Stand by Me - The secret of a summer
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Stand by Me - The secret of a summer |
| Original title | Stand by Me |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rob Reiner |
| script |
Bruce A. Evans , Raynold Gideon |
| production | Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon Andrew Scheinman |
| music | Jack Nitzsche |
| camera | Thomas Del Ruth |
| cut | Robert Leighton |
| occupation | |
| |
Stand by Me is an American adventure film from 1986 by Rob Reiner . Based on the story The Corpse of Stephen King he describes the experiences of four boys from a small American town in 1959. The film title is derived from Ben E. King's song Stand by Me .
action
Writer Gordon Lachance sits in his car pondering a newspaper article that reports on the murder of lawyer Chris Chambers. Chambers had been his best friend in his youth, and the writer now remembers that time.
Gordie Lachance and Chris Chambers are twelve-year-old boys who spent the late summer of 1959 in their quiet hometown of Castle Rock , Oregon . Together with their friends of the same age, Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio, the two decide to search for the body of Ray Brower. Brower is a boy her age whose disappearance has been reported on the radio for days. Vern had overheard his older brother when he reported that Brower's body had been found near a wooded area on a railway embankment. With this knowledge, the boys set out on a two-day hike, which is repeatedly held up by various problems. They are chased by the watchdog of a rude junkyard dealer, their lives are in danger when crossing a railway bridge and they have to fight off their fear of leeches and spending the night in the forest.
Again and again there are emotionally charged conversations between the young people, as everyone has problems with them: The rather shy bookworm Gordie is ignored by his parents at home, because his older brother Denny died in a car accident a few months ago and the latter didn't grieve can overcome. Chris's family, despised in the small town, consists of criminals and he fears that, despite his existing strengths, he will slip into this lane himself. Teddy is occasionally violent and quick-tempered because he never learned otherwise from his father, a World War II veteran. Overweight and anxious Vern is often the target of ridicule, even among friends.
Meanwhile, Vern's brother is chatting about the dead boy at home in the presence of youth gang leader Ace Merrill, also known as "King". Ace then sets off with his cronies to fetch the body - albeit not on foot, but in his car. When the four boys finally find the body of Brower, Ace and his companions also arrive at the place where it was found and, under threat of violence, demand that they have found the body first. With the help of a pistol that Chris took from home, the surprisingly courageous Gordie is able to drive away the youngsters . However, the boys leave Brower's body on site and report the location by anonymous phone call.
After the friends return to Castle Rock, the group gradually breaks up. Lachance reports (as the narrator off-screen ) that he and Chris switched to junior high school after the summer vacation and then met with Vern and Teddy less and less. He also recounts the circumstances surrounding the death of Chris Chambers, who tried to settle a dispute in a fast food restaurant and was stabbed to death by one of the two people involved. In the final scene, the grown-up Gordon Lachance writes down the described experiences and then drives his son and his friend to swim.
background
History of origin
The novella The Corpse of Stephen King (original title: The Body ) comes from his collection of novels Spring, Summer, Autumn and Death , published in 1982, and shows autobiographical features from King's life story. The characters Vern Tessio, Ace Merrill, Gordon Lachance, and others also appear in other stories and novels set in and around the fictional town of Castle Rock. Castle Rock appears as a location in many novels and stories by Stephen King (see also Castle Rock cycle ). The production company founded by Stand-by-Me director Rob Reiner in 1987 was also called Castle Rock Entertainment and later filmed several of King's works.
The producers and scriptwriters Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon were rejected by almost every major Hollywood studio because they did not believe in the commercial success of such a project. They only got their chance at the small film studio Embassy Pictures , a production budget of eight million US dollars was made available to them for the film. However, Embassy Pictures was sold to Columbia two days before production began . Columbia production manager Guy McElwaine then stopped production for Stand by Me . The production was only saved by the fact that the former Embassy producer Norman Lear financed the film with money from his private assets. Ironically , Columbia later released Stand by Me in theaters, in part because Guy McElwaine's opinion of the film took a turn when his children were extremely enthusiastic during a private screening.
Initially Adrian Lyne was supposed to direct, but the filming of 9½ weeks was delayed so much that he had to hand over the direction to Rob Reiner. Reiner was originally an actor and only made his directorial debut two years earlier with This Is Spinal Tap . In his third film Stand by Me , Reiner also saw a mirror of his own youth, because like Stephen King he was born in 1947 and was therefore twelve years old himself in 1959. Like several characters in his film, he also had a difficult relationship with his father, the well-known director and actor Carl Reiner , in whose shadow he stood for many years. According to Rob Reiner, it was particularly important that the role of Gordie was expanded to become a clear main character, while in the original script it was no bigger than that of the other three characters.
title
By March 1986, the film should carry the title The Body like King's novella , but Columbia Pictures was critical. They feared the title might be misleading, because "... it sounded like either a sex movie, a bodybuilder movie or a new Stephen King horror flick," as Raynold Gideon recalled. Rob Reiner then suggested the title Stand By Me , based on the song of the same name by Ben E. King .
Filming locations and filming
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In contrast to the novel, in which the fictional small town Castle Rock in the state of Maine is located, Castle Rock was set in Oregon in the film . Most of the filming took place there during the summer of 1985. The village of Castle Rock was the rural Brownsville , which at that time had a population of less than 1,300 and which appeared to have stood still in the 1950s. The city hosts various tourist attractions related to the film and has been celebrating a Stand-By-Me day since 2007 .
Most of the scenes on the railway line were filmed on the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway , which ran for 29 kilometers between the small towns of Cottage Grove and Disston until it ceased operations in 1994 and which, with a few exceptions, no longer exists today . Already Buster Keaton had in the 1920s, the same route for his silent classic The General used.
The scene in which the four boys have to flee from the train was filmed on a stretch of the California McCloud Railway in Shasta County , which runs with its rails over Lake Britton. A Prairie locomotive from 1925 (McCloud Railway 25), which is still in service today, was used. In this scene, four stunt women were also used as double for the actors. This mission would have been too dangerous for the young actors. Nevertheless, in some scenes they had to walk on the bridge over Lake Britton, which was barely secured and around 25 meters high.
occupation
David Dukes and Michael McKean were in discussion for the role of adult Gordon Lachance , before the role went to Richard Dreyfuss , who was trying to make a comeback in Hollywood after overcoming his long-standing drug addiction. The stories about the characters at the end of the film are partially true for at least three of the leading actors who play them: River Phoenix died young, Corey Feldman was imprisoned during his drug career and Wil Wheaton is now a writer. Wil Wheaton said in an interview in 2011 how the characters corresponded with their actors, and saw Reiner's casting decisions as one of the reasons for the success:
“Rob Reiner found four boys who were basically the characters we played. I was clumsy and nerdy and shy, I wasn't comfortable with myself and I was really, really sensitive, and River was cool and really smart and passionate, even at that age like a father figure to some of us, Jerry was one of the funniest people I've ever seen in my life, and Corey was incredibly angry and in an unimaginable state of pain and had a really bad relationship with his parents ( Rob Reiner found four young boys who basically were the characters we played. I was awkward and nerdy and shy and uncomfortable in my own skin and really, really sensitive, and River was cool and really smart and passionate and even at that age kind of like a father figure to some of us, Jerry was one of the funniest people I had ever seen in my life, either before or since, and Corey was unbelievably angry and in an incredible amount of pain and had an absolutely terrible relationship with his parents. ) "
Soundtrack
Jack Nitzsche was responsible for the film music. The film features numerous doo-wop and rock 'n' roll songs that were very popular at the time the film was set in the late 1950s. The title-giving song Stand by Me by Ben E. King was actually only released in 1961 - two years after the film was set to take place - but a possible anachronism was prevented by the fact that the song was only heard in the credits. On August 8, 1986, a soundtrack album was released in the United States, which contained a total of ten of the songs played in the film.
Stand by Me came back into the charts as a re-release in the wake of the film's success . In the music video shot in 1986, actors Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix appear alongside singer Ben E. King.
- Book of Love by The Monotones
- Come Go with Me by The Del-Vikings
- Come Softly To Me by The Fleetwoods
- Everyday from Buddy Holly
- Get a Job from The Silhouettes
- Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis
- Hushabye from The Mystics
- Let the Good Times Roll by Shirley & Lee
- Lollipop from The Chordettes
- Mr. Lee from The Bobbettes
- Rockin 'Robin from Bobby Day
- Stand by Me by Ben E. King
- Whispering Bells from The Del-Vikings
- Yakety Yak from The Coasters
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created for the German cinema premiere in 1986 in the studios of Berliner Synchron GmbH Wenzel Lüdecke in Berlin. Lutz Riedel was responsible for the dialogue script and dialogue direction . Sven Plate can be heard in the film as the dubbing voice of Gary Riley . Sven Plate later became the dubbing voice of Wil Wheaton in the series Spaceship Enterprise - The Next Century and The Big Bang Theory .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Gordie Lachance (young) | Wil Wheaton | Tarek Helmy |
| Gordie Lachance (adult) the writer | Richard Dreyfuss | Norbert Gescher |
| Chris Chambers | River Phoenix | Timmo Niesner |
| Teddy Duchamp | Corey Feldman | Jens Margrave |
| Vern Tessio | Jerry O'Connell | Simon hunter |
| John "Ace" Merrill | Kiefer Sutherland | Tobias Master |
| William "Billy" Tessio | Casey Siemaszko | Oliver Rohrbeck |
| Charlie Hogan | Gary Riley | Sven Plate |
| Richard "Eyeball" Chambers | Bradley Gregg | Sven Hasper |
| Denny Lachance | John Cusack | Torsten Sense |
| Mr. Lachance | Marshall Bell | Peter Neusser |
| Mrs. Lachance | Frances Lee McCain | Christine Schnell |
| Mr. Quidacioluo, grocer | Bruce Kirby | Robert Dietl |
| Milo Pressman, junkyard owner | William Bronder | Alexander Duke |
| Mayor Grundy ("Lard Ass" story) | Scott Beach | Wolfgang Völz |
| Bob Cormier ("Lard Ass" story) | Matt Williams | Thomas Petruo |
reception
Popular success and pop culture references
Stand By Me developed to the box office success and grossed over 52 million US dollars in the USA alone, which brought in the film budget of eight million US dollars.
An allusion to Stand By Me can be found in the original version of the game Pokémon : If you turn on the television in the protagonist's house, the text “Four boys are walking on a railroad track” appears, based on the film. In the animated series Family Guy , the film is parodied in the episode Three Kings (season 7, episode 15). The end of the episode Brokeback Swanson (season 14, episode 8) is based on the end of the film. Several motifs and film scenes are also quoted or modeled in the adventure game Life Is Strange , for example elements of the railway line, the junkyard and the encounter with the deer.
Awards
Stand by Me received nominations for the Golden Globe Award in the categories of Best Picture - Drama and Best Director, as well as for the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay .
Reviews
Since its release, Stand By Me has received mostly friendly reviews. Stephen King was also delighted with the film and later described it as the first successful film adaptation of one of his works in his eyes. “ Stand By Me - The Secret of a Summer is probably the best movie adaptation of one of my books. The film is true to the original and is emotionally very similar to the story. I was very moved when director Rob Reiner showed it to me in a hotel. I hugged Rob when the movie was over. Stand By Me made me cry, he was so close to me. "
At the US critic portal Rotten Tomatoes , 48 of the total of 53 reviews were positive, giving the film a rating of 91%. For example, Walter Goodman was critical of the New York Times of August 8, 1986, who noted the excessive use of swear words and found the episode of the cake contest "disgusting enough to entertain 12-year-olds." The four boys are "adorable and have their moments as a group", but Rob Reiner's direction hammer "every obvious element into an obvious script". Reiner's director only looks at the audience's reactions.
In Germany, the film service writes that the film is one of the “most successful Stephen King films”: “Sensitive and atmospheric description of a youthful adventure, like all initiation stories, more interested in characters and motifs than superficial action.” Prisma described Stand By Me as "Impressive youth film that captivates with its wit, suspense and good young actors".
Web links
- Stand by Me - The secret of a summer in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Stand by Me - The secret of a summer atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Information about the film on Stephen King's website
- Brent Lang: 'Stand by Me' Oral History: Rob Reiner and Cast on River Phoenix and How Coming-of-Age Classic Almost Didn't Happen . In: Variety (online edition), July 28, 2016.
- Stand by Me - The secret of a summer on KinderundJugendmedien.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ 'Stand by Me' Oral History: Rob Reiner and Cast on River Phoenix and How Coming-of-Age Classic Almost Didn't Happen at Variety
- ↑ Stand by Me at TheNumbers
- ↑ How `Stand By Me` Was Almost Left Standing At The Gate , Chicago Tribune, November 21, 1986
- ↑ 25 years of 'Stand by Me' at the Telegraph
- ↑ 25 years of 'Stand by Me' at the Telegraph
- ↑ 'Stand by Me' Oral History: Rob Reiner and Cast on River Phoenix and How Coming-of-Age Classic Almost Didn't Happen at Variety
- ↑ Linda McCormick can tell you all about the film 'Stand by Me' , article at the Albany Democrat-Herald
- ↑ Stand by Me in "Railway in the Film"
- ↑ Route at abandonedrails.com
- ↑ Article on RailstoTrails
- ↑ Bend attorney helped drive 'Stand By Me' train at Albany-Democrat Herald
- ↑ 'Stand By Me': A Love Letter To Childhood Innocence. Retrieved May 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Ben E. King, River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton in the 1986 music video on YouTube
- ↑ German synchronous files
- ^ Stand by Me (1986) - Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
- ↑ Stand By Me. (No longer available online.) Hollywood Foreign Press Association , archived from the original on November 21, 2008 ; accessed on September 19, 2008 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Awards Database. (No longer available online.) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , archived from the original on Aug. 19, 2014 ; accessed on September 19, 2008 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Rob Reiner (Emmy TV Legends). Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
- ↑ Film starts: This is what Stephen King says about the film adaptations of his books . In: FILMSTARTS.de . ( filmstarts.de [accessed January 30, 2018]).
- ↑ Stand by Me. Accessed January 18, 2018 (English).
- ^ Walter Goodman: Rob Reiner's 'Stand by Me' . In: The New York Times . August 8, 1986, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed December 30, 2018]).
- ↑ Stand by Me at two thousand and one
- ↑ Stand by Me at Prisma
