I am assessing "Stand By Me" directed by Rob Reiner and based on a book called "The Body" by Steven King. The purpose of my essay is to illustrate how Rob Reiner showed the characters of Chris and Gordie coming to terms with the adult world.
Stand By Me
The film I have watched recently is called “Stand By Me” directed by Rob Reiner and based on a book called “The Body” by Steven King. The purpose of my essay is to illustrate how Rob Reiner showed the characters of Chris and Gordie coming to terms with the adult world.
At the opening sequence, the lighting in the long shot suggests sunset and the day being over contributes to the mood, which is sadness. The background is in autumn a sad season that matches adult Gordie’s emotions. The music is moving and slow while we see a long shot of a jeep, this shows where adult Gordie is sitting, and he is alone. We get a close up of a newspaper to show why adult Gordie is lonely his friend had been killed, “Attorney Christopher Chambers fatally stabbed in restaurant.” This is a medium shot. Adult Gordie sighs while looking down, we feel sympathy for him. He looks as though he is giving up. The director had two boys on bikes move past the jeep on into the distance was shot from a point of view and this shows that he is remembering when he was that age. The structure of the film is one long flashback and the next shot zooms in from medium to close up. The voice over lets the audience know that he is the one speaking. There is a close up of the young boy and these shots are matched to show that this is young Gordie.
At the start of the film, we see Chris Chambers, Gordie Lechance and Teddy Dushamp in the tree house. The voice over of adult Gordie tells us that Chris’s father has a drinking problem. Chris looks like the leader of the group and acts in control. Chris’s t-shirt is dirty and his fags are up his sleeve, which suggests that he is poor. Gordie comes across as quiet and we do not know much about his character yet. Gordie and Chris are the best friends out of the group and we come to recognise this later in the film. When Vern tells them about a dead body Gordie puts his comic down and turns off the radio he becomes very interested.
The boy’s characters start to develop during the journey such as the incident of the high bridge sequence. “Teddy its 100 feet”. We see Chris as the voice of sense he is sensible but Teddy wants to prove him wrong and his view prevails. Gordie obviously is not certain and there is a close up of him putting his hand on the rails to feel for vibrations. Gordie walks behind Vern to look after him. Gordie is different from the others and again puts his hand on the rails. The director uses a second close up of this. Gordie is protecting the others and himself. “Train!” Gordie shouts to tell others. The tension in this scene is frustrating as Vern starts to crawl faster and holds up the others. Gordie is the one who helps him to his feet and starts to run. The boys look more in danger. We have a close up of the train front and it looks mammoth. Gordie pushes Vern out of the way of the train. Not too soon, Chris jokes and they feel better. The boys come to a junkyard owned by Milo as we are told by the voice over of adult Gordie. Teddy imitates the actions of a soldier and this shows he is acting like his father. There is a two shot of Chris and Gordie, they speak about Teddy’s behaviour, and this shows that they are close friends. The actors have been carefully chosen we know this as Chris is much stronger built than Gordie. “We knew exactly where we were and we knew exactly where we were going”. Gordie goes to the shop; there is a flash back of Gordie in his home with his dead brother Denny. There is a contrast between Denny and Gordie. Denny tries to get Gordie’s achievements recognised by his father but the father is only interested in Denny only. The shopkeeper does not understand why Gordie does not play ball. He is an example of prejudice. When Gordie gets back to the junkyard, he expects the junkyard dog to be vicious because of stories. “Chopper was my first lesson in the vast difference between myth and reality”. It is an experience for Gordie. Chris pulls Teddy back from hurting the junkyard owner as he speaks about his father. Chris is protecting Teddy from getting hurt and this shows he is very caring. First thing Chris says on the Train Dodge is “Come on Teddy”. Chris is the first to take action to pull Teddy off track. Chris successfully drags him off the track away from danger. “I was trying to save your life, man”. I noticed the train shot of Chris and Gordie together as best friends are. Chris then says, “Skin it”. Chris is the first to make up with Teddy and does not make Teddy look stupid or look as though he has lost his dignity.
