Different Directions Part1

 

 

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry back in 2019, one of my favorite Stephen King books was Different Seasons.  The book consists of four separate novellas by King that depart from the horror genre he is primarily known to publish.  Although I was originally attracted to King's work through what was then a newly released paperback edition of his first collection of short stories, Night Shift, my favorite story after I read was, and still is, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption which is as far away from that typical horror genre as you could possibly get, I expect.

Three of the stories in Different Seasons have made it to the big screen, with only the last story in the book, "The Breathing Method" still awaiting a movie version.  Between 1986 and 1998 we got, in succession, Stand By Me (based on "The Body"), The Shawshank Redemption (based on "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption") and Apt Pupil (based on "Apt Pupil"). 

All three were well done, and two of them even received recognition by the Academy Awards committee. (The only one to not get recognized was Apt Pupil which may have had more to do with the subject matter than anything with the direction of Bryan Singer or the acting of it's two stars, Ian McKellen or Brad Renfro.)

Recently I came across my battered copy of Different Seasons and decided to reread it afresh. And since I have re-inaugurated the blog, I thought why not review the films (which I was astonished to find out I had never delved in to any of them in more than a brief reference.)

An observation from the outset.  It seems. to me anyway,  that one of the overall themes of these films (and the stories behind them) is the loss of innocence. I didn't get that feeling from "The Breathing Method" as a story, so maybe that is part of the reason why it still hasn't been filmed.  Everyone likes a good "loss of innocence" story on one level or another, whether nostalgic, like "The Body", or one that drives a character to greater triumphs, like "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption".  Even the loss of innocence accompanying "Apt Pupil" has a lesson that can be learned.

So here we are.  And since the nostalgia factor was the impetus for re-reading the book and watching these movies again, I think it's fitting that the first entry be on Rob Reiner's production Stand By Me ("The Body")

The movie has an impressive cast. Most of the child actors in the film were just starting out.  This was the first role for Jerry O'Connell (Vern). Wil Wheaton had been in a few TV movies and as an extra in a couple of theatrical releases. River Phoenix also had some TV experience (he was a cast member on a TV show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ). The member with the most cachet of the primary cast has to be Corey Feldman, however, who had some 30 appearances to his credit, including being a primary cast member of two other 80's "coming of age" movies, Gremlins and The Goonies.

In addition you also had Keifer Sutherland who was just getting his feet wet in the industry, as well as Casey Siemazko.  When you add that such already well established actors as Richard Dreyfuss and John Cusak came on board, you have to realize that Rob Reiner did have some pull in Hollywood, even with only a couple of films under his director's belt. But you can see with this film that Reiner knew what he was doing and his genius as a director would be well established from now on.

 

Stand By Me (1986):

In 1985 a man sits alone in his car reminiscing.  He has just read about the death of one of his childhood friends as the result of the friend trying to intervene in a bar fight.  The man, a grown up writer (Richard Dreyfuss) is revealed to be Gordie LaChance. He and his friends had an adventure way back in 1959 when they were 12 years old, which becomes the center point for the film. 

 

 

 

Gordie (Wil Wheaton) and his friends, Chris (River Phoenix), Teddy (Corey Feldman) and Vern (Jerry O'Connell) sit in their clubhouse playing cards and just doing things kids that age did. Vern reveals that he overheard his older brother, Billy (Casey Siemaszko) and his friend Charlie (Gary Riley) discussing having found the dead body of a missing kid. They express a reluctance to reveal the fact because the two had been engaged in the hijacking of a car when they found him.

 

 

 

Vern convinces the rest of his compadres to do an overnight hike to find the body themselves and take credit for discovering it. With visions of becoming home town heroes the four trek off, using the cover that they are actually camping out overnight at one of the friends' house to convince their parents that it is just a innocent sleepover.

Over the course of the film we get some insight into the characters, which is the driving force behind this outing. Chris is fighting a seeming losing battle over being considered a delinquent because he was accused of stealing some funds from school. Gordie is struggling with being basically the invisible boy at home because his older brother, Denny, had recently died and his parents are so distraught that they have been neglecting him. Teddy has an abusive father who has been committed to an insane asylum. Although the father was abusive to him, Teddy still idolizes him on some level because after all, his father had been among those who stormed the beach at Normandy during D-Day in WWII. Vern, for his part, is just considered the wimp of the group and is timid in most conflicts.

Although the film mostly is just a character driven delving into the friendship of the four, there are some interesting scenes worth checking out.  At one point during the trek they have to cross a junkyard owned by an irascible old man. Milo (William Bronder) and his guard dog "Chopper". Chopper has a legend surrounding him that his owner has trained him to bite whatever body part that Milo orders him to attack (I.e. "Chopper, sic balls").

The scenes were the gang has to cross a long train bridge while wary of when the next train is due, and cross a swamp which turns out to be infested with leeches are among some of the great scenes, Also of note are some intense dramatic scenes which in the real world reveal some of the potential that would come later in the careers of these child actors. I'm particularly fond of the scene between Phoenix and Wheaton when Chis reveals to Gordie the truth behind his supposed indiscretion with school funds.

Meanwhile, back on the home front, Billy and Charlie have broke down and revealed their secret to their own friends which comes to the attention to the leader of the town's biggest hoodlum gang, Ace (Keifer Sutherland) who bullies the rest of the gang to accompany him in discovering the body themselves. Piled into two cars, the hoodlums drive to the location.

 

 

 

The boys discover the body first, but Ace and his gang show up and there is a confrontation to determine which group is going to get credit for the discovery.

Spoiler Alert!: Never bring a switchblade to a gun fight. Ace thinks he has the upper hand with his knife until Gordie brings out a gun that the boys have brought with them. Gordie asserts that neither of the groups is going to get credit. They are each going to go their own way and leave the discovery to someone else.

 

 

(Which brings up one point that always bothered me, The boys are on foot.  Ace and his gang have cars.  What stopped Ace and the others from just driving off a ways and waiting for the boys to leave and then coming back and taking the body anyway? It implies a sense of honor which up to this point I couldn't see in the hoodlums that Ace led.)

Back in the present Gordie as the adult writer is finishing up his story. He reveals that Vern got married and is a forklift operator at a factory.  Teddy, after having unsuccessfully try to enter the army, had ended up doing odd jobs and even experiencing a little time behind bars.  Chris, despite feeling that he was doomed to a life of being an outcast, had instead made it to college and been a lawyer. 

Gordie ends his story with "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twevle.  Jesus, does anyone?:

The film only got a limited release on it's first week out, and that might have been the end of it, but it did well and was later released to more theaters, where it made a huge box office success.  It garnered a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (which it lost to A Room with a View) and several other noms. It didn't win any, but it still got a lot of press from critics. It currently has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And as an added bonus, it was one of the few movies adapted from his work of which the author expressed approval.

An interesting side piece of trivia for you.  Did you know that the title track song "Stand By Me". which was originally released in 1961 (and made it all the way to #4 on the charts) was re-released to coincide with this movie and made it to #9 in early 1987?  I don't know if 26 years stands as a record for an original song to chart, either as a re-release or even the original first time, but I think that's pretty impressive anyway.  I wonder what the singer thought about that... (He was still alive at the time, so possibly he was asked, but I couldn't find an interview with him online.)

Well, folks, fortunately I don't have an overnight trek to get home. The old Plymouth will still get me home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy