Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming of age adventure-drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, the film takes its title from the song of the same name by Ben E. King (which plays during the closing credits).
The film is narrated by an adult Gordie LaChance, known as "The Writer" (Richard Dreyfuss), writing the memoir about his youth. Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, over Labor Day weekend in September 1959 young Gordie (Wil Wheaton) is a quiet, bookish boy with a penchant for telling stories and writing. He is rejected by his father, following the death of his football-star older brother Denny (John Cusack) in a jeep accident. Denny paid Gordie much more attention than his parents.
Gordie spends his time with three friends. Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) is from a family of criminals and alcoholics, and he is usually stereotyped accordingly, even though he is different from the perceptions and stigmas attached to his family. Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) is an eccentric boy, physically deformed after his mentally unstable father (whom Teddy sees as a war hero who "stormed the beach at Normandy") held his ear to a stove and nearly burned it off, thus forcing him to wear a hearing aid. Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell), overweight and timid, is easily scared, and thus often picked on. (wiki)
