much hope for himself because of his family’s reputation. In one ofStand By Me’s quieter moments, Gordie came across a deer before everyone else woke up.
He didn’t say anything and just looked at the deer before it scampered off. Gordie didn’t tell them about the encounter and called it, “the one thing I kept to myself.” Even at that time, Gordie knew he was different from his friends, and that they wouldn’t be able to understand and appreciate the deer as he had. The deer represented an innocence that the boys were losing, which provided Gordie with some hope as they approached a new chapter in their lives. It was a sweet moment that highlighted the beauty of the simpler things in life.
The Significance Of Gordie’s Lardass Story
Gordie’s Lardass Story Was About Revenge
Outside the story of their hike that Gordie narrated inStand By Me, he told one other story. He shared it with his friends before they went to bed one night, and it was visualized for viewers in the movie. The story was about a boy named David Hogan, who was called “Lardass” by everyone in town because of his size. One day, he entered the town’s famous pie-eating contest to get revenge on everyone.
He quickly ate five pies and people actually began to cheer for him, but he wasn’t trying to win. To enact revenge, David had downed castor oil and raw eggs before the contest, which eventually triggered him to throw up pie all over Bill Travis, another competitor. This triggered a series of barfing from the contestants and those watching. The story ended with David happily watching the chaos he’d created, but Teddy and Vern pressed for more, wanting the story to be something it wasn’t.
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Gordie chose to tell a revenge story because it was a satisfying fantasy for him. Gordie had been bullied and though he knew he would never get revenge on his bullies, it was nice to write about. However, by the end ofStand by Me, Gordie had gotten revenge in a way. He’d scared off Ace and his gang, proving he wasn’t to be messed with, protecting Ray’s body in the process.
The Differences Between Stand By Me & The Body’s Endings Explained
Stand By Me’s Ending Made Changes From The Body
The premise forStand By MeandThe Bodyare the same, but they are executed differently. There are flashes back and forth between present-day and 12-year-old Gordie that aren’t included in the movie. However, the biggest difference comes in the ending, which is much sadder in the book than the movie. In theStand By Memovie, Gordie is inspired to write the story after Chris was heartbreakingly killed while trying to stop a fight in a diner. This happened inThe Bodyas well, but Teddy and Vern also die in the Stephen King book.
In the movie, Teddy tried to join the Army, but his poor eyesight and damaged ear, which his father had almost burnt off, disqualified him. He worked odd jobs and served some jail time. Vern got married, had four children, and worked as a forklift operator. InThe Body, Gordie dealt with a form of survivor’s guilt as the only one of his friends to live into his thirties, which is not present in the movie.Stand By Medoesn’t necessarily have a happy ending, but it’s much nicer thanThe Body’s.
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The Real Meaning Of Stand By Me’s Ending Explained
Stand By Me Was A Story About Friendship
As a coming-of-age story,Stand By Mewas mainly about friendshipand its role in a young child’s development. In many ways, Gordie, Vern, Teddy, and Chris were an odd group. However, this may have been what made them work at the time. They were all misfits in their own ways and banded together, forming a sense of belonging and camaraderie they might have been missing otherwise. Eventually, their differences drew them apart, with Chris and Gordie focused more on their education than Vern and Teddy.
Though they didn’t remain friends, Gordie’sfriendships inStand By Mewere important in helping make the person he became. The last line ofStand By Mesummarizes the movie’s main point, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” Regardless of what happened after that weekend, Chris, Vern, and Teddy will always hold a special place in Gordie’s heart.Stand By Mestill resonates with viewers because of how it emphasizes the importance of friendship, reminding viewers of the friends they had when they were twelve.
Stand by Me
Cast
Stand by Me is a coming-of-age film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King’s novella The Body. Set in the 1950s, it follows four boys from Oregon—Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy—on a journey to find a deceased boy’s body, confronting personal challenges and deepening their friendships.
