Maybe I just said that it was a favourite because I felt like a cool dude for loving a movie with a lot of swear words and a dead body when I was 3 or 4 (the earliest time I remember seeing it was at my friend Ethan’s house, I can’t remember how old I was exactly.)
Nine years ago I I was on my eighth grade year end trip to Quebec City and someone brought it to watch on the bus. I realized what movie it was and wondered who brought it and thought it would last more than 5 minutes on a bus with tight assed teachers, mennonites and sheltered small town children. Of course it didn’t last long at all.
After watching it again as an adult I can confirm it’s place as a favourite but for different reasons. It’s such an absolutely heavy film, a great coming of age piece that I think everyone can relate to in some sense. After watching the last scene where Gordie finishes typing the line - – God damn, if I was alone watching that (which I refused to do, perhaps the reason why it’d been so long since I’d seen it last) I probably would have bawled my eyes out.
It’s unfortunate that Rockin’ Robin, the song in the opening scene of the movie isn’t on the Stand By Me OST, it’s the best song in the movie with exception to the title track. There are a lot of songs on the album that could have been left out and given their place to Rockin’ Robin. It would be better if the OST was just Rockin’ Robin and Stand By Me. The only memory I have of our move from California to Ontario when I was 5 was myself riding in the U-Haul truck with my dad and Rockin’ Robin playing on the radio. I don’t know if it was a tape or a radio station, if I only heard the song once or several times but it’s all I can remember from that entire trip. Funny how minor things like that stick in your mind for so long. The song has always held a special place in my heart.
Different Seasons, which is the book that contains the Body, the novella which Stand By Me is based on is on my list of books to read this year. Number one presently is Master of Reality by John Darnielle, which I still haven’t tracked down, might have to order it online or remove a copy from Chapters.
