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Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body, with the title deriving from the song of the same name by Ben E. King, the film is set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in 1959, and stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell (in his film debut), as four boys who go on a hike to find the dead body of a missing boy. Stand by Me received positive reviews upon release and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and for two Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Drama Motion Picture, and one for Best Director. It is considered by many to be one of the most influential films of the 1980s, as well as one of the greatest films of all time. Plot In 1985, writer Gordon "Gordie" Lachance reads a newspaper article about a fatal stabbing. He recalls an incident from when he was 12 years old when he, his best friend Chris Chambers, and two other friends, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, went searching for the body of a missing boy named Ray Brower near the town of Castle Rock, Oregon, during Labor Day weekend in 1959. As a child, Gordie's parents largely ignored him as they grieved the death of their elder son, Denny. Unlike their parents, Denny paid more attention to Gordie. Vern overhears his big brother, Billy, talking with his friend, Charlie, about finding the body. Billy does not want to inform police because it could draw attention to a car theft he and Charlie committed. When Vern tells his friends about the body, the four boys—hoping to become local heroes—decide to look for it. After Chris steals his father's pistol, he and Gordie run into local hoodlums "Ace" Merrill and Chris's older brother, "Eyeball." Ace threatens Chris with a lit cigarette and steals Gordie's Yankees cap, which was a gift from Denny. The boys begin their trip. After stopping at a junkyard for water, they are caught trespassing by owner Milo Pressman and his dog, Chopper. Once they escape over a fence, Milo calls Teddy's mentally ill veteran father a "loony" and refers to how he almost burned Teddy's ear off. An enraged Teddy tries to attack Milo but the other boys restrain him. The four continue their hike, and Chris encourages Gordie to fulfil his potential as a writer despite his father's disapproval. While crossing a railroad bridge, Gordie and Vern narrowly avoid being killed by an approaching train by jumping off the tracks. In the evening, as the boys camp, Gordie tells a fictional story he created about "David 'Lard-Ass' Hogan", an obese boy who is constantly bullied. Seeking payback, he downs a bottle of castor oil before entering a pie-eating contest and throws up deliberately, inducing mass vomiting among everyone there. That night, Chris complains to Gordie that he hates being associated with his family's reputation. He admits to stealing school milk money but says he confessed to a teacher, yet was still suspended as the teacher kept quiet and pocketed the money. Devastated by the teacher's betrayal, Chris breaks down and cries. The next day, the boys wade across a swamp, discovering it filled with leeches. Gordie faints after finding one in his underwear. After more hiking, the boys locate the body. The discovery traumatizes Gordie, who asks Chris why Denny had to die and cries about his father hating him. Chris comforts Gordie and asserts that his father simply does not know him. Ace and his gang arrive to claim the body and threaten to hurt the boys if they stay. When Chris refuses to back down, Ace draws a switchblade. Gordie gets the gun, fires a warning shot, and stands beside Chris while aiming the gun at Ace. Ace demands the weapon, but Gordie refuses while insulting and threatening him. Ace and his gang vow revenge and leave. The boys decide that exploiting Brower's death would be wrong and instead report it via an anonymous phone call. They walk back to Castle Rock and part ways. Back in the present day, Gordie is finishing a memoir of the experience. He notes that Vern and Teddy separated from him and Chris in junior high. Vern married after high school, had four children, and became a forklift operator. Teddy tried getting into the Army but his damaged ear and poor eyesight disqualified him. He ended up serving jail time and working odd jobs. Chris took college prep courses with Gordie and, despite struggling, later became a lawyer, with the two eventually drifting apart. Recently, while attempting to break up a fight in a restaurant, Chris was stabbed to death. Gordie writes that despite not seeing Chris in over a decade, he will miss him forever. He ends his story with "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" before going outside to play with his son and his friends. Cast Wil Wheaton as Gordon "Gordie" Lachance (aged 12) Richard Dreyfuss as adult Gordon (credited as "the Writer") River Phoenix as Chris Chambers Corey Feldman as Teddy Duchamp Jerry O'Connell as Vern Tessio Kiefer Sutherland as John "Ace" Merrill, gang leader Casey Siemaszko as Billy Tessio, gang member and Vern's older brother John Cusack as Dennis "Denny" Lachance, Gordie's older brother Marshall Bell as Mr. Lachance Frances Lee McCain as Mrs. Lachance Gary Riley as Charlie Hogan, gang member and Billy's best friend Bradley Gregg as Richard "Eyeball" Chambers, gang member and Chris's older brother Jason Oliver Lipsett as Vince Desjardins, gang member Bruce Kirby as Mr. Quidacioluo William Bronder as Milo Pressman Scott Beach as Mayor Grundy Andy Lindberg as Davey “Lardass” Hogan Popeye as Chopper (dog) Production Development The film was adapted from the Stephen King novella The Body. Bruce A. Evans sent a copy of The Body to Karen Gideon, the wife of his friend and writing partner Raynold Gideon, on August 29, 1983, as a gift for her birthday. Both Gideon and Evans quickly became fans of the novella and shortly thereafter contacted King's agent, Kirby McCauley, seeking to negotiate film rights; McCauley replied that King's terms were $100,000 and 10% of the gross profits. Although the money was not an issue, the share of gross profits was considered excessive, especially considering that no stars could be featured to help sell the movie. In response, Evans and Gideon pursued an established director, Adrian Lyne, to help sell the project. After reading the novella, Lyne teamed up with Evans and Gideon, but all the studios the trio approached turned the project down except for Martin Shafer at Embassy Pictures. Embassy spent four months negotiating the rights with McCauley, settling on $50,000 and a smaller share of the profits, and Evans and Gideon spent eight weeks writing the screenplay. Evans and Gideon asked to also produce the film, but Shafer suggested they team up with Andrew Scheinman, a more experienced producer. Embassy was unwilling to meet Lyne's salary for directing the film until Evans and Gideon agre.... Discover the Alex Hannaford popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alex Hannaford books.