Stand By Me (1986)

Stand By Me (1986)

Fans of this next film, might want to argue that it is set and filmed in Oregon, which of the film itself is true, however, I will explain in detail not only why this is a Maine, movie but will tie together the real and fictional locations of Stephen King's original story, which takes place in the Midcoast region of Maine.   The film I am talking about is Stand By Me from 1986, which is based on Stephen King's novella The Body, published in his collection Different Seasons, which is also where Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil where both published.   In The Body Stephen King mentions many real-life places, where if you are familiar with the area as well as his works you will be able to relatively easily find them on a map.  Stand By Me is a story about four friends who learn the location of a missing by named Ray Brower, from Chamberlain Maine (fans of Stephen King will recognize that as the setting for Carrie).  They set off from their hometown of Castle Rock, and hike down the railroad tracks to Back Harlow Rd where it meets the Royal River.  Along the way the boys have adventures, but also discover themselves, and each other.  It is a touching coming of age film, with an amazing cast.

Director Rob Reiner changes the location from Stephen King's original Maine setting starting in the fictional town of Castle Rock Maine, to the real life town of Castle Rock OR, however that is really where the change of setting ends.  All of the real life Maine locations are still mentioned, and this story maybe more than any other of Stephen King's works gives the real location of Castle Rock Maine.   So Stephen King lived in Durham Maine as a highschool kid, and he went to school at the highschool across the river in Lisbon Falls Maine.  The Body is one of King's most autobiographical stories, so it only makes sense that the locations in the story would be locations that he would be familiar with.  First of all, Castle Rock, is Stephen King's fictional version of Lisbon Falls, just as Derry is his fictional version of Bangor ME.  Some of the ways that we know this is the mention of the Shiloh Church which is off Shiloh Rd in the Shiloh area of Durham ME.  Jerusalem's Lot (the setting of 'Salem's Lot) is mentioned in Gordie's story about "Lard Ass" and the pie eating contest, and Jerusalem's Lot seems to be based on an area of Durham ME (I haven't figured quiet exactly what part of Durham yet, but I am working on figuring out the clues).   We also know from the film that Castle Rock is about 20 miles from South Harlow (which doesn't exist, but might be based on North Yarmouth/Dunns ME) where the railroad tracks meet the Royal River.  The Royal River is a real river that dumps into the Casco Bay at Yarmouth.  In the scene at the junkyard in the film, the junk man says that Teddy's dad is in the loony bin up at Togas, referring to the real-life VA Hospital in Chelsea Maine.  The film also has multiple mentions of Durham, which helps us to know that Castle Rock would be Lisbon Falls just across the Androscoggin River.  There is no Back Harlow Rd, however part of Hwy 9 which does in fact connect Durham to North Yarmouth and the Royal River is called the Hallowell Rd.  One important thing to note however, is that the railroad track connecting Castle Rock to where the body found is in fact fictional, without either going to Brunswick or Lewiston, there is no railroad track that could make that connection, and have the epic bridge crossing scene from the film or the book.  The trestle scene is in fact inspired by experiences from Stephen King's time at the University of Maine in Orono, and is inspired by the railroad trestle across the Stillwater River in Orono, and not a real-life trestle across the Androscoggin River.   One last location to discuss is Chamberlain ME, there is a real-life Chamberlain ME, which is near New Harbor ME, just up the peninsula from the Pemaquid Lighthouse at Pemaquid Point, in the midcoast area of ME, which is also near Friendship ME, which was the setting for the film Casper The Friendly Ghost.

Now that I have discussed some of the locations featured in the story, let's put things together and attempt to map out the journey that they boys took in the film.  From Castle Rock they traveled down the railroad tracks, which they could have gone either upstream or downstream, as the old tracks in Lisbon Falls, follow the river.  If we go up river, there is a junkyard on the banks of the Androscoggin River, however keep in mind, in the book it wasn't a junkyard, but the town dump, which if the town dump is currently the solid waste management facility, then that is also up river.  So based on that let's assume that they went up river.  We also know that they could have gotten there quicker by taking "route 7 to the Shiloh Church to Back Harlow RD", however Route 7 doesn't exist, Route 125 however goes to the Shiloh Rd to the Shiloh Church, but I feel like Stephen King is giving us a little misdirection (he likes to do that), and Route 7, in fact is Route 9, which takes us directly from Durham to the location that the Body was most likely found, so if we use the assumption that Route 9 is Route 7, then yes they could have hitched a ride straight to the body from Castle Rock/Lisbon Falls.   So then let's use 2 possible routes for where the boys went down the tracks to the Royal River.   

Possible Route 1:  They followed the tracks northwest up the banks of the Androscoggin until the tracks curve and cross the river (which they do not in real life, and I can find no evidence that they ever did).  However there is a power corridor that crosses the river a few miles upriver from Durham, and if we then assume that that power corridor is the route of the fictional railroad tracks, then that power corridor could be taken to where it meets up with the actual railroad tracks which take us to the proposed location of the body in Dunn/North Yarmouth.  This fits a lot of the story elements.

Possible Route 2:  They followed the tracks downriver to the Pejepscot Village, along the real railroad tracks, and then instead of continuing downriver to Topsham, I propose that there was the location of the fictional railroad trestle across the Androscoggin River, at the dam at the Androscoggin River Reservoir.  The fictional railroad tracks would cross the river to meet up with a power corridor that near Pownal ME meets up with the power corridor from possible Route 1, to the actual railroad tracks that take us to the location in Dunn/North Yarmouth where the body is possibly found.    This could also fit the scenario in the book/film   Then again Stephen King could simply have just made up the route of the Railroad tracks, and they might not be based on any actual existing tracks from then or now.  But either way we know they started in Lisbon Falls, passed Durham, and found the body at the Royal River somewhere upstream of Yarmouth.  Really only Stephen King can tell us the truth, but I feel like he might prefer to let us make up our own fan theories, and not wish to take that away from us.  If he reads this I would love to hear his thoughts.

My personal connection to this book.   I used to live in Lisbon Falls, and I used to spend a lot of time at Franks (formerly The Kennebec Fruit Company, AKA The Moxie Store), and I have talked to some of the folks there who have grown up there.  One conversation led to talking about The Body/Stand By Me, and he told me that he remembered going to Stephen King, and that they characters in the book, were loosely based on people that he knew growing up.  I love living in Maine, Stephen King's books are a lot more real feeling, when you live where they are set, and when you meet people who are the inspiration for the characters in his books.  Or maybe it is that reading Stephen King's books makes Maine feel more real.  Either way, Maine is the most amazing place in the United States to live, and to visit, we have such a beautiful state, with a rich and complicated history, we have beautiful mountains, and the most beautiful coastline that you will find in the United States.   I love my state, and though I have been all over this country, there is nowhere else I would ever want to live.   I hope that you come and explore Maine sometime, and if you do hit me up, and I will show you around this place that I love with all of my heart. 

Lest you forgot, this is still a film review, so let's get on with it.   Stand By Me was directed by Rob Reiner with a screenplay by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon.  The film is based on Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body, published in his collection Different Seasons.   The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures in 1986.  Stand By Me was a critical success receiving generally positive reviews, and holds a high score on online film review sites.  The film was also a major box office success grossing $52.3 million on a budget of around $8 million.   

Stand By Me stars Wil Wheaton as Gordon "Gordie" LaChance (Richard Dreyfuss plays the adult Gordie), River Phoenix as Chris Chambers, Corey Feldman as Teddy Duchamp, and Jerry O'Connell as Vern Tessio the four friends that set off to find the body of Ray Brower (whose dead body was played by Kent Luttrell).  The boys have multiple run-ins with a local teenage gang lead by Kiefer Sutherland as John "Ace" Merrill (who makes an appearance in a few of King's other stories as well), Casey Siemaszko as Billy Tessio (Vern's older brother), Gary Riley as Charlie Hogan, Jason Oliver as Vince Desjardins, and Bradley Gregg as Richard "Eyeball" Chambers (Chris' older brother).  The film also features John Cusack as Dennis "Denny" LaChance (Gordie's older brother), Marshall Bell as Mr. LaChance, and Frances Lee McCain as Mrs. LaChance who are Gordie's parents.   The film has an amazing cast of young actors, and really it is the connection that these actors share on screen that made the film such a success.  Their friendship, and their characters come across as authentic, and Rob Reiner was careful to choose actors who were true to their characters, who could really play themselves on screen.  This is one of the great coming of age films, because of the perfect casting.  This film also helped to shape Kiefer Sutherland as a bad-ass character in films, who in real life is a soft spoken man, but in the making of this film, he stayed in character of Ace whenever he was around the younger boys, to make their fear of him authentic, and I feel like that comes across on the screen as well.  This film comes very close to having a perfect cast of characters.

When it comes to Stand By Me, I feel like the amazing soundtrack must be mentioned, after all the title of the film is taken from the Ben E. King classic song of the same name.  The soundtrack also features "Everyday" by Buddy Holly, "Let The Good Times Roll" by Shirley and Lee, "Come Go With Me" and "Whispering Bells" by The Del-Vikings, "Get A Job" by The Silhouettes, "Lollipop" by The Chordettes, "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters, "Great Balls Of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis, and "Mr Lee" by the Bobbettes.  The soundtrack is a wonderful snapshot of the era of the late 1950s when the film was set.  

Stand By Me, is an amazing coming of age film that has stood the test of time.  The film helped to launch the careers of some amazing young actors, and is as relevant to young boys now as it was then.  The film is about the friends, and adventures that we had in our youth, and looking back on that time with a fondness, but not candy coating it and make believing that it was better than it actually was.   This film, as well as the novella that it is based on is authentic, and real, the dialogue is real, the emotions and the growing that the boys experience is real.  There is a reason that this film has remained a beloved classic.  Stand By Me is a must watch film, and if you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.   This is a film that should be a part of every film collector's library, and if you come across a copy of this film, do not pass it up.