PCPS Light: Revisiting “Stand By Me” on its 40th Birthday

Speaker 1 0:01

You know when it's right. You know when you feel it, baby. You hold it. You hear it. You taste it. It's right. You got the right one, baby. Yeah. Is this irrepressibly lovable? But surpass.

Kristin Nilsen 0:29

Hello and welcome to another refreshing can of PCPS Lite. The episodes that are light on calories but still have lots of big taste. That means we come to the mic with a topic and some thoughts, and that's about it. I think that's what most people call a podcast, but not us.

Michelle Newman 0:45

No,

Kristin Nilsen 0:45

because at the Pop Culture Preservation Society, we research and write and edit like crazy to bring you episodes that are well crafted, not just like burped out like an afterthought,

Michelle Newman 0:56

like most podcasts.

Kristin Nilsen 0:57

Like most podcasts, I know. Which I'm telling Liam seems to think that we're doing it wrong because we don't just burp out afterthoughts. He's like, "That's what a podcast is. I'm sorry, I'm not doing it. But today is PCPS Lite, so that's different. While we are preparing and recording season 20, we give ourselves a break and show up basically empty-handed and just hope that one of us will say something profound.

Michelle Newman 1:20

With we've got a good shot. We got a one in three shot. That's right. The odds are in our favor.

Kristin Nilsen 1:25

Yes. So today I'm sharing with you, the listeners, and with Carolyn and Michelle, an event that I went to this summer that shook me a lot harder than I thought it would, and that was a special 40th anniversary screening of the movie Stand by me, followed by a Q and A with the stars of the movie. Those adorable pubescent boys named Gordy, Vern, Teddy, and Chris,

Michelle Newman 1:51

the living ones. Wil

Kristin Nilsen 1:53

Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, Corey Feldman, and River Phoenix. May he rest in

Michelle Newman 1:59

peace. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 2:00

can you guys remember? You such a cutie! Oh my god! Can you remember the last time you saw Stan Baden

Michelle Newman 2:08

yesterday? I oh yeah exactly Friday night

Kristin Nilsen 2:11

before last yeah

Michelle Newman 2:13

before Friday night when Brian and Brian loved that movie too. It might have been in the late '80s, because I know when it was '86, right? When it was really oh, obviously 40th.

Kristin Nilsen 2:27

Yeah,

Michelle Newman 2:28

I loved it. Gosh, I loved that movie. I bet I saw it in the theaters more than once, and maybe after that, once or twice. But I know I saw it many times. Yeah, VHS or something. So maybe maybe early 90s, but I don't think I've really seen it as an adult, like

Kristin Nilsen 2:48

an adult, adult,

Michelle Newman 2:49

adult, adult. Yeah, that's me

Kristin Nilsen 2:50

too. The last time I saw it, I'm pretty sure was in the theater when it came out in 1986. And what we'll talk about later is that that might make a difference with how we perceived it today, Carolyn. Did you see it when it came out, or was the first time was yesterday? Okay, so this will be so interesting. Yeah, I think it hits in that same kind of time frame a little bit of how old I was

Carolyn Cochrane 3:12

and when I was going in the movie. So yes, I'm anxious and looking forward to talking about how it hit me, and I'm really excited to hear about your experience listening to the cast members talk

Kristin Nilsen 3:24

about it 40 years later. It was so. Let's just start here. So I was invited by my friend Jen, who was 12 years old when the movie came out. When she saw this in the theater, and that will turn out to be a significant fact because she was the same age as the characters, and we had to travel. This was in Chicago. This was not in Minneapolis. So this was no small thing. It was a very elevated historic affair for for a lot of people for many reasons. So first, it wasn't in any old AMC theater. This was at the Chicago Theater, which is an elegant historic theater in downtown Chicago that hosts touring stage productions like this is where you would go to see Les Mis. It's not a movie theater,

Michelle Newman 4:06

and it's the very iconic listeners. If you're like which one, you've seen the iconic the vertical marquee that says Chicago like vertically in the red and like the red sign with it. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 4:17

very iconic, and that setting gave this movie so much weight. There were chandeliers and balconies and and ornate fixtures, and the theater was packed. I don't know if it was sold out, but I'm guessing it was close to sold out, and it just made it feel so important. And I think the gravity was also impacted by the recent death, the tragic death of Rob Reiner. He was the director of Stand By Me, and it almost this event almost felt like a memorial to him. I bet, yeah. And the movie started with very little fanfare. There was no introduction. It just began. Everyone, you know, at the appointed time, the movie just started playing. But when the credits started rolling. The audience started clapping, and one-it's one of my greatest joys in life when people in the audience of a movie theater start clapping at the end of a movie. But here they were start-they were clapping when it started. This is just-it was so the energy was just so so good. So they're clapping, they're clapping, and when River Phoenix's name came on the screen, they started cheering, and I get all choked up, and my heart just about explodes. Right, but then Rob Reiner's name comes on the screen, and it was like thunder.

Speaker 2 5:36

Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 5:37

the roof came off the place, and I'm crying, and the movie has not even started yet. It's not even started, and this is why we have to see these classic movies together in the theater. We've talked about this so many times, right?

Carolyn Cochrane 5:55

Yeah, that that experience, just like you described, the the clapping together, the shared emotion-it's just-it's something that can't be felt sitting on your couch alone, or you know, with just one other person. Right.

Michelle Newman 6:09

Well, and also, I feel like it's especially because of the River Phoenix, even though that was decades ago his death, but especially because of Rob Reiner and how much his work means meant. I guess I could say, to all of us of the same age. So to have that experience together of just the respect and the the applause, it it's like you were all grieving together in a way, but also just acknowledging his importance in our lives together, which you know, I watched it last week with just my husband, and we were like, "Oh, you know, we were we we talked amongst ourselves about River Phoenix, Rob Reiner, but that's not the same as having that feeling of 1000s of other people grieving and and celebrating,

Kristin Nilsen 7:02

it felt ceremonial. That's why you say it felt like a memorial, right? It felt very ceremonial. And then just the watching of the movie itself. Again, you're in this theater with other people who are feeling the same thing as you, and they were quoting lines along with the characters on the screen out

Michelle Newman 7:18

loud.

Kristin Nilsen 7:19

Out loud. Oh, that that would have bugged me. No, it was so it was so great because it just showed how much people connected with the movie and they remembered. I had forgotten how many quotable lines there were. Oh, there's so many. The dialog is so so good, and I never appreciated that when I saw it when I was 18. But now I could, and you remember. Everybody's gonna remember this when you know Vern says that's easy, Pez cherry flavor Pez. Yeah, or Gordy's famous line: He's got a gun pointed at Ace, and he says, "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood. Like people could quote that along with the character and then

Michelle Newman 7:55

River Phoenix is like, "Suck my fat one! Like he's so proud of him. Like nice job.

Kristin Nilsen 8:00

And Jen said when she saw that in the movie the first time, she's like, "What's a fat one? Oh, I bet. Yeah, she just didn't know. People were singing along with the soundtrack. The soundtrack is just really, really good, and I had forgotten how many good songs. And people are like, "Lolly pop, lollipop, oh, lolly, lolly. It was like a sing along. Everybody does that. Yeah, boom, boom. You

Michelle Newman 8:25

know, listeners. You know when you put your finger in your mouth and do the little. Yeah, yeah. I hope you could hear the hear this. You can.

Kristin Nilsen 8:32

So this was, like I said, this was the first time I had seen it since 1986 when I saw it in the theater, and it was a heftier movie than I think I was able to take in at that time at age 18, I felt like I saw it or like I got it for the very first time. Maybe because when you're 18, you're not yet nostalgic; you're still growing up, and now as an adult, you can see this movie differently. Was your so just to Michelle, was your was your experience different this time as an adult? And then we'll talk to Carolyn about her thoughts.

Michelle Newman 9:06

I think so. I think I think like what you just said. How when you when we've been the past six years, especially since we started the podcast, revisiting a lot of these movies that meant so much to us. Yes, I view it now more through a nostalgic lens. This one's interesting, though, because as we've talked about in different conversations here, I think all three of us have agreed. But you know how I've said I had such an affinity for the 50s and that whole time era. That's why I was such a huge Happy Days fan and and all the music and stuff. So in 1986, when I saw this movie, do you remember the month it was released? I'm wondering if I was a junior or senior in high school, so I don't remember if it was anyway. I loved it because of that slant. Yeah, and talk about the soundtrack. Oh my god, I wore that cassette out. We made up dances to it to for our dance concert, our high school dance concert, and we did a lip sync contest to it. You know, like the our high school had like a lip sync you know thing, and we dressed up like 50s girls and sang lollipop, and it was just it was so much. But as far as the movie goes, because it's been so long since I've seen it, the dialog came back to me. But weirdly, the things that yes came back to me. Remember when we did Blue Lagoon, and I was like, "Oh my god! And then I just knew he was going to turn over, and I knew what his face looked like when they when they showed the dead boy. I knew what his I knew like right when that was, and I knew like I remembered what his face looked like in that split second. Yeah, I had forgotten Kiefer Sutherland and and how evil he was. Such a bad

Kristin Nilsen 10:49

guy,

Michelle Newman 10:50

and those are things that just you know we talk about yeah having all these who screw do moments and whatever, and it was just like firing at me.

Speaker 1 10:58

Yeah,

Michelle Newman 10:58

because I haven't seen it in so long. I will say that one thing that I think I had forgotten about, or maybe never realized. I'm sure I realized it back then, but that it was Richard Dreyfus' voice. Like he's the grown-up Wil Wheaton's character. He's the he's

Kristin Nilsen 11:18

Gordy. He's adult Gordy telling the story

Michelle Newman 11:21

that had either escaped me back then, or I had forgotten it because when the movie started and I saw him sitting in the truck, I was like, "Wait, wait, Richard Dreyfus is in this movie? How did I not remember that? So, and his voice, listeners, if you've never seen the movie, much like in the Wonder Years or things like that, he narrates. He's present day, you know, whatever in 1986, remembering this event of him and his his best friends when they went on this hunt for this body. Very famous Stephen King novella that this movie was, you know, the body is based on, called the Body, which is very autobiographical. In fact, Stephen King has said of everything he's ever written. This is the most autobiographical that he's ever written. But yeah, so so Richard Dreyfus is narrating it through most. And I had

Kristin Nilsen 12:11

forgotten that also. And I was I felt like I was connecting the dots for the first time. That oh, that's Gordy. That's Gordy telling the story. I for the first time, I think when I saw the movie the first time, I took it very literally. There are these boys; they're going on a quest to find this dead body, and for the first time as an adult, I was able to see. Oh, this movie is about masculinity and male friendship. Yes, I don't.

Michelle Newman 12:37

I for sure in 1986 it didn't hit me like this is a coming of age story. No, it was just what they were doing when I watched it last week. It was very much more. Wow, look at the growth that's happened through this 24 hours for all of them, which is interesting to me. And I want to ask Carolyn this because having seen it for the first time,

Carolyn Cochrane 12:57

one

Michelle Newman 12:58

thing that happens a lot on this podcast when we revisit an old favorite, and it doesn't mean that was quality, listeners. Right, but it was a movie we were like loved, like Ice Castles or Blue Lagoon or something. We watch it again and we say, "Ooh, would this hold up today? And for very varied, many varied reasons, the answer can be no. I thought this movie holds up, but Carolyn, watching it for the first time, what do you think?

Carolyn Cochrane 13:25

Oh, 100% it it holds up, and it helps that it's set in a time, a different, you know,

Michelle Newman 13:33

good point, decade

Carolyn Cochrane 13:35

of history. So they can't get away with some stuff that was appropriate, not appropriate, but was normal or normalized during that time,

Kristin Nilsen 13:43

language or whatever. Yes,

Carolyn Cochrane 13:45

and I want to talk about the fact, and this is kind of going off a little bit, but gosh, not only does it hold up, it is so needed. This kind of movie. I mean, I think one of the reasons that maybe it didn't hit us back then the way it does now is there were a few more of these kind of movies with males as central characters where we talk about friendship, where they cry, where they grieve. We've got Dead Poet Society. We've got Ordinary People. We've got class. We've got places that in movies and characters and actors that we loved because they were like our age, but we watch them being real boys and growing up and being male in the right way. Where I feel like now any of these stuff that they'd be made fun of, you know, with oh he's crying, he's what blah blah. It'd be the butt of a joke, and I just I ache for that. I mean, that I ached in a lot of reasons for watching this movie. There was such a melancholy for me and a a bittersweet feeling when it was over. But that was probably one of the biggest ones. Is like, where are these kind of movies now for our high adventure voice?

Kristin Nilsen 14:55

Because, and that was the thing that again I did not pick up on because I was not. Aware of toxic masculinity when I was 18 of the other, I was a victim of it. I was probably a participant in it, and I didn't understand. I didn't understand what the impact of toxic masculinity was, and now I'm seeing this this storyline as being about the gift that friendship is, and how that gift can be squandered by toxic masculinity, because you have these young boys on the brink of manhood, and they're trying to figure out what it means to be a man. They're in the process of choosing. Essentially, they can they can be like their older brothers, like Kiefer Sutherland and all those guys, which are total they're total dicks. They're they're all insult humor and intimidation, and conquering women, or they can be there for each other when they're sad or confused. They can listen to each other about their hopes and dreams. They can encourage each other. They can choose to be there for someone when someone has had a rough go of it, and maybe give them a pass. Corey Zeldman. I'm forgetting their. I'm forgetting their names. Teddy. That one's Teddy. Teddy. But and you watch them on the screen, like trying to figure that out as they go on this journey together to find a dead body. This time, I really saw the whole movie as commentary on masculinity.

Carolyn Cochrane 16:17

Yes, 100% And and the stereotypes we put on people. The is it Jack? Sorry, we'll take this part. What's River Phoenix's name? Chris, Chris, Chris. That's right, Chris Chambers. You know, there's the stereotype of the way Chris was growing up and the road Phoenix character. Yes, the River Phoenix chair. Yeah, and the road he could have taken, and yet he's probably one of the most understanding, sensitive males in this whole movie, and how he, you know, just kind of takes care of Vern as he's dealing with the death of his brother. Which can we also take a moment? That was John Cusack. Oh yeah, so I've never yes, I remember that.

Kristin Nilsen 16:59

Judy's brother is John Cusack. I was a

Michelle Newman 17:01

huge. That was a big John Cusack. That was another

Carolyn Cochrane 17:04

kind of. These were moments, as you know, Carolyn likes these little crossover, whatever you want to say. So all of a sudden, it's like John Cusack, and then it's like Kiefer Sutherland, and then the mom. I don't know if you guys remember Frances. She's everybody's mom. So she was Kevin Benson's mom, and she's been Remland's mom, and yes, and so anyway, I had some fun moments like that, but um, but yeah, it was just watching these boys be vulnerable. I hate you overusing that word. God, I'm not on The Bachelor, the Bachelorette, where everyone got to be vulnerable, vulnerable. But this is an example of when you watch these boys being vulnerable, and it was okay. Like you know, yeah, there was some ribbing and that stuff, but it just it felt right. And then you just wonder what happens after that summer, and when they go back to school, and what roads do

Michelle Newman 17:54

you kind of also, or not that take that out, or don't take that out. We're not editing. What I was going to say is, I love, and and I think this is something that I would have loved back then. I I don't remember thinking about it, but I love how these four boys are so different. Like as far as you could imagine who they are in school and who likes you know what groups they're in, but they're kind of before that, they're kind of not quite there yet. Where maybe one of them's going to get ridiculed because he's not as cool as the other one, or whatever. The

Kristin Nilsen 18:28

smarty one is the jock. One is the weirdo. Right, the fat kid. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 18:33

we got the Breakfast Club. But what I love is how I just love their friendship, and I love how accepting they all are of each other, and I love that they share their feelings, that they cry and they talk about things, and that's one thing that just gives me a very warm feeling about this movie is that you're never scared for one minute that they're all going to gang up on one of them, or they're going to be mean or bullies to one of them. They protect each other. Yes, they laugh when you know he's running and the dogs gotta you know eat balls or whatever. But but they they do that and and I think that too. One thing I was struck by as a as current Michelle was just the acting that these four boys did was tremendous. Yes, you guys-they should have all gotten awards. Like they are as good or better than their male counterpart actors were at the time, or today even. Yeah, like God, all of them. I mean, right now I'm thinking River Phoenix especially, but my God, they all had moments in the movie where your heart broke, and it could have just been the way they didn't say something, the way they sat there, the way they looked with their eyes, the the expression they gave, and that's the whole movie is so good. That's rock bander. Good point. Pulling that out, directing that. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 19:55

right. And think of what you just talked about, Michelle, where they were able to be there for. And be vulnerable, and then you contrast that to their their older brothers, Kiefer Sutherland and his little gang. How it's almost like those older kids were unevolved, where these younger kids were so evolved. But of course, we know that that evolution can go in reverse for boys and men. That you can start out evolved, and then society-that's exactly what

Carolyn Cochrane 20:23

happens. I mean, that's that's the year in their life they're going to junior high. I mean, they're going to have choices when you know we know Vern's on the college track, and you know Chris doesn't think that's a track for him. And you know, there's a lot of choice will be happening for these four boys as they, you know, we all see them separate there in the last scene. And I've got to say, one of the things that struck me too, where I thought, "Huh, there, this is maybe this coming of age and this maturity, because they talk about the fact that they find this body, and the whole thing was they wanted to find this poor boy that died, got hit by a train or whatever, so they could be in the on the radio and they could be in the newspaper and they could be like cool and be seen. And at the end, they decided to just call in an anonymous tip, like that wasn't what they wanted. So you kind of saw these inklings of this maturity that they hadn't had in the beginning of the episode or the beginning of the movie, but what they went through, and then of course seeing a dead body-I mean, that's gonna make you grow up pretty darn far fast. And so I thought that was the first kind of telling of, huh? They're not these little boys that started this journey. I don't think.

Kristin Nilsen 21:35

Yeah, yeah, it's like a hero's journey, but the hero looks a lot different than a stereotypical hero. It is. It's a. It's a quest film, and I didn't. I don't think I saw it as a quest film before. Oh,

Carolyn Cochrane 21:45

how could we have? Or how could we have really, you know, thought about the the relationship between Vern and his father? Because Vern's brother died. Gordy. Oh, Gordy. Who's Vern? I said Vern before. The fat kid. Everybody. I and I know that Gordy. I think I meant to say Gordy earlier. Yes, Gordy and his father do not have a good relationship because Gordy is our writer, our reader, intellectual, exactly. And John Cusack, his brother, who had died before the movie starts, but we get some flashbacks. But his brother was the star athlete, the quarterback. The people in town know him as you know. Oh, you should be like your brother Denny, I believe was. I can't remember. That was right. Anyway, and you know the brother or the dad just worships the brother that's not there anymore. So you realize that that is like oh, it makes you kind of sad. But then at the very end of the whole entire movie, when Richard Dreyfus is a grown-up, and he types the last part of the story or book he's writing. He goes and plays with his kids outside, and it was just like, ah, maybe we broke a little cycle there. And he knew how important that was. I

Michelle Newman 22:53

feel like the I feel like John Kusak, the brother. I mean, he was who who Gordie looked up to. Like, oh yeah, you saw that scene at the dinner table where the dad's basically ignoring him, and the the older brother reaches over and hugs him. He's like, I think that was great what you did, right? I I

Carolyn Cochrane 23:09

isn't that interesting? So he lost

Michelle Newman 23:11

that that exactly that

Carolyn Cochrane 23:13

male you know positive male influence. I think he lost his father

Kristin Nilsen 23:16

figure. He lost his father figure. He's left with a father who isn't a father figure to him, and that's another issue of my skill. My father doesn't

Carolyn Cochrane 23:23

love, or what does he say? My father hates me. I think when he's talking with Chris, and he's just like just breaking down. And really, for guys, I mean, I could go probably on my soapbox, but to me, if you don't have a good male positive role figure, particularly your father, just you're going to be. A lot of you are get messed up. I mean, I think we just have to look at our president. That's a deal breaker.

Kristin Nilsen 23:47

It is, and so yes, truly, yeah, yes, that's a deal breaker. It can break literally break you and turn you into a different person if you don't have that support and approval from an important male in your life. Yes. So once the movie ends and the credits have ended, the and of course clapping, clapping, clapping, cheering, cheering, cheering. Right, the theater goes dark, and a spotlight lights up a lone director's chair sitting on stage with the name Rob Reiner printed on it.

Carolyn Cochrane 24:19

Gut punch. It

Kristin Nilsen 24:20

it white. I know it. That's exactly what it was. It was a gut punch, and the applause just went on and on and on. It was like you couldn't clap hard enough, and you didn't want to stop clapping. It was like if you stopped clapping, what does that mean? Like it just went on, and they just let it go. They just I don't know. Was it five minutes? I have no idea. But the clapping just wouldn't stop, and then our stars come out: Will Wheaton, who played Gordy; Jerry O'Connell, who played Vern; Corey Feldman, who played Teddy, and they are wearing the little shirts that they wore in the movie.

Michelle Newman 24:54

Stop it, you guys! Wait, like the like shirts that looked like them?

Kristin Nilsen 24:59

Yes, Ralph. Because of the shirts that they wore, yeah. So, so Wil Wheaton is wearing a little red stripey shirt. That's so cute. And Vern has the iconic shirt. It's it's multicolored striped with a little white collar. That's the iconic shirt. And they actually have Vern's shirt at the merch table. And I was all in. I was going to buy Vern's shirt, and I was going to wear that shirt. It's not anything I would ever wear in real life, but that's Vern's shirt. They were all sold out by the time I got there. I bet,

Michelle Newman 25:26

yeah.

Kristin Nilsen 25:27

And then Jerry O'Connell takes a plain white tee, the one worn by River Phoenix, and he lays it over the couch where River Phoenix would be sitting were he alive and joining them. Everybody likes those right now. I

Michelle Newman 25:42

have like

Kristin Nilsen 25:43

it was emotional. The

Michelle Newman 25:45

hair on the back of my neck is standing up right now, and the back of my arms. That's wow.

Kristin Nilsen 25:49

It was incredibly emotional, and and these three guys are so they're so there for it. They're not performing this. They are they are those four boys all grown up. Wil Wheaton is my new hall pass. He becomes the new obsession of Jen and me. We talked about follow him on social media. He's a really really good follow. We Jen and I talked about him the whole walk back to our hotel on our six hour drive home. We can't stop talking about Wil Wheaton, just like Gordy in the movie. Wil is like this kind of wounded but healed badass, but he's like the quiet warrior of the group. He is calm and thoughtful. He is a protector. He is protective of Corey Feldman, who, as we all know was horribly abused his entire childhood, mostly from the industry people that they were that were all around all of them all of the time, and you can see Will's protection of him, and you're so happy to see Corey Feldman doing well after everything that he's been through. But I'm also a little bit nervous. Both Jen and I were a little bit nervous because we don't know what he's going to say. Will he say something inappropriate? Will he say something that just pushes the boundary that makes us feel uncomfortable? You just you want so badly for him to be okay, and he can't be okay. How could he be okay, right? Right. So you're just kind of worried. Everything was fine. Absolutely, it was. It was absolutely fine. But you worry. And Jerry O'Connell, who played Vern, the fat kid in the stripey shirt, got famously got hot. Right? He's no longer the fat kid. However, he is very much still the fat kid deep inside. The fat kid must be funny. Vern in the movie is the funny fat kid. Jerry O'Connell did that brilliantly as a child, but just because you lose the weight does not mean that you don't carry that little kid around you still to this day. And you can feel that

Michelle Newman 27:53

even if you are married to super hot Rebecca, which he mentions

Kristin Nilsen 27:57

constantly. By the way, we get it, we understand. But the fat kid needs. I was

Carolyn Cochrane 28:02

going to say the fat kid. Yeah, she's going to do that. Of

Kristin Nilsen 28:05

course he does. Of course he needs that. He Jerry O'Connell has to be funny, and he has to beat you to the joke that might wound him,

Speaker 3 28:12

right? Make fun of

Kristin Nilsen 28:14

yourself before somebody else does.

Carolyn Cochrane 28:15

Classic.

Kristin Nilsen 28:16

He was all over the stage and cracking wise, which was a huge contrast to Wil Wheaton's almost fatherly composure, holding everybody together. But again, you see them as their characters, and so you hold them all. You hold them all, and and and he was, and he is very funny. Jerry O'Connell is funny. Let me just say that. But yeah, because we had, and I may not have noticed a thing if I hadn't just watched this movie. It just made me look at different things, but the little shirts just killed us, you guys. And they become more meaningful after seeing the movie in this setting as an adult. When you understand the true nature of this film, which is little boys growing into men and trying to decide which path to take, so they come on the stage with their as adults with their little boy shirts on. They had a lot of scorn for the directors they worked with as children. See Corey Feldman above. But also, even if even if they weren't sexual predators, they were just taskmasters. As if as if children weren't human, they were just you know moving pieces. Wil Wheaton, in particular, called out all of the directors who were jerks and treated them like shit. But they had nothing but love for Rob Reiner. He took care of them. He treated them like children, not just small adults who worked for him. He wanted them to play and have fun. He let them have time to be kids. He wanted them to have a summer. He wanted the filming of the movie to be like their summer vacation, and so he made it happen. He had they had lots of time off. He would take them to the arcade, or they'd go go karting, or whatever. There were lots of shenanigans on that set, and they were allowed. They were the opportunity was given to them by Rob Reiner. The only time that Rob Reiner wasn't-that's my dog clicking. That's his nails clicking on the floor. Sorry. The only time Rob Reiner wasn't a kind and gentle human was when they were filming the train scene. So I will describe the scene for everybody just to jog your memory on their journey, the boys get to a train trestle, like a scary high train trestle. Like if you fall off the train trestle, you will definitely die. There's no surviving that, and it's very scary. Should we do it? Should we go across? And yep, they're going to do it. They got to get to the other side, and then of course they hear a train coming, and they have to outrun that train on this very high trestle. Where if you fall off, you will definitely die. This is the only time Rob Reiner yelled at them. He said, "We only have this much daylight. We have to get this done. We're running out of time. You're ruining the shot. He screamed and berated them, and they were scared. They were terrified of disappointing him. They were scared of his big booming voice. He was a an imposing man, right? And he was using that big voice, and they were so afraid. And this time, they ran for their lives for real. And when they got to the other side, and the shot was over. Rob Reiner ran to them, and he hugged them, and he put his arms around them, and he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I had to do that because you didn't look scared. And he wanted them to be truly and authentically scared, and if you if you've seen the movie recently, the camera pans in on their faces. You you you just weren't. He said you just weren't making me believe that you were afraid for your life, and I had to do something to make you scared. And now, when you watch that scene, you can see that fear.

Carolyn Cochrane 32:00

Oh yeah, because they

Michelle Newman 32:01

obviously weren't actually. There was actually no train. No, they were chasing them. So they're just like, run as fast as you can, and we're gonna get you in.

Kristin Nilsen 32:08

Nothing scarier than being yelled at. Like I would say, this was my my mom yelled at us all the time for whatever. It's like whatever, mom. If my dad yelled, that was scary. So if you've got this person that's always jovial and making everything fun for you, and he's upset and mad at you. That's like 10 levels high. Like you are legit scared. Totally, they were they were afraid of Rob Reiner not loving them. Right? Yeah, yeah. That's what they were afraid of. And you now you have to rewatch that scene and know that that's what's happening. It'll break your heart because that is actual fear on their faces, so we have to talk about the last line of the movie because this was something that again impacted impacted me for the first time, kind of the where adult Gordy, played by Richard Dreyfus, says this at the conclusion of the story. I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone? And today that that brings me to tears in a way that it wouldn't have when I was 18. And as I said in the beginning, Jen saw this movie when she was 12 with her friend Molly. They were the same age as the characters. It was like their coming of age movie. This was their coming of age movie, and they would call each other Vern when they when somebody did something dumb. They'd be like Vern, and they did this all through junior high, all through high school, all the way until they graduated. They would call each other Vern, and when she hears this line now, it makes her just cling to Molly all the more. She still knows Molly. She still sees Molly. But listen to this. This is crazy. So Jen is now 51 years old, and when she saw Stand By Me the first time, shortly after seeing the movie, she got her first period. Now when she goes to see Stand By Me, she hasn't had a period for months. After seeing Stand By Me,

Speaker 4 34:07

oh no, she got her period.

Kristin Nilsen 34:09

Oh, literally the next day, the next and listeners, you

Carolyn Cochrane 34:14

know how shitty that can be when you're like, okay, maybe this is the real thing, and you haven't had one for like six or seven months, and you're like, okay, yay! And then, oh my gosh! And then you go to the doctor, like, nope, got to start all over again to 12. You don't need to get to 12.

Michelle Newman 34:29

Oh my gosh! But at the same time, I love that story. I mean, she brought out those hormones for a little young self. Yes, yes. It's like you know how it's like when you sink, like when you have sisters, or when you're with girls all the time, like on a cheer team or whatever, you usually are synced. There was something about that movie that she synced up with the movie. Synced up, yeah. She synced

Kristin Nilsen 34:50

up with her 12 year old self,

Carolyn Cochrane 34:52

and that was so funny. Of course, when you know, especially for Jen seeing it back then, you are those characters. You aren't the adult Richard Dreyfus. You are the you know young, yeah, kid. And so then to see it now and be you are Richard Dreyfus now, like and that's probably who the movie was. I mean, that was probably the demographic for that movie too was the adult who could remember being a kid in the 50s, 60s, and now right, yeah, exactly. And so, to to read that line now, and also know, kind of like the movie, like that going from 12 to 13, you know, you make different choices, and different friend groups go different ways. And those friends at 12, you're never going to have those kind of friends again.

Michelle Newman 35:41

Yeah, you go through too much with those friends. Yeah, it's the one thing that

Carolyn Cochrane 35:45

the innocence part. I mean, I'm going to pull out my obnoxious Carolyn self and say, you know, if you weren't cool when we went on to junior high or high school, but you been my friend, I might have left you in. I don't know if I would have left you in the dirt, but I was aspiring to something different than going over to your house every day after school or something.

Kristin Nilsen 36:04

You're conflicted. You're conflicted because you got to make choices now. Yeah, make choices. Well, yeah, you turn into Keifer Sutherland. You turn into Keith or Souther. Yeah, exactly. Right. So related to what you just said, Carolyn, about you know now we're Richard Dreyfus and we're looking at this story differently. Michelle mentioned the audio book. No, sorry, Michelle mentioned the fact that this is based on a novella by Stephen King called The Body There is an audiobook of The Body that has recently been released for those of you who love audiobooks, and this one is read by Wil Wheaton,

Carolyn Cochrane 36:41

I love that

Kristin Nilsen 36:41

because now adult Gordy is the narr is the voice. Yeah, he is now Richard Dreyfus. He is adult Gordy, and in the audio book, he gets the opportunity to truly mourn the death of River Phoenix because the narrator is in the book in the novella, is an adult mourning the death of his good friend, adult Chris, adult Chris, the boy who was that boy in the plain white T-shirt played by River Phoenix. In the movie, Wil Wheaton doesn't get to do that because he's child Gordy. That's Richard Dreyfus's job. The movie is in present tense, and plus this is just a story. This is just a story, and River Phoenix is alive. But now he grows. Does anyone understand what I'm saying? Like it's very meta. Yeah, it's very meta,

Michelle Newman 37:30

and it's very like it's so emotional.

Kristin Nilsen 37:32

So you have to listen to this audio book to hear Wil Wheaton have that very personal experience narrating the story

Michelle Newman 37:40

right

Kristin Nilsen 37:41

as an adult,

Carolyn Cochrane 37:43

yeah. Did

Michelle Newman 37:44

we know Wil Wheaton was a two-time Jeopardy champion? I didn't know that.

Kristin Nilsen 37:47

I'm not surprised. I didn't know that, but I'm not. It's on

Michelle Newman 37:50

his insta. You said he has a social media.

Kristin Nilsen 37:52

Carolyn's recovering from that experience. She's crying. Yeah, I

Carolyn Cochrane 37:55

am. Yeah, I am. I'm sorry. It's just because I was watching it a little bit with knowing what happens to River in real life, and also this this is hit this hits right after Hayden and I'm going to get her name. Panettiere Hayden Panettiere. This hits right after. Yeah, Hayden Panettiere has passed away. Drug overdose is what it's looking like. I just I ached I ached for these child stars, who I feel like you know some of the drugs could be to hide some pain and trauma. I mean, I'm just making some of this up, but I think Hayden's shared a lot since her memoir just came out that they had to deal with a lot of crap being these child stars, and I think some of it was painful, and that was a way to mask the pain. And I know that that's you know River Phoenix. It was unintentional, but his was a mix of drugs as well. And I just ache for these kids who I feel like were chewed up and spit out in a lot of ways in this industry. And you know Corey Feldman, he's luckily still with us. Can't say that about all of these stars of those times, and the

Kristin Nilsen 39:02

other Corey, yeah, the other Corey, and it

Carolyn Cochrane 39:05

just, it just hurts. It's just hurtful,

Kristin Nilsen 39:08

and that was very much an underlying, like a quiet theme of the evening. They were child stars, all of them, and they all came through it in one fashion or another, and they acknowledged very openly how fucked up it is, right? And it does. I felt the same way as you, Carolyn. Like you just wanted to wrap them in bubble wrap and and take care of them.

Carolyn Cochrane 39:29

Yes, and I'm sure part of them you stay that you know when these major life things happen to you at such a young age. Part of you probably is always that age in a way,

Kristin Nilsen 39:41

that's a really interesting point, Carolyn. Yeah, I have to noodle on that. I have some thoughts about that that I won't necessarily bring up here, but I do. I think you're right. I think yeah, there's a little bit of why therapy is a good thing.

Carolyn Cochrane 39:53

Yes, in a lot of ways for all of us.

Kristin Nilsen 39:56

Yes. Well, needless to say, I highly highly. Highly recommend a rewatch of Stand By Me and just see how it hits you today. Is it different from how it hit the first time? And there are a few dates left for the Stand By Me live with Gordy and Vern and Teddy. If you have the chance to see it in the theater with these stars, I promise you it will be a much more impactful event. It looks like well you can go to standbymelive.com. Looks like they have dates in November and January in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York. Carolyn, look that one up. Find out where Glenside, Pennsylvania is. This is not. I promise you, this is not just a nostalgia trip. It's it's like a tribute to some really important artists of our Gen X lives. It's a tribute to the movies that made us, and it's a tribute to growing up, which is what we're in the business of talking about. Thank you so much for listening today, and we will see you next time. The information, opinions, and comments expressed on the Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast belong solely to Carolyn, the crushologist, and Hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates, and though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time. The PCPS is written, produced, and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional WJM Studios and our beloved Mary Richards. Nanu nanu, keep on truckin' and may the force be with you.