--- title: Stand by Me at 30: Original Movie Review description: On the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie Stand by Me, directed by Rob Reiner, read the 1986 TIME review by Richard Corliss. canonical: https://time.com/4438015/stand-by-me-30th-anniversary/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-08T12:30:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:45:34.786Z article:section: History og:title: Stand by Me at 30: Original Movie Review og:description: The film was originally released on Aug. 8, 1986 og:url: https://time.com/4438015/stand-by-me-30th-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb88466d593e88806/6988a10b2dce0103329ea2ba/stand-by-me.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: stand-by-me og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stand by Me at 30: Original Movie Review twitter:description: The film was originally released on Aug. 8, 1986 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb88466d593e88806/6988a10b2dce0103329ea2ba/stand-by-me.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Stand by Me_ at 30: 'Maybe This Is How Rambo Discovered Puberty'  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 8, 2016 12:30 PM UTC  (from L-R) Jerry O'Connell, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, and Corey Feldman are gathered around together in a scene from the film Stand By Me (1986). (from L-R) Jerry O'Connell, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, and Corey Feldman are gathered around together in a scene from the film Stand By Me (1986).Columbia Pictures—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 8, 2016 12:30 PM UTC Thirty years ago, director Rob Reiner’s coming-of-age classic _Stand by Me_ hit theaters and got the eponymous [Ben E. King ](http://time.com/3843189/ben-e-king/)song stuck in everyone’s head for the rest of time. Richard Dreyfuss narrates this film adaptation of Stephen King’s novella _The Body_ looking back on the summer when he and his best friends set off to look for the body of a fellow 12-year-old who had reportedly been struck by a train. During this adventure, “sweet, smart Gordie (Wil Wheaton), take-charge Chris (River Phoenix), feisty Teddy (Corey Feldman) and fat Vern (Jerry O’Connell)” — as TIME’s movie critic Richard Corliss described the characters in his 1986 [original review](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,962128,00.html) — grew close as they shared hopes, fears, and disgusting campfire stories, like the one about a pie-eating-contest-turned-[barf-o-rama.](http://ti.me/Ndlzeo) Corliss started out his critique by emphasizing that the film was fun for all ages and would later (in a [1987 review](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,965565,00.html) of Reiner’s next classic _The Princess Bride_) reference _Stand by Me_‘s script as something teen boys could quote “to impress girls with their sensitivity.” But, at the same time, his original critique points out one aspect of the film that works against its “yuppie winsomeness” tone: --- > “” --- [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) Some of the actors would later experience a profound loss of innocence in the public realm, one that stands in stark contrast to the film’s innocent tone. In 1993, after Phoenix died of an overdose at age 23, Corliss would [write](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,979576,00.html) that perhaps the actor had “thought his name guaranteed immortality. A river runs forever; a phoenix rises from its own ashes” and that “his death sent a sick seismic thrill through Generation X.” Later, Feldman’s 2013 memoir claimed that he and fellow child star Corey Haim were the [victims of sexual abuse](http://time.com/4349546/statute-limitations-rape-feldman/) while working as young stars in Hollywood. As for their co-stars, O’Connell would transform from a “chubby little kid” into an actor whom director Reiner [described](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2008883,00.html) to TIME in 2010 as “a stud.” Wheaton would become a hit in the sci-fi world and a [Comic Con celebrity](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/wil-wheaton-stands-up-for-nerds-everywhere%5Fn%5F5063362.html), between roles in _Star Trek_: _The Next Generation_ and _The Big Bang Theory_. And the film itself has stood the test of time as well: the new hit sci-fi show on Netflix [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4436008/stranger-things-netflix-references/item/stand-by-me-1986/)riffs on the iconic scene of the boys walking on the train tracks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4438015/stand-by-me-30th-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4438015/stand-by-me-30th-anniversary/"},"headline":"Stand by Me at 30: 'Maybe This Is How Rambo Discovered Puberty'","datePublished":"2016-08-08T12:30:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:45:34.786Z","description":"The film was originally released on Aug. 8, 1986","url":"https://time.com/4438015/stand-by-me-30th-anniversary/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb88466d593e88806/6988a10b2dce0103329ea2ba/stand-by-me.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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