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Stand by Me

Stand by Me is a 1986 film about a writer's recounting of a boyhood journey to find a body of a missing boy, after the death of a friend.
Directed by Rob Reiner and written by Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, based on the novella The Body by Stephen King.

The Writer (Gordie)

  • [first lines; voiceover] I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959 - a long time ago, but only if you measure in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock; there were only twelve hundred and eighty-one people, but to me it was the whole world.

  • [voiceover] It was weird to me how Teddy could care so much about his father, who practically killed him, and I couldn't give a shit about my dad who hadn't laid a hand on me since I was three; and that was for eating bleach under the sink!

  • [voiceover] "No Trespassing" was enforced by Milo Pressman, the junkman, and his dog Chopper; the most feared and least seen dog in Castle Rock. Rumour had it that Milo had trained Chopper not just to "sic", but to sic specific parts of the human anatomy. For instance, a young boy who had illegally scaled the junkyard fence might hear the dreaded cry, "Chopper, sic balls!" Luckily neither Milo nor Chopper was anywhere in sight.

  • [voiceover] Now, he said "Sic 'em, boy"; but what I heard was, "Chopper, sic balls!"

  • [voiceover] None of us could breathe; somewhere under those bushes was the rest of Ray Brower.

  • [voiceover] The train had knocked Ray Brower out of his Keds the same way it had knocked the life out of his body. The kid wasn't sick; the kid wasn't sleeping; the kid was dead.

  • [voiceover] Ray Brower's body was found, though neither our gang nor their gang got credit for it. In the end, we decided an anonymous phonecall was the best thing to do.

  • [voiceover] It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant.

  • [voiceover, referring to Chris] Although I hadn't seen him in more than 10 years, I know I'll miss him forever.

  • [last lines; typing on computer] I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?

Gordie Lachance

  • Walking talking Jesus!

  • Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood.

  • Does the word retarded mean anything to you?

  • Wagon Train's a really cool show, but have you ever noticed they don't really get anywhere? They just keep wagon-training.

  • I knew the $64,000 Question was fixed. There's no way anyone could know that much about opera.

  • TRAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNNNN!!!

Chris Chambers

  • You wanna be the Lone Ranger or the Cisco Kid?

  • [crying] I just wish I could go someplace where nobody knows me.

  • Make your draw, shitheap!

Teddy Duchamp

  • Jesus H. bald-headed Christ!

  • [crying] He ranked my old man!

  • You die, Chambers!

  • That was the all-time train dodge. Too cool. Vern, you were so scared you looked like that fat guy, Abbott Costello, when he saw the mummy.

  • Gordie's out! Ol' Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door!

Vern Tessio

  • You guys wanna go see a dead body?

  • If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy. Pez. Cherry flavor Pez. There's no question about it.

  • There he is! I see him! Look, right there! I see him, I see him!

Others

  • Mayor Grundy: [a crowd jeers Davy "Lardass" Hogan on stage by calling him "Lardass" repeatedly] Don't pay any attention to those fools, Lardass-er, I mean Davy.

  • Bill Travis: I hear you have a really big appetite, Lardass; don't even think about winning this.

Dialogue

[Teddy, Chris and Gordie are playing three penny scat in their treehouse]
Chris: How do you know if a Frenchman's been in your backyard?
Teddy: Hey, I'm French, okay?
Chris: Your garbage cans are empty and your dog's pregnant.
Teddy: Didn't I just say I was French?


Chris: I knock.
Teddy: [drawing a card] Shit...
Chris: Twenty-nine.
Teddy: [dejected] Twenty-two.
Gordie: [slams his cards on the table] Piss up a rope!
Teddy: [laughing] Gordie loses! Ol' Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door!


Teddy: I knock.
Chris: You four-eyed pile of shit!
Teddy: A pile of shit has a thousand eyes.


Teddy: So what are you pissin' and moanin' about, Vern-o?
Chris: I knock.
Teddy: You liar! You ain't got no pat hand! You didn't deal yourself no pat hand!
Chris: Make your draw, shitheap.
Vern: You guys wanna go see a dead body?


Charlie Hogan: I think we should tell the cops..
Billy Tessio: Look, you don't go squawking to the cops after you boosted a car, you idiot! They're gonna wonder how we got way the hell out on Back Harlow Road! Now, they know we don't got no car! Best that we just keep our mouths shut, and they can't touch us.
Charlie: We could make a 'nommanus' call.
Billy: They trace those calls, stupid; I've seen it on Highway Patrol and on Dragnet.


Mr. Lachance: Why can't you have friends like Denny's?
Gordie: Dad, they're okay.
Mr. Lachance: Sure they are. A thief and two feebs?
Gordie: Chris isn't a thief.
Mr. Lachance: [Raises his eyebrow] He stole the milk money at school. He's a thief in my book.


[Chris has produced a .45 caliber handgun from his bedroll, which Gordie is regarding with wide-eyed wonder]
Chris: You wanna be the Lone Ranger, or the Cisco Kid?
Gordie: Walkin', talkin' Jesus, where did you get this?
Chris: Hawked it off my old man's bureau. It's a forty-five.
Gordie: [incredulously] I can see that...[aims gun at trash can and mimics the sound of a gun being fired] You got shells for it?
Chris: Yeah, I took all that was left in the box. My dad'll think he used them himself shooting at beer cans while he was drunk.
Gordie: Is it loaded?
Chris: Hell no! What do you think I am?
[Gordie squeezes the trigger and the gun discharges]
Chris and Gordie: [in unison] Jesus!!!
[the two run]
Chris: Gordie did it! Gordie Lachance is shooting up Castle Rock!!
Gordie: Shut up!


Chris: Well, if we follow the tracks all the way into Harlow, it should be about twenty miles. Sound about right to you, Gordie?
Gordie: Yeah; yeah, it might even be thirty.
Vern: Jeez, maybe we should just hitchhike.
Teddy: No way; that sucks!
Vern: We could go down the Route 7 out to the Shiloh church, then down the Back Harlow Road; we'll be there by sundown!
Teddy: That's pussy!
Vern: Hey, it's a long ways!
Teddy: Did your mother have any kids that lived?
Vern: What do you mean?


[The four boys are walking along the train tracks, singing the Ballad of Paladin]
Teddy: [singing] Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam? Paladin, Paladin, far far from home..
Vern: I'm kinda hungry, who's got the food?
[all four boys stop short]
Teddy: Oh shit! Did anybody bring anything?
Chris: No! Gordie?
[Gordie shakes his head "no"]
Teddy: Oh, this is great. What are we supposed to do, eat our feet?
Chris: You mean you didn't bring anything, either?
Teddy: Well shit, this wasn't my idea, this was Vern's idea! [to Vern] Why didn't you bring something?
Vern: What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb!
Teddy: Great, you brought the comb! What do you need a comb for? You don't even have any hair!
Vern: I brought it for you guys so...
Gordie: [intervening] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Let's see how much money we've got.
[the boys sit on the tracks and count their money]
Gordie: Ok, I've got a dollar two.. Sixty-eight cents from Chris; Sixty cents from Teddy.. [pauses, looking incredulously at the coins Vern has placed in his palm] Seven cents, Vern?
Vern: I haven't found my pennies yet!


Gordie: Teddy's crazy.
Chris: Yeah. He won't live to be twenty, I bet.
Gordie: Remember that time when you saved him in the tree?
Chris: Yeah. You know, I dream about that sometimes. Except in the dream, I always miss him. I just get a couple of his hairs and down he goes. Weird, huh?
Gordie: Yeah, that is weird. But you didn't miss; Chris Chambers never misses, does he?
Chris: Not even when the ladies leave the seat down. [forms an 'o' with his thumb and forefinger and spits through it]


Teddy: Have you been watching the Mickey Mouse Club? I think Annette's tits are getting bigger.
Gordie: Yeah, I've been noticing lately that the "A"and the "E" are starting to bend around the sides.
Vern: Annette's tits are great.
Chris, Teddy: Yeah..
Vern: This is a really good time.
Chris: The most.
Teddy: A blast.
The Writer: [voiceover] Vern didn't just mean being off limits inside the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike up the railroad tracks to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me now it was more and that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand.

[The four boys have all flipped coins to see who is going to make a food run, and all have landed tails up]
Vern: Four tails! Oh, Jesus, man, that's a goocher! [Teddy, Chris and Gordie all groan] No guys, seriously, a goocher! That's really bad! Remember when Clint Bracken and those guys got wiped out on Reed Hill in Durham? Billy told me they was flippin' for beers, and they came up with a goocher before they got into the car, and bang! They all got totaled! I don't like this, man, sincerely...
Teddy: Vern-o, no one believes that crap about moons and goochers anymore, it's baby stuff! Now come on, flip again. [to Vern] You gonna flip, or not?
[they flip their coins again, and this time all show tails except for Gordie]
Teddy: Gordie's out! Oh, Gordie just screwed the pooch! [laughs]
Gordie: Does the word 'retarded' mean anything to you?
Teddy: Gordie, go and get the provisions, you morphadite!
Gordie: Don't call me any of your mother's pet names.
[Gordie gets up to leave]
Teddy: What a wet end you are, Lachance!
Gordie: Shut up!
Vern, Chris, Teddy: I don't shut up, I grow up, and when I look at you, I throw up.
Gordie: And then your mother goes around the corner and she licks it up.
The Writer: [voiceover] Finding new and preferably disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother was always held in high regard.


[Gordie has returned with the food to discover Teddy, Vern and Chris hastily climbing over the fence; Milo the junkman has shown up at the junkyard earlier than anticipated.]
Milo: Hey, you, kid; what are you doing there? Come over here!
[Gordie runs]
Milo: Come back here! Come back here, goddammit, I'll sic my dog on ya!
Vern, Teddy, Chris: Run Gordie!!
Milo: Chopper, sic'em; sic'em, Boy!
The Writer: Now he said, "Sic'em, Boy", but what I heard was, "Chopper, sic balls!"
[Chopper turns out to be a small golden retriever]
Gordie: That's Chopper?
The Writer: Chopper was my first real lesson in the vast difference between myth and reality.
Teddy: Ha ha ha! Come on, Choppy, kiss my ass, Choppy, kiss my ass, come on, bite shit! Come on Choppy! Sic balls, Choppy!
Milo: Stop teasing that dog, you hear me. Stop teasing him. Sonny, I'm gonna beat your ass, teasing my dog like that.
Teddy: Yeah, I'd like to see you climb over the fence and get me, fatass!
Milo: Don't you call me that, you little tin weasel peckerwood looney's son.
Teddy: What did you call me?
Milo: I know who you are. You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a looney. A looney up in the nuthouse in Togus. He took your ear and he put it to a stove and 'e burnt it off.
Teddy: My father stormed the beach at Normandy.
Milo: He's crazier than a shithouse rat. No wonder you're acting the way you are with a looney for a father.
Teddy: You call my dad a looney again, I'll kill you.
Milo: Looney, looney, looney.
Teddy: Aah! I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck! I'll kill you!
Milo: You come on and try it, you slimy bastard.
Chris: He wants you to come over there so he can beat the piss out of you and take you to the cops.
Milo: You watch your mouth, smart guy! Let him do his own fighting.
Gordie: Sure, you only outweigh him by 500 pounds, fat ass!
Milo: I know your name. You're Lachance. I know all you guys and all your fathers are gonna get a call from me. Except for the looney up in Togus.
Teddy: Aah! I'll kill you!
Milo: You foul mouthed whoremaster!
Teddy: You son of a bitch! Nobody ranks on my old man. My father stormed the beach at Normandy! He stormed the beach, you faggot!


Teddy: I'm sorry if I'm ruining everyone's good time.
Chris: It's okay, man.
Gordie: Maybe it shouldn't be a good time.
Chris: You saying you wanna go back?
Gordie: No. We're going to see a dead kid; maybe it shouldn't be a party.


Gordie: Fuck writing, I don't want to be a writer! It's stupid, it's a stupid waste of time!
Chris: That's your dad talking.
Gordie: Bullshit!
Chris: Bull, true! I know how your dad feels about you; he doesn't give a shit about you, Denny was the one he cared about, and don't you try to tell me different!


Vern: You think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?
Teddy: What are you, cracked?
Vern: No, I saw him on TV the other day, he was holding five elephants in one hand.
Teddy: Boy, you don't know nothing. Mighty Mouse is a cartoon. Superman's a real guy. There's no way a cartoon could beat up a real guy.
Vern: I guess you're right. It'd be a good fight though.


Chris: You're just a kid, Gordie...
Gordie: Oh, gee, thanks, Dad!
Chris: I wish the hell I was your dad. You wouldn't be going around talking about taking these stupid shop courses if I was. It's like God gave you something man, all those stories you can make up. And He said, "this is what we got for ya kid, try not to lose it." Kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look out for them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it, the maybe I should!
Vern: Come on, you guys, let's get moving!
Teddy: Yeah, by the time we get there, the kid won't even be dead anymore.


Gordie: Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?
Teddy: He's a dog, he's definitely a dog...
Chris: He can't be a dog, he wears a hat and drives a car...
Vern: Yeah, that is weird. What the hell is Goofy?


[The boys are asleep in the woods, when they are awoken by howling coyotes.]
Vern: [terrified] Oh my God!
Teddy: It's that Brower kid. His ghost's out walking in the woods!
Gordie: What is it, Chris?
Chris: [holding the gun] Maybe it's coyotes.
Gordie: Sounds like a woman screaming.


Gordie: Maybe you could come into the college courses with me.
Chris: Yeah right, that'll be the day.
Gordie: Why not? You're smart enough.
Chris: They won't let me.
Gordie: What do you mean?
Chris: It's the way everyone thinks of my family in this town. It's the way they think of me. I'm just one of those low-life Chambers kids.
Gordie: That's not true.
Chris: Oh, it is. No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three day vacation.
Gordie: Did you take it?
Chris: Yeah, I took it. You knew I took it. Teddy knew I took it. Everyone knew. Even Vern knew it I think. And maybe I was sorry and tried to give it back.
Gordie: You tried to give it back?
Chris: Maybe. Just maybe. And maybe I took it to old lady Simons and told her, and the money was all there. But I still got a three day vacation because it never showed up. And maybe old lady Simons had a brand new skirt on when she came to school next week.
Gordie: Yeah, yeah! It was brown and had dots on it!
Chris: Yeah. So lets just say that I stole the milk money but old lady Simons stole it back from me. Suppose I told the story. Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think anyone would have believed it?
Gordie: No.
Chris: And do you think that that bitch would have dared try something like that if it had been one of those douchebags from up on the View, if they had taken the money?
Gordie: No way!
Chris: Hell no! But with me? I'm sure she had her eye on that skirt for a long time and she found her chance and took it. I was the stupid one for bringing it back.
Chris: [crying] But I never thought- I never thought-a teacher-. Oh, who gives a fuck, anyway? Sometimes I wish I could go some place where nobody knows me. I guess I'm just a pussy, huh? Yeah.
Gordie: No. Don't cry.


Gordie: Do you think I'm weird?
Chris: Definitely.
Gordie: No man, seriously. Am I weird?
Chris: Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird.


Vern: Jeez, Gordie, why couldn't you have gotten breakfast stuff like twinkies, Pez and root beer?
Gordie: Sorry, Vern. I guess a more experienced shopper could have gotten more for your seven cents.


[The boys have come across a train trestle, and are contemplating crossing it.]
Vern: Any of you guys know when the next train is due?
Chris: We could go down to the Route 136 bridge.
Teddy: What are you, crazy? That's five miles down the river! We walk five miles down the river, we gotta walk five miles back; that could take 'til dark! We cross here, we could get to the same place in ten minutes.
Vern: Yeah, but if a train comes, there's nowheres to go!
Teddy: I know there isn't; we'll just jump!
Chris: Teddy, it's a hundred feet!
Vern: Yeah, Teddy!
Teddy: Look, you guys can go around if you want to; I'm crossing here. And while you guys are dragging your candy asses half way across the state and back, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts.
Gordie: Do you use your left hand or your right hand for that?
Teddy: You wish.


Eyeball: So what's with you and this Connie Palermo chick?
Billy Tessio: I've been seeing her for over a month now and all she'll let me do is feel her tits.
Ace: She's a Catholic, Man. They're all like that. If you wanna get laid, you gotta get yourself a Protestant. [thinks for a moment] Jew's good.


Vern: Nothing like a smoke after a meal...
Teddy: Yeah... I cherish these moments!
[group chuckles]
Teddy: What? What did I say?


Chris: You're gonna be a great writer someday, Gordie. You might even write about us guys if you ever get hard-up for material.
Gordie: [wiping away his tears] Guess I'd have to be pretty hard-up, huh.


Gordie: ...the main guy of the story is a fat kid that nobody likes named Davie Hogan.
Vern: Like Charlie Hogan's brother. If he had one.
Chris: Good Vern. Go on, Gordie.
Gordie: Well this kid is our age but he's fat, real fat. He weighs close to one-eighty. But you know it's not his fault it's his glands.
Vern: Oh yeah, my cousin's like that, sincerely. She weighs over three hundred pounds. Supposed to be her "hyboid gland" or something. Well I don't know about any hyboid glands, but what a blimp. No shit. she looks like a Thanksgiving turkey. And you know this one time...
Chris: Shut up, Vern.
Vern: Yeah, yeah, right. Go on, Gordie, it's a swell story.


Bob Cormier: Hey! From the racks and stacks, it's the best on wax! How 'bout another double-golden-oldie-twin-spin-sound-sandwich from K-L-A-M in Portland? Iiiiiiit's...
Pie-Eat Audience: [finishing sentence] Boss!


[Gordie and Vern have just narrowly avoided being hit by a train while crossing a trestle, and the four boys are roasting hamburgers over a campfire and discussing the event]
Teddy: That was the all-time train dodge. Too cool. Vern, you were so scared you looked like that fat guy, Abbott Costello, when he saw the mummy.
Vern: I wasn't that scared. I wasn't. Sincerely.
Gordie: Okay then you won't mind if we check the seat of your Jocks for Hershey squirts, will you?
Vern: Go screw.
Chris: Hey, Vern, you'd better turn yours over.
Vern: No, this is the way I like to do it.
Chris: Fine...
[Vern's meat falls off of the stick and into the fire, and he begins trying frantically to recover it]
Vern: Oh, man! No way! Come on.... You got any more, Gordie?
Gordie: [laughing] Sorry, Vern!
Vern: This isn't funny. What am I supposed to eat?
Teddy: Why don't you cook your dick?
Chris: It'd be a small meal!
[Vern recovers his burger from the campfire]
Vern: A-ha! Screw you guys, I got it! Heh he he heh....


The Writer: [narrating] Around this time, Charlie and Billy were playing "Mailbox Baseball" with Ace and Eyeball
Ace: [hits a wooden mailbox] Ahhhh shit! I'm out! Goddammit!
Eyeball: You shouldn't have gone for a wooden one. Huh-huh!
Ace: [Stares at Eyeball intensely] Why don't you tell me something I don't know, asshole?
[Hands bat to Billy]
Ace: Billy, you're up.
Billy Tessio: Nah, you guys win. I don't wanna play no more.
Eyeball: Hey, you can't quit! We've only played three innings! That would be a non-official game!
Charlie Hogan: Hey, Ace, uh we -
[Billy nudges him in the arm]
Ace: What's with you homos? You guys have been acting psycho all day.
[Long pause]
Ace: What is it?
Billy Tessio: It's nothin'! It's nothin'! It's nothin', right?
[Looks over at Charlie who concurs]
Ace: Then, if you gentlemen don't mind, I'd like to finish this game before I start collecting my goddamn Social Security, okay? You're up Billy, move it!
Billy Tessio: All right! Gimme this fuckin' thing
[grabs bat and assumes batter's position]
Ace: Let's play ball!
Eyeball: Yeah!


Billy Tessio: Hey, Eyeball's right, Charlie. They ain't never gonna find him.
Eyeball: Would you hold still? You're making me fuck up the snake part.
Vince Desjardins: I'll tell you how they're gonna find him; ten years from now, some hunter's gonna go in the woods to take a leak...wind up pissin' on his bones.
Charlie Hogan: I bet you a thousand dollars, they find him before then.
Eyeball: Bet you two thousand dollars, they don't!
Charlie Hogan: Well, asshole...
Billy Tessio: Hey, what's the big deal? Who cares?
Ace: Why don't you two just shut the fuck up? Besides, if either of you assholes had $1000, I'd kill you both.


Billy Tessio: [about to get in Ace's car to go find Ray Brower's body] Hey, Ace, uh... maybe me and Charlie shouldn't go.
Charlie Hogan: Yeah, maybe you guys could go without us.
Ace: [sighs] You guys are like my grandmother having a conniption fit. I don't see your problem; we brought a whole bunch of fishing gear, and if a cop asks us what we're doing here, we're just here to take a couple steelhead out of the river, and look what we found!
Vince Desjardins: Yeah! Come on, man, we're gonna be famous! We're gonna be on every radio and TV show in the country!
Charlie Hogan: I still don't think we should go.
Ace: Okay... okay... you've stated your position clearly. Now I'm gonna state mine: Get in the fucking car, now!


Vern: This is great. How are we supposed to get across this?
Teddy: We'll use you as a raft.


Chris: Teddy, why can't you act your age?
Teddy: I am acting my age. I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once!
Chris: Yeah, but you're gonna be stupid for the rest of your life.


Ace: OK, Chambers, you little faggot! This is your last chance. What do you say, kid?
Chris: Why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more?
[Ace pulls out a knife]
Ace: You're dead!


Teddy: Yeah, Vern told us how you found him. "Oh Billy, I wish we had never boosted that car. Oh Billy, I think I just turned my fruit of looms into a fudge factory."
Charlie: Right thats it, your ass is grass.


Ace: Come on, kid; gimme the gun before you take your foot off. You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck. [starts forward and Gordie cocks the gun; Ace stops short]
Gordie: Don't move, Ace. I'll shoot you; I swear to God.


Ace: What are you gonna do, kid, shoot all of us?
Gordie: No Ace, just you.


Ace: We're gonna get you for this.
Chris: Maybe you will, maybe you won't.
Ace: Oh, we will.


Chris: "Suck my fat one"? Whoever told you that you had a fat one, Lachance?
Gordie: Biggest one in four counties.


Chris: I'm never gonna get out of this town am I, Gordie?
Gordie: You can do anything you want, man.
Chris: Yeah, sure. Give me some skin.
Gordie: I'll see ya.
Chris: Not if I see you first.
The Writer: [voiceover] Chris did get out. He enrolled in the college courses with me, and although it was hard, he gutted it out like he always did. He went on to college and eventually became a lawyer. Last week, he entered a fast food restaurant. Just ahead of him, two men got into an argument; one of them pulled a knife. Chris, who'd always made the best peace, tried to break it up. He was stabbed in the throat; he died almost instantly. Although I hadn't seen him for more than 10 years, I know I'll miss him forever.

Cast

  • Wil Wheaton - Gordie Lachance
  • River Phoenix - Chris Chambers
  • Corey Feldman - Teddy Duchamp
  • Jerry O'Connell - Vern Tessio
  • Kiefer Sutherland - Ace Merrill
  • Casey Siemaszko - Billy Tessio
  • Gary Riley - Charlie Hogan
  • Bradley Gregg - Eyeball Chambers
  • Jason Oliver - Vince Desjardins
  • Richard Dreyfuss - The Writer
 
Quoternity
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