Stand by Me (1986)

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3398631705/

PlotThis film follows a young adventurous, troublesome and rebellious quartet who leave to discover a missing body, presumed dead, of a local teenager.

Unable to come to terms with his older brother’s death, Gordie feels compelled to travel with his three friends. However, the race is on when an older bullying gang are closely tailing them, making the capture ever more

intense.

RatingOn the website www.rottentomatoes.com, this film received 91% fresh on the ‘tomatometer’ which is quite an admirable rating for such an old film, about

troublesome young boys. It only received 4 negative comments out of an outstanding 41 comments including trustworthy household names such as Empire and The Guardian. The audience of the film also rated this at 93%.

+ Comments‘Scripters have written inspired dialog for this quartet of plucky boys at that hard-to-capture

age when they're still young enough to get scared and yet old enough to want to sneak

smokes and cuss.’ - Variety

‘An absorbing, touching examination of the loss of innocence that, despite occasionally drifting towards the

sappy, undeniably deserves its place in the heart of a generation.’ – Mark Dinning, Empire

‘Well-crafted coming-of-age tale, now best remembered as the cornerstone of River

Phoenix's scant legacy.’ – Film4

‘The film is so well-observed and so energetically acted by its young cast that

mawkishness is kept at bay.’ - Timeout

What were the comments based on?

Out of the examples shown you can see what clearly attracted some people to this film was the focus on the young group of boys; people almost feel nostalgic and empathetic of the young boys because as children they

have experienced similar tales. The young cast are adorable and their mischief is threateningly likeable

which keep us engaged throughout.