 | Book vs. Movie |  |
Of the movies I've written about for this feature thus far, this is the first one for which I listened to the entire director's commentary while looking at the changes. Rob Reiner's discussion of the film is just wonderful. It is a combination of talking about the film and a trip down memory lane for him as he talks about various things he added in from his own childhood and how making Stand By Me felt like a coming-of-age for him as a director, one towards doing projects he was passionate about. He said that every actor that is in the movie was basically the only actor who came through auditions who could've played that particular part, which I can believe. The only actor who was a later addition was Richard Dreyfus, who went to high school with Reiner, as the narrator. (the source for all of these comments is, obviously, Reiner's director's commentary) Interestingly, Reiner spoke about how Corey Feldman was the only child actor of that age who could harbor the anger that Teddy Duchamp has in the book. I totally agree with him on that note, though several of the other characterizations have changed somewhat from the book to the film. Vern Tessio's (Jerry O'Connell) childhood pudginess adds a few chuckles to the film but he wasn't overweight in the book and he had a full head of hair and bad teeth. ("I brought the comb!" was invented for the film) And though they mention Teddy's father put his ear to a burner in the movie, the book finds him with further ear damage and a hearing aid which are not present in the film. King writes, "In spite of the glasses and the flesh-colored button always screwed into his ear, Teddy couldn't see very well and often misunderstood the things people said to him." (loc. 5540) At first I thought that this bit of misunderstanding was just transferred to Vern's character in the movie. After all, one of my favorite parts of the movie is the moment after the Lard Ass Hogan pie-eating contest story, when Vern inquires whether Hogan paid to get into the contest. Vern's character adds much more comic relief to the film than he does in the book--in the book it is actually him who suggests that going to see a dead body "shouldn't be a party."
"Have gun, will travel, reads the card of a man..."
The group of four boys is perfect in the movie. They have a few more friends in the novella but they are just mentioned in side stories and they don't come with them to find Ray Brower's body so their absence from the film is natural. In The Body, the heat of the summer is stifling and everyone is sweating. The entire journey is made shirtless by all, and I'm sure no one wanted to film an entire movie where everyone was drenched with sweat the whole time, however realistic it might be. John Cusack's acting always made me ache for Gordie's loss of someone who was so supportive of him. I've always felt that you could see all the emotions on Wil Wheaton's face and the flashback memories of his brother combined with Wheaton's vacant look convey so much.
 It's hard to believe this is Jerry O'Connell  River Phoenix as Chris Chambers |  Feldman as Teddy Duchamp  Wil Wheaton as Gordie |
When I hear anyone trivialize Stephen King's writing or scoff at genre fiction, it makes me sad. Exhibit A:
| "The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them-words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too lose to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear." (Different Seasons e-book: Loc. 5497) |
The screenplay, which was nominated for an Academy Award, lifts conversations and jokes straight from the novella, which I appreciated in The Shawshank Redemption and I appreciate here--King's writing just makes screenwriters' jobs easier in that respect. (though a challenge overall, I'm sure) The scene with the gun in the alley, the jokes in the treehouse ("How do you know when a Frenchman's been in your backyard? Well, your garbage cans are empty and your dog is pregnant."), and Vern's digging for pennies under the porch are all strictly from the novella. In reference to the quote above, the narrator of the novella talks about Gordie seeing the doe on the last morning of their trip, just as he does in the movie, and how that is his favorite memory from the trip because it was so perfect and clean and how it is "hard to make strangers care about the good things in your life." (Loc. 7510) This really resonated with me. Then again, I spend at least a solid minute a day staring at the sky through the evergreen trees in my yard.
The most jarring differences I noticed while reading were that Gordie's brother died in a military jeep accident whereas he died in a car accident in the movie, there is a short story included in the novella that I am so happy they left out of the film, there is a scene where all the boys think they see the ghost of Ray Brower in the woods, and the ending is different. (I'll go into that in a second) At first, I thought there was something wrong with my ebook because the aforementioned short story is more adult than much of the film. "Stud City" is a fairly graphic story written by the narrator (Gordon Lachance) when he was in college, and describes a young man devirginizing a girl and then arguing with his father and stepmother. The story is included to show the immaturity of some of the narrator's early published writing and how he integrated the feelings and effects of his brother's death into his writing. King's books are often set in Maine, but Stand By Me was moved to small-town Oregon. I don't find this change to have any detrimental effect to the film, as the feelings of nostalgia and remembering childhood friendships are going to happen no matter where the story is set. (plus, having been to both places, rural Oregon and rural Maine look pretty similar) I always assumed Gordie's nightmare on that final night was about the death of his brother but the novella has his character dreaming about he and his friends drowning after a conversation he had with Chris about how your friends can sink your future. And I think we can all thank some higher power (or the universe) that they did not include the leech on Gordie's testicles exploding in his hand in the movie. Some things can never be unseen.
Rob Reiner states in the director's commentary of the DVD that they were unsure what they would call the movie but they knew they wanted to use Ben E. King's song in the soundtrack. I don't blame them--how many songs can you think of that are so achingly sad? I totally shed some tears looking up the song on Youtube, but I suppose it doesn't help at all that I was listening to Reiner speak about River Phoenix and what a loss his death was to everyone. Phoenix sold Chris Chambers' character down to the ground and I must admit that I often felt like Phoenix might've been a little like Chris Chambers in real life. One of my favorite scenes, which was lifted straight from the book, is when Chris talks to Gordie about what they'll do after the summer is over and how they'll get split up. Chris says, "I wish to f*ck I was your father!...You wouldn't go around talking about taking those stupid shop courses if I was! It's like God gave you something, all those stories you can make up, and He said, This is what we got for you kid. Try not to lose it. But kids lose everything unless somebody looks out for them and if your folks are too f*cked up to do it then maybe I ought to." (Loc. 1250) I always thought that scene was so profound--two 12-year-olds "getting" the inevitability of life for so many people and it goes on for a few pages in the novella. Two or three pages that are even better than the movie, which I didn't think was possible.
At the end of the movie, the boys get to the body, Ace and his friends come in their car, Gordie gets Chris's gun out of the bag and threatens them until they leave. Flash forward to them walking back into town and the voice over narrator talks about what happened to each character. In the novella, Gordie insults Ace and his friends and Chris gets the gun and threatens everyone. Afterward, Chris is very affected and they walk back the way they came. Each of the boys is jumped by Ace's crew and their injuries are discussed. The narrator talks about what happened to each character but it is different than the film--by the time the author wrote the story, Vern had died in a fire, Teddy died in a car accident, and Chris died in the knife altercation mentioned in the film. Vern's brother, Ace, and their friends have a lot more screen time than they do in the book, for sure. The movie is really Gordie's story, maybe even moreso than the book, so even though it was not the same, it was just as powerful and made Gordie's character express his pent up emotions. The ending quote of the film, "I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" is such a perfect way to end the film. I'm not surprised it was King who wrote those words. The screenwriters lifted them from the middle of the novella and inserted them perfectly into the end of the script. Great choice, in my opinion.
The most jarring differences I noticed while reading were that Gordie's brother died in a military jeep accident whereas he died in a car accident in the movie, there is a short story included in the novella that I am so happy they left out of the film, there is a scene where all the boys think they see the ghost of Ray Brower in the woods, and the ending is different. (I'll go into that in a second) At first, I thought there was something wrong with my ebook because the aforementioned short story is more adult than much of the film. "Stud City" is a fairly graphic story written by the narrator (Gordon Lachance) when he was in college, and describes a young man devirginizing a girl and then arguing with his father and stepmother. The story is included to show the immaturity of some of the narrator's early published writing and how he integrated the feelings and effects of his brother's death into his writing. King's books are often set in Maine, but Stand By Me was moved to small-town Oregon. I don't find this change to have any detrimental effect to the film, as the feelings of nostalgia and remembering childhood friendships are going to happen no matter where the story is set. (plus, having been to both places, rural Oregon and rural Maine look pretty similar) I always assumed Gordie's nightmare on that final night was about the death of his brother but the novella has his character dreaming about he and his friends drowning after a conversation he had with Chris about how your friends can sink your future. And I think we can all thank some higher power (or the universe) that they did not include the leech on Gordie's testicles exploding in his hand in the movie. Some things can never be unseen.
Rob Reiner states in the director's commentary of the DVD that they were unsure what they would call the movie but they knew they wanted to use Ben E. King's song in the soundtrack. I don't blame them--how many songs can you think of that are so achingly sad? I totally shed some tears looking up the song on Youtube, but I suppose it doesn't help at all that I was listening to Reiner speak about River Phoenix and what a loss his death was to everyone. Phoenix sold Chris Chambers' character down to the ground and I must admit that I often felt like Phoenix might've been a little like Chris Chambers in real life. One of my favorite scenes, which was lifted straight from the book, is when Chris talks to Gordie about what they'll do after the summer is over and how they'll get split up. Chris says, "I wish to f*ck I was your father!...You wouldn't go around talking about taking those stupid shop courses if I was! It's like God gave you something, all those stories you can make up, and He said, This is what we got for you kid. Try not to lose it. But kids lose everything unless somebody looks out for them and if your folks are too f*cked up to do it then maybe I ought to." (Loc. 1250) I always thought that scene was so profound--two 12-year-olds "getting" the inevitability of life for so many people and it goes on for a few pages in the novella. Two or three pages that are even better than the movie, which I didn't think was possible.
At the end of the movie, the boys get to the body, Ace and his friends come in their car, Gordie gets Chris's gun out of the bag and threatens them until they leave. Flash forward to them walking back into town and the voice over narrator talks about what happened to each character. In the novella, Gordie insults Ace and his friends and Chris gets the gun and threatens everyone. Afterward, Chris is very affected and they walk back the way they came. Each of the boys is jumped by Ace's crew and their injuries are discussed. The narrator talks about what happened to each character but it is different than the film--by the time the author wrote the story, Vern had died in a fire, Teddy died in a car accident, and Chris died in the knife altercation mentioned in the film. Vern's brother, Ace, and their friends have a lot more screen time than they do in the book, for sure. The movie is really Gordie's story, maybe even moreso than the book, so even though it was not the same, it was just as powerful and made Gordie's character express his pent up emotions. The ending quote of the film, "I never had any friends like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" is such a perfect way to end the film. I'm not surprised it was King who wrote those words. The screenwriters lifted them from the middle of the novella and inserted them perfectly into the end of the script. Great choice, in my opinion.
It was Chris in the book.
Stand By Me has one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. It is definitely in my Top 10. We had the cassette tape of it in the nineties and listened to it all the time--I'm fairly sure I know all the words from beginning to end and I don't skip any of the songs, which is rare.
Here's the playlist:
1. Buddy Holly - Everyday
2. Shirley & Lee - Let The Good Times Roll
3. The Del Vikings - Come Go With Me
4. The Del Vikings - Whispering Bells
5. The Silhouettes - Get A Job
6. The Chordettes - Lollipop
7. The Coasters - Yakety Yak
8. Jerry Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
9. The Bobbettes - Mr. Lee
10. Ben E. King - Stand By Me
*Special note: If you were ever wondering what the barf is in the pie-eating contest, it is large curd cottage cheese and blueberry pie filling.
Here's the playlist:
1. Buddy Holly - Everyday
2. Shirley & Lee - Let The Good Times Roll
3. The Del Vikings - Come Go With Me
4. The Del Vikings - Whispering Bells
5. The Silhouettes - Get A Job
6. The Chordettes - Lollipop
7. The Coasters - Yakety Yak
8. Jerry Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
9. The Bobbettes - Mr. Lee
10. Ben E. King - Stand By Me
*Special note: If you were ever wondering what the barf is in the pie-eating contest, it is large curd cottage cheese and blueberry pie filling.
 | "Practically perfect in every way." (From Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers and directed by Robert Stevenson in 1964) A very faithful (in the details or in spirit) adaptation. We enjoyed it thoroughly. |
This is a case where I find both the book and the movie to be equally but slightly differently appealing. They are both universal stories of friendships and the movie does a great job adapting the story to screen, but there are several passages like the one I quoted above that are just so moving that no matter how much I loved the ending scene of Stand By Me, I can't rate it higher than the book.
Have you read the book or seen the movie? What did you think of them?
Have you read the book or seen the movie? What did you think of them?
