"Stand By Me" 1986

“Stand By Me”

I saw this movie on a date. The guy was odd. We’d been friends for a while and he asked me if I wanted to go see this movie, knowing I was a huge Stephen King fan. I didn’t realize until he picked me up that he thought of it as a date. I was never very good at picking up signs from guys. It is a good thing I met my husband when I was young and got out of the game.

The guy got lost on the way to the theater. I was getting antsy, because I have a movie going routine. I like to get there about a half hour before the movie starts. I hate the people that wander in during the previews or heaven forbid the credits looking for a seat. If there is any kind of crowd they end up asking people to move. It just makes me crazy. I love the stadium seating we have now. I go to the top row and sit in the middle. No one is walking in front of you. It is great.

We finally made it to the movie. The whole time in the car, there is an odor. It was like someone had mixed aftershave with exhaust fumes. I realized that it was his cologne. This became one of the few times I have lost my appetite. So there go the movie snacks. I can’t tell him he stinks. So I try to concentrate on the movie.

The movie is magic. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell were well cast. There was a cameo from John Cusack, who I still love and can watch in anything. Kiefer Sutherland is a great bad guy. I’ve never watched “24” but Kiefer will always be Ace Merrill in my eyes. And wrapping it all together is the incredible voiceover from Richard Dreyfuss.

I had read “Different Season” which also contains the incredible stories that inspired “Shawshank Redemption” and “Apt Pupil” I still hope in my greedy, little Stephen King loving heart that someone will make a movie out of the last novella, “Breathing Method”. “The Body” feels personal, unlike the others, it is undeniably a snapshot of Stephen King’s childhood wrapped in a simple boyhood adventure.

I can still remember sitting in the theater, on the edge of my seat as the boys started across the train trestle. My heart was pounding and when Gordy screams in slow motion, “TRAAAIIINNNNN” I felt the guy’s hand creep onto my armrest.

I have never been more irritated in my life. Here I was watching a great movie and this doofus wants to hold my hand?

I made it through the movie by pretty much pretending I was alone. Lucky for me it is a fantastic movie so it was easy to get lost in it. I have watched this movie many times over the years. I have owned the video, and two versions of the DVD. I imagine that the Blu Ray is in my future at some point, especially if there are new extras.

I ended the night at my front door and the guy leaned in and went for the kiss. It was not good. I kept my mouth closed, he didn’t. I wrote him a note on Monday, thanking him for the movie and letting him know that we could always be friends. He never talked to me again.

So, it may have been a bad date, but it was a great movie.