Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast

Stand By Me, Rob Reiner's Legacy Through A Coming Of Age Classic

• Roll Credits Studios • Season 1 • Episode 15

Share episode

SEND US YOUR MOVIE SUGGESTION!

A body by the tracks. Four boys with something to prove. And a filmmaker who turned a small-town legend into a timeless portrait of friendship, grief, and the stories that outlive us. We return to Stand By Me to honor Rob Reiner’s legacy and explore why this film still lands like a secret told at dusk.

We dive into the adaptation from Stephen King’s The Body, unpacking how the movie reshapes horror roots into a tender coming‑of‑age journey. From Will Wheaton and River Phoenix’s lived‑in performances to Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell’s pitch‑perfect rhythms, the chemistry feels effortless because it was carefully built—rehearsals, long takes, and on‑set choices that drew out real emotion. We break down the pie‑eating yarn, the trestle terror, and that quiet deer by the tracks, showing how humor and fear make the heavy moments easier to carry. Richard Dreyfuss’s narration and the 50s and 60s soundtrack do more than set a vibe; they anchor the film in memory, where every scene feels both present and already gone.

You’ll hear how visual design and practical staging created a seamless world, why Ben E. King’s Stand By Me was the only song that could close it, and what Stephen King himself said after his first screening. We connect the film’s influence to later favorites—from The Sandlot to Stranger Things—while reflecting on the cast’s paths and River Phoenix’s enduring impact. If you’ve ever felt overshadowed, found your voice with the right friend, or kept a moment just for yourself, this conversation will meet you there.

If the episode moved you, tap follow, leave a five‑star review, and share it with a friend who still knows all the words. Then text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description—what should we revisit next?

🎬 Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast is a Roll Credits Studio production.

🎧 Listen where ever you get your quality podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/10QRGuPFPCaL6FWmFBxEyF

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/have-you-seen-the-movie-podcast/id1845758756

🌐 Visit Us: www.rollcreditsstudio.com

📱 Stay Connected:
🐦 Twitter/X: HaveYouSeenPodcast (@HYSPod) / X
📷 Instagram: Instagram
🎵 TikTok: haveyouseenpod (@haveyouseenpod) | TikTok

👥 Hosted by: Dylan & Joe

👉 Got a classic you think we should cover? Send us your movie suggestion!

Joe:

Before we start, I wanted to take a moment to talk about why we chose Stand by Me for this episode. With the recent passing of Rob Reiner, it felt important to revisit a film that not only defined a generation, but also represents how deeply he shaped the film industry. Reiner had an incredible ability to move between genres comedy, romance, drama, while always keeping his stories grounded in real human emotion. I was actually lucky enough to meet him once at a screening of rumor has it. And what stuck with me wasn't just who he was as a filmmaker, but how nice and thoughtful he was in person. Stand by me feels like the perfect film to honor that legacy. A movie that understands childhood, memory, and the way certain moments stay with you forever.

Dylan:

This week we're revisiting one of the most powerful coming-of-age films ever made. Joe's seen it, and I have not. He says it's a movie that changes every time you come back to it. Friendship, loss, growing up, and why this story still hurts in the best way.

Joe:

This week's movie, Stand By Me, is rated R for language, mostly language, mature themes, and emotional intensity.

Dylan:

I did not realize that it was based off of a uh Stephen King novel.

Joe:

Yeah. It was a short story in a in a book of short stories too. Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan:

So since it was inspired by, um, do you know like how much they took from the story as inspiration? Because I feel like okay, I feel like sometimes you'll see something is like inspired by or based on a true story. Right. And it's like the person's name was Clara.

Joe:

And that's the only thing that was all the Texas chainsaws that have come out or whatever live right now. Um based on a real story they owed a chainsaw. Yeah, exactly. Because I've never seen any of them in Texas. Um yeah, it it was a lot of himself in there, and um the majority of the script uh and the lines came from the book. Yeah. And so it made it pretty easy to adapt. Yeah. Um and then with you know, the the personal, you know, Stephen King just said we had we had these times, and I just thought I should write them down. And and that's cool.

Dylan:

So I mean, because Stephen King is I feel like mostly known for like the horror, horror genre. Yeah. And like I have many of his books on audio tape and right, listen to them, and I love I love it.

Joe:

Yeah, I think I've mentioned Christine in the past, but there's also Carrie, Cujo. Um, there are there I guess in the book there are more references to those other books in this story. Yeah. Um, and so yeah, there's just a lot of connection in his books, and so yeah. So yeah, it does take away, not take away, but it is a departure from his usual horror and all that. And um yeah, the original title was The Body. And when they came to make the movie, they were kind of like, we should probably change the title because it sounds like a horror movie, and people are gonna come expecting that, and they're gonna get something completely different.

Dylan:

Right, right. Yeah, because the the body definitely makes you think that it's a horror ipookie. Right, yeah. Um, you want to pause it real quick? All right, for a quick plot rundown, four boys set out to find a body and discover something about themselves instead. So um did you watch this movie when it first came out?

Joe:

I th I think so. Yeah. Um I'm not sure if it was one of those it didn't impact me um as like I can't rem uh remember going to the theater with that one, but I do remember watching it like on VHS, yeah, you know, home video. Watching it since.

Dylan:

Yeah, yeah. Um how old do you how old would you have been like watching it the first time?

Joe:

It was probably I mean, typically, you know, movies came out six months after they were in the theaters, so it was probably right after that, but I remember seeing it more on TV when it came out, and knowing that it was popular, you know, at the time too, so there's there was that connection of knowing, but so uh if it was came out in eighty-six, so it was like six or seven. Yeah.

Dylan:

So and that's uh that's a movie that you would have gone to see in the theater at six or seven?

Joe:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, along with, like I said, Christine and other Stephen King movies. Man. Yeah, I mean Carrie was a you know, Stephen King movie, and I remember watching that on TV um, you know, on Saturday afternoon. Yeah. Yeah. It was like bloody oh man, like literal bloodbath of a movie.

Dylan:

Oh man, yeah. So from watching it, you know, when you were a child, uh-huh, and watching it like now as an adult, yeah, um, what strikes you different about it?

Joe:

Wow. The emotions, the knowing what they're going through. And like I think the funny thing is like we the stories they tell, the way they act, and the way they um converse and everything is like that was totally me at that age. And I probably was unaware of it because I was doing it.

Dylan:

It didn't right, it didn't strike you as odd.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah. So it's like, so it's like, oh yeah, you know, it's just a bunch of kids hanging out, going, you know, walking the train tracks. And always a bad idea, by the way. Right. Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, you always want to just sit down at the train tracks and count your money, right? For sure, for sure, right in the middle of it.

Dylan:

I think I looked over at you like during that scene and was like, right in the mid-like, come on.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. You th you would have thought at that point it was a setup for for a train to come. Oh man, yeah. But uh, yeah, and so the way they the way they uh bully each other or pick on each other, that kind of thing. Like I feel like that word's overused, sorry. What? Bully. Oh bully, yeah. I mean, see, I I don't know. Teddy and Vern, yeah, I just felt like had like this brother friendship, yeah, that they just picked on each other. Right. And it didn't matter if it seemed like it was mostly Vern, Vern was doing it too. Right. Like I've observed kids enough to see that yeah, it's a balance. And I was a little brother, so I knew when I was doing it.

Dylan:

And so I yeah, I mean, I think anybody who has siblings, yeah, you know, just knows.

Joe:

Yeah. And so I would say that that was that was just picking on, whereas the other the gang and all that was bullying. Oh yeah, you know. Right.

Dylan:

So yeah. I I would agree with that. Yeah, I would say like what kind of strikes me with it was just the amount of kind of emotional uh maturity that they definitely had at times. Yeah. Obviously they're kids and they're gonna have fun and play around. But I mean um Gordy and uh what was the other one? Chris?

Joe:

Teddy? Teddy? There's Gordy, Chris, Teddy and Vern.

Dylan:

Um white shirt. Yeah. That's Chris. Um Gordy and Chris, like their uh back and forth dialogue. Yeah. Um man, I love how kind of emotionally deep it gets. Um that you just don't expect from kids. Right.

Joe:

Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's I mean, I can I can say that I had friends like that. Yeah. Oh right. I mean, we're as kids you struggle with different things, different places, right wherever you grow up. And so there's even if you've grown up in the city or wherever, you still have that connection of like have these deep conversations. Yeah. Um just tell each one had a different weight to bear as a kid of what was going on at home, and just you know, dealing with that, and trying to like you're dealing with growing up as a kid and puberty, and then you have all this stuff thrown on you. Right. You know, like with Gordy, it's just you know, his brother passing and and you know, just and his parents being emotionally distant from him.

Dylan:

Yeah. Uh you know, for sure a time of, you know, great great hurt. Right.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

So um so yeah, it was it was definitely a a good watch, like when when Gordy and Chris were, you know, Gordy was crying, you know, to Chris about um, you know, just how he felt like his his father hated him and he wished it was, you know, he who passed versus his older brother, and you know, yeah. So definitely um uh definitely makes you s kind of stop and think. Uh-huh.

Joe:

So I mean I I think every kid, even if if your sibling is alive, you feel um overshadowed at a certain point. Yeah. You know. And yeah, I can I could think of that. I was I was the younger brother. Yeah. So when I would go to school, um, and I had teachers that he had, there was like expectations of right, oh well, you should you should be this way, or right. Why do you have bad grades? You know, yeah. I'm just not the same person. Right.

Dylan:

Um, that's what um I remember my older sister and I having the conversation of we both took piano lessons and she kind of gave it up and um moved on to other musical instruments and stuff. Always she always seemed like she didn't like when I would play her music. Oh I just at the time, you know, I thought that it was because it was just her music. She just, you know, wanted to be a grump about it. And then finding out later on that she didn't like that because she felt like I could, you know, sometimes play it better than her. Oh. And, you know, which was not my intention. Yeah, you know. You're just trying to get good. Right. Yeah. I'm trying to practice and um, you know, wanting to relate to my older sister that way. Yeah. And get you know, and then come to find out that that was a big, you know, uh uh problem of hers that she was feeling.

Joe:

And yeah, but yeah. I was the same way with like music and movies with my brother. Like he would come home and bring all this new music, yeah, and I was like, Oh, it's so cool, it's so cool. And he would get mad, like, stop listening to my music. And I was like, I want to be cool, like my brother. Yeah, and my brother's like, I just want to be like my own thing, yeah. I want, you know, my own individual. Yeah. Right.

Dylan:

So for the different characters, uh, we have Gordy. Yep. Um the the quiet, emotional, uh, definitely the core of the group. Yeah um played by Will Wheaton. So um side note is that I'm big into board games. I love board games. And Will Wheaton actually for a couple years had a YouTube series that we'd he would have other um personalities, um, like movie people on with him to play a board game. Nice. And so yeah, so like I knew that he had acted in Star Trek, and um, but I yeah, so when I saw his name pop up there, I was like, oh my gosh, yeah, I could relate to that. Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

Dylan:

And then you have River Phoenix as Chris Chambers, Corey Fieldman as Teddy, Feldman. Feldman, oh, excuse me. Corey Feldman as Teddy, uh, Jerry O'Connell as Vern, and Kiefer Sutherland as Ace. Yeah. So could you pick out a character that you would relate the most to?

Joe:

Oh, I was probably a Vern. Probably a Vern. Yeah. I probably am a Vern. Uh I look like Vern as a kid. Yeah. I could post more pictures if you want. Uh I definitely had that haircut at one point. Yeah. Um, and I think that not that it's a bad thing. I mean, uh Chris and Gordy were clearly the leaders in the group. Yeah. And Vern was not. Yeah. You know. And I'm I had usually as a kid just been in that, you know, I wasn't running my own gang or anything. I was like, hey guys, wait up. You know, wait for me, wait for me.

Dylan:

Yeah. I feel like I kind of related a lot more to Gordy, like on the emotional side of it. Yeah. Um, definitely like looking back, I feel like I was a pretty emotional kid. Yeah. And um, but yeah, I feel like I was a lot like Gordy, yeah, kind of on the emotional aspect of things, but yeah, uh also was not the leader of my gang.

Joe:

I think I think I've like, as I grew up, I became more of a Chris though, because I think in in I don't know. It's gonna be a bad boy. Well, I felt like Chris was the peacemaker of the group. Yeah. You know, like whenever things were going on, he would jump in and and be like, Come on, guys, let's get it together. Or yeah, even the initial like blow up with Teddy, it was like, hey, skin it, you know? Like making the peace.

Dylan:

Yeah. Um, and that takes a lot of emotional maturity too. Yeah. And I love that he opens up kind of later on in the movie of how everybody perceives him as a a bad apple because of his family. And um, I mean, you're especially in a small town, yeah, your your family, you know, the your name like definitely precedes you. Yeah. When he's talking with Gordy about how he stole the money, yeah, and then tried to do the right thing and return it because he felt bad about it. Yeah. And then the teacher stole it. Yeah. And, you know, it still got blamed on him just because of the family name. And um man, that's a lot. Yeah.

Joe:

I I think of things like that in my life where um you're a small kid and you're thinking of like, this this can't be it. Like this can't be this person can't be doing that that thing or whatever, whether it's a teacher or whatever, it's like this teacher can't be this way. Like there's gotta be some and you know, uh, somebody's gotta step in, yeah, you know, and they and you just don't see it. You know, right. It's just like oh.

Dylan:

But yeah, um just touching back on like it's such good writing um for the movie that they can show such um uh like adult pain, right? You know, in kind of the the childhood, yeah, kind of for lack of a better term.

Joe:

Right. But um so in touch with the emotion and it's real, you know, right. Yeah, a lot of these kids they just they just went through auditions and you know, weren't just picked out, they they all kind of went through it, but yeah, you know, with each character, Rob Reiner said that he felt like he had picked the perfect one for each one, yeah. Because they all kind of naturally had the character in them already, right? And so it's kind of like where John Hughes would write for somebody he knew, he just knew that these people, these kids embodied these characters already. Yeah. Um he said Corey Fellman had already seemed to have a lot of angst and and all that, yeah. Um and River Phoenix, his um his parents were kind of hippies. Okay, and like, you know, kind of all natural before all natural was a thing, yeah. And so they'd like you know, they were vegetarians and they, you know, were kind of just had a all that vibe, and he was like, Oh, this kid totally, you know, has that, and then he just came off with that maturity as as it was, and so it was like, oh, he's perfect, yeah. Um it was Jerry O'Connell's first movie. Um and when he went to audition for the part, um, he came in, he did his lines, he did everything, and and he thought, you know, uh Rob Reiner thought he he's a great Vern, but can he do it? Can he act? It. Yeah. And so he was thinking that, and Jerry O'Connell left, and then he came back in and grabbed his forgot his jacket, and he goes, Are you that guy on channel five? And and so he goes, Are you meathead? And because Rob Reiner was in a show called Uh All in the Family. Yeah. And that was like 10 seasons. It was like a long running show. And so most people knew him from those reruns by that time. Oh, okay. And so he goes, Are you meathead? Because that was like the the father-in-law uh gave him that term and he they used it a lot, but it was like a it was like a put uh off-putting term. Yeah, yeah. And so he goes, Are you meathead? And he and then he thought, okay, this kid's perfect.

Dylan:

Yeah. Yeah. It definitely just goes to show like the authenticity of the kids' um like chemistry together. Yeah. So they definitely definitely put the work into picking the right ones, and it it definitely paid off.

Joe:

Yeah. Um the funny thing is that so Corey Felman was in Goonies, and um so this he hit he was in Goonies before this movie. Yeah. And Sean Aston, who was the lead in Goonies, uh auditioned for Gordy. Oh, really? No, he he auditioned for Chris. Oh, for Chris, okay. So um River Phoenix's character. Um, and he essentially said that he was ready for the audition, and he walked in, and the whole like panel was in tears, and he he already knew he didn't have it. Oh he was like, Okay, this is you know oh funny. And he said, but he saw the performance and he was like that he yeah, he no one else could have done that. Yeah, so Rob Reiner kind of looking at that period and wanting to be part of you know, have that just total nostalgia feel, just wanted a mostly 50s and 60s soundtrack. And I think I mean we were singing along as we were. Yeah. So it, I mean, it goes to show that I mean, it's not just one of those like pop culture type things, but right, I mean, even you know, to this to this day, Guardians of the Galaxies probably was pretty popular for its soundtrack. Oh yeah, right, but like movies like this really coin that where it's like you know, you have each thing each scene moving things along with that, you know. Um the lollipop scene, uh, you know, the different different songs that come up. Yeah.

Dylan:

And with them ending it the the movie with the stand by me song. Yeah, like it was it was definitely a good choice.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because like with not having a title, they chose Stand by Me instead of the body. Yeah. And they the movie company wanted Michael Jackson to do a cover of Stand By Me. Oh, really? And so they kind of wanted to like, oh well, let's update it and all this stuff. And and you know, Michael Jackson in '86 was still huge. Yeah. You know, and that was after Thriller, and and that was still going. And and I guess Corey Fellman was friends with him at the time too, so he had heard about it, and uh he asked Rob Reiner, like, what was the deal? Like, what had happened? And he said, Rob Reiner just said, We really just wanted that authentic feel to the movie. Right. And if we had an updated version, it just wouldn't have been yeah, it wouldn't have resonated with people.

Dylan:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause the the music in it just really reinforces the idea of like the the memory and nostalgia of it. Yeah. And how um I really liked that it was that it ends up being like written from the perspective of um Gordy when he is older and yeah, you know, what we assume is a successful writer, right? Um I liked that twist.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it it's definitely a twist. Um, they they tried to find multiple actors for that. Um and you know, he had tried different people, yeah. They filmed it with a different actor, and it just didn't land. Um I think he said his name was David Dukes. And then if you remember from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, um, Michael McKean, he played the cop. He they tried him, and Michael McKean had been in Spinal Tep, which was Rob Reiner's first film. Yeah, and so he was trying different actors. Rob Reiner tried it, and um, I guess he went to school with Richard Dreyfus. Huh. And so he he called him up. He's like, Hey, do you want to give this a shot? And it was just like boom, perfect, you know. It was just, you know, and of course, hopefully you recognize him from Jaws. Yeah. He's a little shaven, right?

Dylan:

Um, I liked at the beginning of the movie when uh it started with the voiceover narration and he was sitting in his vehicle and pans down to the newspaper uh about the guy, you know, getting stabbed. Yeah. Or what does it say? Um, like he was stabbed in the news. Yeah, like just well, it's a newspaper, so it's not gonna say but it you know, f fatally, fatally stabbed, yeah. And you're like, or well, maybe I I was like, okay, is this what is setting up the movie? Uh-huh. Or like, how does this play into it? Yeah. And so um I thought was that I thought that it was going to be that the one that got stabbed was the the body. Oh, okay. So that's kind of where I started tracking with it. And then when they were talking about it then being like a kid, yeah. Then I was like, Well, that's not it. So we'll see how it plays into it later. Yeah. And um, but then with him finishing it off, and um, you come to find out that it was his buddy Chris, and even though he hadn't talked to him in several years, like yeah, you know, um, so it just kind of brings it all all together there at the end. Yeah.

Joe:

Yeah, it's it's um I can't remember if they said his age, but I remember hearing about a friend who passed, and you know, at this point, you just kind of hear things, you know. Uh and a couple of them and early on, the it wasn't like social media, it was just like through a text or you know, a call. Yeah, did you hear so-and-so passed? And you just kind of think back on, oh man, I remember hanging out and we did this and that. And it's like if if I even had the intellect to be able to write it down, I'm sure it would be like this. But the empathy you get with him sitting in there just thinking through all that, you know.

Dylan:

With the movie as a whole, though, I thought that they really did a good job with the balance between the humor and uh kind of the the fear and the the kind of the grief of the kids. And I was not expecting that.

Joe:

Yeah, like like the deep the depth of Yeah, yeah, yeah. It it's it's funny because you know, seeing Goonies, there's just the it's just the adventure, it's just the highest it's just the highs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like Instagram or face, you know, Facebook is like, we're on vacation. Hey, right.

Dylan:

Here's all the best moments of you know my day.

Joe:

Yeah, but but this was like we're sitting in the airplane and now we're delayed for 20 hours. Right. You know, what do we do? We're having a breakdown in the bathroom. Yeah, exactly. That doesn't happen. Hashtag crying in the stall. Yeah. But yeah, it's just uh from from from the start of it, they're just you know, um, like just yeah, it just starts starts from there, you know. I love I love the building too, like of of the beginning, because like um, you know, in Goonies where Chunk has to do the dance and all that stuff, they have their own little knock in the in the tree house. Right. And so so you get this feeling of like again of of just like they're they're all these friends that have been. Right, there's history to it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Come on, guys, burn. So Rob Reiner said it's a it's a coming of age story. Yeah. And for him, he felt like it was coming of age as well, because he was finally sinking into who he was as a director. Yeah. And his dad was a famous um, you know, producer and and did television shows and and directed and all this stuff. And so he finally felt like he was he was doing his own thing out of the shadows and and coming coming onto his own as a you know, just doing what he wanted, you know, as a film. Like, hey, I'm gonna do a s a weird Stephen King film that's not a horror movie, right? You know, like and so ultimately, you know, he f even found success in it, and and this is what kind of was his trajectory. Yeah. Right.

Dylan:

So yeah, I thought the overall um pacing of the movie was done very well though. Um it felt very planned and thought out, yeah, where it would allow for kind of the the quiet moments in between. Yeah.

Joe:

Um they did a whole like camp of of just acting camp, and like they had the kids do just these acting um sessions and and different drama type things to kind of get used to each other and become more playful, become friends to get to know each other. Um Kiefer Sutherland like would kind of just like be ominous to them and just like off-putting so that they would like really fear him. Oh yeah. Yeah. And uh, and so they memorize their lines like you would a play. Um, and so if you notice, there's a lot of shots where they're single shots, um, which is really cool and hard to do with like um one of the things I was gonna say with the Annie episode is that the worst thing you can like the they say the worst thing you can do is work with kids and work with dogs. Yeah, you know, and both of these movies had both. Right. And so, you know, he he got them to get comfortable but to learn their lines and to learn them so much that they learned like 50 slang, yeah, they learned like the customs and everything you would do, so that if they improvised and they added stuff, it would be from that instead of like saying rad or cool or whatever it was in the 80s, you know. So they got them really established. So the shot, um, one of the biggest shots is after um Gordy runs away from the dog, and then they, you know, they're having their moment, they're all walking into the woods. There's this one shot where they're coming from the fence and then going into the woods, yeah, and it's just one long continuous shot. Yeah, it's just like it's cool because he wanted it to be unnoticeable, and it is, because you're just paying attention to what's going on, right? And Teddy's crying and and Chris being the peacemakers trying to comfort him, and they're just trying to get their bearings, and so you don't even notice that. But then if you take a step back and rewatch it, you're like, oh man, this is like one one shot. Yeah. Um, which for the 80s, that was a quite a feat.

Dylan:

Right.

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah, I didn't notice it uh like at the time. I was too concerned about Teddy. Right. But um, but yeah, like now that you say that, I was thinking, oh yeah, I s I totally see that.

Joe:

Yeah. Um, so as as he was getting to know them and directing, um, he built a relationship with them. Yeah. And um he, you know, so he can direct them in certain ways. So uh one good one was when he um when Chris is talking to Gordy and they have that moment, um, he just was not uh River Phoenix was not really kind of coming up with the tears. And so Rob Reiner took him aside and talked to him and said, you know, think about a time when an adult let you down and um when maybe they lied to you or something like that. Yeah. And and so he was able to kind of channel that and open up and then just let the tears go. And then he said they, you know, he just kept going for a while, and then they, you know, hugged him and was like, you know, it'll be okay. And yeah, he kind of went back into it. Another time, you know, so like the train scene itself is was like took like I don't know, a month to shoot on its own, because you had like you had the real tracks, you had doubles, you know, that you're shooting, right? They had interior shots that they did, and I don't know if it it jumps it jumped out at you at all, but um there are some points where they're running from the train and like so there's one point where they're running from the train and the train's um to the side behind them, yeah, and it's like at an angle, and that was an interior shot where they kind of shot a green screen and they're running in a studio. Okay, but I felt like it was so good that it just all matched. Yeah, I was gonna say nothing stuck out to me about it. So and they're in a panic anyway, so you're in a panic with the other cool shot that they did that I felt like I totally bought into was um he used a long lens and shot them from afar. Yeah. So they're close up to the lens, and the train is just way back there, but it looks like it's bearing down on them. Oh, okay. That's cool. So, like, I mean, you know, obviously child safety and all that other stuff. So it was like you mean you're not going to throw them right in front of a steam train? They're insured. Well, best of luck to you. Yeah. Yeah, maybe in the 20s. They're insured. We've got another set of kids. Well, fine, another kid. Yeah. Uh so they did that, and as they were shooting it, um, Gordy and Vern were not getting what Rob Reiner wanted. And so they were they were taking a long time. And so he on one part he was getting a little frustrated, but on the other hand, he wanted to motivate them. Yeah. So he he like basically yelled at him and said, You guys, you know, you guys need to get this right. You're what you're messing up my film, and blah, blah, blah. And he just like got into their heads. And so when you see uh Vern like crying, he's they're both crying. Oh man, actually crying. And uh they just start running and they're like, Oh, you know, and so they were just crying tears and tears and tears. And he said, After that, you know, he came to the end and and they talked and and they're like, Did we do good? He said, Yes, you guys did great, you did perfect, you know. Yeah, and so um, but it just yeah, he just motivated him however they could. Yeah, it's like because I mean at the same time, I I you know, it is a lot of money and kids are right, right. But it yeah, it just uh so there were some authentic tears in that one. Yeah. One of the cool things with design um is that when you there's there's a particular flashback scene that's really noticeable, the first one with Gordy and his brother, um, they made sure that the lighting was pretty much all in camera. And so all the so what they did was uh in the same room when you know Gordy's talking with his dad and it's just all you know kind of bad, yeah. They lit the room with like bright white lights, and then when they um had the flashback scene, they used like warm sepia tone lighting. Oh, okay. And so it's all in camera. Right. It's not like uh, you know, like now you just go through the filters and right, you know, pick filter number 193, you know, add it to your uh whatever, you know. Yeah. Um and so uh yeah, and so they they really worked on that with with the whole like the way their sets were and um you know, shooting on location and things like that. It's just they wanted that real feel. And I I felt like, you know, any the funny thing though too is that the outside when they're camping and they're you know um smoking and yeah, you know, roasting uh burgers, burger balls, um uh that was all in a studio. It was in uh in a back lot. Oh really? Yeah, oh funny. Yeah, and I felt like they blended that so well.

Dylan:

Yeah, they did, because I you totally would have thought that it was in the woods. Yeah. So speaking of the forest scene, yeah, do you have a favorite scene that sticks out to you?

Joe:

What we haven't talked about, which is a memorable scene for me. Um so I kind of mentioned Goonies while we were watching it. Yeah. And uh Chunk tells a story where he's at the theater and he pretends that he's you know um puking. Uh-huh. Well, that automatically reminded me of the the Oh yeah. Yeah. The pie eating story, I'll say. Um, because that it's it's like a movie within a movie. Right. You know, and it I don't feel like it takes you away because he's narrating it. Right.

Dylan:

And I took I was not expecting it to be done like that. And it was did a very good job of that.

Joe:

Yeah, and I think it just goes to show his his writing skills, you know, and how brilliant that kid was, like, and where he Was at that point, and they're all like, No, you need to be writing, you know, and you need to be doing this. And and he tells the story, and it's like, wow, yeah, yeah. But it's just hilarious. Um, just the whole like you know, you you it starts off and you feel like this just this big kid eating eating pies and he's gonna win the win the contest, right? You know, and he's threatened, like, you're not gonna win this, pal. Right, and uh, and then it just takes a twist. Yeah, and he gets his revenge. And so um, what's another one for you?

Dylan:

Um, I would say probably the ones that stick out most for me is the um like when Chris and Gordy have their deep emotional conversations. Yeah. Like that just the whole thing of that just sticks out so so well for me. Um I think definitely like on a rewatch too, yeah, would be almost looking forward to those bits and just seeing what more you can kind of um glean from that. Uh-huh. Yeah. Um the you know the train scenes are always yeah, we're always good. Right. Um I have I have to laugh because when it showed the the bridge that they were gonna cross, uh huh. I was like, uh I I thought to myself, and I always said it to you, yeah. I was like, how far across do they make it before a train comes? Because I was like, it just sets it up like so obviously. Right. Yeah. If something about this movie is blatantly obvious, it's that scene. Yeah, and like yeah, so um, but yeah, and then we were laughing about uh um what what was the kid's name that was crawling across? Oh Vern? Yeah, uh we were laughing about Vern crawling on hands and knees across, yeah, losing the comb.

Joe:

Yeah, and and see that that would have been me. I think I would have been Vern like crawling across the thing because I was too scared to walk upright. Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say uh the the look that Vern makes when uh he loses the comb is the the look that I make when a meal is done. Oh, it's all gone. Yeah, he looks so sad because he feels like he let the group down. Yeah.

Dylan:

The comb. Yeah, the comb. What's another scene for you? Um, well, I think the leech scene is funny.

Joe:

Um, I was gonna say that one too. Yeah. Um, you know, it's one of those unexpected things. Yeah. Uh right. You know, like especially how they how they started off with Chris checking, oh, it's fine, and then boom, everybody's in. And uh, so I guess um Stephen King actually that actually happened to him and his friends. Oh yeah. And he said that they just like they saw this pond and they were like, oh, let's just go hang out and let's go play. And so they're just playing and messing around and you know, doing kind of what uh uh Teddy and Vern were, you know, like Rough Housing play at Roughhousing and stuff, and and they get out and there's just like these blood suckers all over them. Oh man. I can imagine. Oh man.

Dylan:

Yeah. I think everybody's had a time growing up where you know they remember swimming and then there's being leeches and stuff, and you know, you don't know until you're out of the water.

Joe:

Yeah. So I think one of the one of the cool scenes that um it's just kind of this peaceful, meaningful is when he's sitting at the tracks and the deer comes, yeah, and they just kind of look at each other, and it's almost like he's looking in the mirror. Yeah. Because he just has this doughy face about him, you know, and um, and it's just so peaceful. But the funny thing uh with behind the scenes of of that is they to get the deer to move his head, they had they honked horns so that he would move towards like so in the in in reality, it was like a really chaotic uh uh filming of that scene because they're like honking horns so the deer would look and and look towards the sound, but then behind the deer to get him to move, they had to like clap their hands and yell, and like you know Oh, interesting. So there's like you see the deer in the middle, and to the side of the right side of the camera, people are like yelling at him to move, and the other side he they're honking horns at it to and then altogether when you see it, it's just as peaceful, serene deer, you know, as the deer pants for the water kind of thing. The magic of filmmaking.

Dylan:

Exactly. Yeah, um I was wondering what was up with the with the deer. Uh-huh. Like, why have it in the you know, why have it in the movie when he decided not to tell his friends about it?

Joe:

Yeah.

Dylan:

And like, you know, thinking on it later, yeah, it's like just kind of goes to represent kind of the the you know calm, serene moment.

Joe:

So when they screened the movie, um Stephen King kind of got up and walked out. And oh really? Rub Rainer said that he walked out, and they were like, oh no, like did we've ruined his movies. We've done wrong. Yeah. Because here's the thing, up to then, there had been movies before that um, and I think Shining was like the one that he hated the most. Yeah. Um, and so he like they weren't sure, they really weren't sure like where he was. Um so he had walked out and came back, and he was so speechless and emotional because it was so personal to him, yeah, that he thought it was better than what he had wrote. Wow. And then it he said it was just the best adaptation of of one of his books that he's ever had. Yeah. And I mean, considering it was just a short story, right? You know, like yeah, it's just the emotion of it, he just couldn't even speak. It's just yeah, so yeah, that's high praise. So the um actors stayed friends, uh just like in the book, yeah. Kind of went their separate ways. Um one of the sad things was that um so Will Wheaton um so Gordy, Will Wheaton, um and all of them stood in touch, and I guess the so River Phoenix, um River Phoenix and Corey Felman both had some hard times with you know substance abuse and things like that. And so um I guess Corey Felman had gone to rehab and was hearing that River wasn't doing well, and before he could get a hold of him, um he had passed, and so he had he had um died of drug overdose. And and so all of them were were so hurt by that, you know, but they were all like they all felt still close and like brothers, and yeah um, you'll see Jerry O'Connell and Corey Felman on things together, Will Wheaton with them, and yeah, and it there's they still have a bond, they still have a bond through that. And you know, I mentioned Corey Felman before with with uh Goonies of just he's just had an interesting career of of movies and things like that, and like um and Jared O'Connell uh went on to be on in Jerry Maguire uh and all kinds of shows. He he had his own TV shows and things like that. Um and of course you were talking about Will Will Wheaton with gaming and uh yeah, and he's had his own like um I feel like not even going to any cons, like he's been around those a lot. Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah, um with the with the closing narration, um it definitely was a good um kind of ending to the movie. Yeah. Cause it's that'd be a hard movie to write an ending for. Right. Um but definitely was able to portray kind of the emotion of all of it. Wrapped it up nicely.

Joe:

Yeah, yeah. And you know, again, going back to River, like that scene was used when he passed. Yeah. Because he just kind of, you know, goes into the distance and things, and and of the friends, he was the one that was like murdered, you know. And yeah. So it's just sad to see, but it's kind of cool to s to hear like the character arc and how where they ended up and even even that Teddy tried to to still join the army after all that. Yeah. But um, and it's good that Gordy Gordy went his way. And you know, um apparently in the book, Gordy wasn't the leader, but they they kind of made it into that with the movie. Yeah. Um, and Stephen King actually, when he when he read the script for the first time and uh then saw the movie, he was like, Wow, I never really thought because Gore um I guess Chris picks up the gun in the book and holds the guys off, and everybody gets away. And and then but Stephen King thought, like, wow, I never thought of Gordy as doing that, but that makes sense, yeah. So it's kind of cool, like how in like how they knew those characters and how they felt like those characters, you know, and and the writers like Rob Reiner and and people, you know, putting the movie together, kind of just leaned into those characters so much that they were able to, you know, do that.

Dylan:

Right. Um, I feel like a lot of movies after that kind of followed the same steps of yeah, this character has went off to do this and this you know, went off to do that.

Joe:

Yeah. Um one of the I think like maybe the if you if you mix Goonies and you mix uh Stand by Me Together, yeah, um I Sandlot is one that that comes to mind. Okay. Um because there's some there's some things about it uh Junkyard Dog there and all that. Yeah. Gotcha. Um there's another book called Kujo uh that Stephen King wrote. Uh-huh. And Cujo is like he basically ends up with um rabies, and so he's like this killer dog and stuff. And so apparently, like the the dog in this story was kind of like uh precursor. Oh like the catalyst. Yeah, and so the description of the dog was like very in-depth and very like Oh wow. Yeah, so it made it even more with like these kids how they had in their mind, like I mean, you see Gordy running for his life, like this dog's gonna kill me, and then and then you see it and you're like, What? That was the dog. Yeah, this is the dog. So um, yeah, I I I want to find these stories and read them and hear the originals. Yeah, right. Um I think you know, like I've said, um, coming up to this this episode is like I feel like this is one of the movies that goes along with Goonies as things that influence Stranger Things or Sam Mott and the other movies that have these kind of buddy kids and you know, um so yeah, I can definitely see that.

Dylan:

Yeah. So Joe, out of ten railroad bridges, uh what would you rate this movie? Uh I'm kind of at an between 7.5 and 8, I'm like, oh, do I so I would I would say I would probably rate it as seven. Yeah. Um I definitely enjoyed it. I would not be upset by a rewatch, yeah. Like I've said, you know, throughout the rest of the episode. But um, I really enjoyed the emotional aspects of it. Yeah. Um I did not know what to expect going into it. Uh-huh. And um did really had no idea going into it. You know, some of the other ones you kinda already know what's gonna happen. But yeah, really having no idea going into it. And so that's just something that really surprised me was the emotional depth of it, especially as it being a group of, you know, young boys going across the country.

Joe:

Yeah, and I I think the biggest thing for me was like the insults and the sarcasm and the you know, that the boys had amongst themselves that were just these little I don't even want to say what it was, but I feel like we we totally just picked up on one of one of Chris's lines and we're just like, oh yeah. You'll have to see the movie to know what we're talking about. But there were a lot of them. There were there were a lot of comebacks and yeah, the your mom type stuff. Right.

Dylan:

Um would you say that this this movie still resonates with you? Oh yeah.

Joe:

I even even more so with the passing of Rob Reiner and looking back on his movies, I'm just on my own gonna be watching a bunch. Um I picked up when Harry met Sally this afternoon. Yeah.

Dylan:

Yeah. Do you think that this movie stands the test of time?

Joe:

I think so. I didn't I didn't think like there were a couple things that were like of the 50s. Yeah. And I think that was purposeful. Um a lot of F words towards two men that kind of stuff. Yeah. Um yeah, so there was there was a lot of stuff like that, but I think it was like used the the way it would be used. Yeah. It was right, yeah.

Dylan:

If it was the 50s.

Joe:

Right. Yeah, right. Yeah. And again, it it's you know, it was the the gang and the bad guys. And so it's it's not like they were necessarily using it. And you know, um, so so our next episode, we're going into the wild. Now that we've gone through the woods, we're going further to an island. Owned by a billionaire. An island owned by a billionaire. Who'd have thought? Who'd a thunk? It's always the billionaires that mess things up, huh? That's right. They're always taking the shortcuts. Yeah. We'll be back with Jurassic Park.

Dylan:

Thank you for listening to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast. Make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app. And if you're enjoying it, leave us a five-star rating. It really helps the show grow. And we want to hear from you.

Joe:

Leaving that one in. And we want to hear from you. Text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description. Feel free to text me directly, David. You can you can follow our socials in the description as well. Everything you need is right here. And by the way, I did want to leave a shout out for Mark who let me stand by me uh on a last minute basis. I had ordered it and it just was not gonna come in time.

Dylan:

So curse you, two-day shipping that it always takes five days.

Joe:

Yeah, two-day shipping in Montana is like more like two months. So thank you, Mark. We really appreciate that. And we'll be back next week with another movie premiere when the night has come.

Dylan:

The land is dark, and the moon is the only light you see. Are you gonna tell me to fade it out at the end and then I just don't? Now fade it out.

Joe:

So darling, darling, Stad. Add some reaper peer.