Some magical film-making

Press, 6 October 1987, Page 14

Some magical film-making

By

DAVID CLARKSON

Perhaps it is a legacy of the frontier days that one of American cinema’s enduring themes is the cross-country journey of self-discovery. There was “Easy Rider,” in which two bikers “went looking for America and could not find it anywhere.” There was “The Trip to. Bountiful,” in which an elderly woman escaped from her stifling home to travel to a place that held fonder memories. Even “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” could qualify.

Rob Reiner’s film, “Stand by Me,” released on video by R.C.A., Columbia, and Hoyts, tells of one such journey by four 12-year-old boys. It tells it with warmth and sensitivity as il travels on as much through the emotional turmoil of the boys as through the Oregon landscape. It is a rich film, packed with the language and the problems of growing up, set against a background of Intense competition and

frequent violence, and played out to the beat of the music of the period, 1959.

The premise is that the group of four boys in the small town of Castle Rock hear of where a missing boy’s body is lying. The boy has been hit by a train and search parties are combing the woodland, in all the wrong places. The group of four lie to their parents, and set out on a 30 or 40km hike to see their first dead human, and to ; , become famous for finding it

The boys are a remarkable collection of characters — and actors.

In the leading role is Wil Wheaton, the boy with a gift for writing and telling stories. He will grow up to be a successful author, and will narrate this tale of his chidhood, when the death of one of these companions brings the memories tumbling back.

Interestingly, the grown-up character who appears at only the start and the end of the film, is Richard Dreyfuss. It must

be his shortest appearance in any film for a great many years. River Phoenix plays the tough and determined boy, Chris Chambers, who will be a lawyer against the odds because he has his family’s reputation to live down first

Teddy, coping with memories of a father who “stormed the beaches at Normandy” but also mistreated him at home, is played ■by Corey Feldman. He is remembered for his roles in "Gremlins” and "The Goonies.”

The fat boy of the group is played by Jerry O’Connell. Interestingly, there is an appearance by Kiefer Sutherland, who can only be the son of Donald Sutherland, as one of the town’s bad boys. The story is based on the Stephen King novella, “The Body.” But Reiner has brought some absolutely magical film-making to bear on the theme, to bring it to lifje in a very special way. His countryside is luminescent, but brooding and full of cruelty, whether it is from the junkyard dog, or the leeches in a pond, or from

the hot metal of a pounding steam engine. There is a powerful scene that captures with almost painful clarity all the vfertigo of walking across a high rail bridge. There is also the wonderful ; moment, where viewers will automatically hold their breath, where

one of the boys comes face to face with a deer in the forest at dawn. Reiner himself is also well-known to New Zealand audiences. He played the part of Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the long-running American domestic comedy “All In The Family.” His acting

has won him two Emmy Awards. He is the son of Carl Reiner, the actor and film producer. Among the music for "Stand By Me,” are tracks from Buddy Holly, Jeny Lee Lewis, the Del Vikings, and the soundtrack feature song is by Ben E.

King. The 85-minute video carries an M rating. The on-screen violence, although usually threatened in some way, is really only that of four tough boys being boys. The dialogue is. rich,: but its colourful irhagery will not be to everyone’s taste, i •