When I was in junior high (yes, junior high. Not middle school. Does this tell you how old I am?), I absolutely loved the movie “Stand By Me.” I was never a big fan of Stephen King (didn’t do horror in books or movies, though I did watch “It.” The clown was creepy. The spider was not.), but I have to say I think “Stand by Me” is probably the best movie adaptation ever. Yeah, you have to work your way around some language, I know, but it’s real and honest and emotional. The end socks you right in the gut. Every. Time. I dare you to watch it without at least a little extra moisture in your eye (especially when you line the movie up with this and you realize sometimes life imitates art):
I don’t know why it touched me like it did back then, but I caught the last twenty minutes on TV a few weeks ago and I realized that, as an adult, that gut punch is a whole lot harder. It’s true you never have friends like you had when you were twelve. And unfortunately, you don’t realize those crazy summer days and after-school afternoons are numbered. Somehow, you think that will last forever. It made me think of my own friends, the ones who ran around playing “Star Wars” in a drainage ditch in the field behind our neighborhood… The ones who formed a neighborhood one-on-one softball league… The ones who sat on my grandmother’s bed with me while we told story after story to each other. You laugh with those friends and cry with those friends like no others. And then one day… it’s over. Everybody moves into their own circles and you suddenly look back and what you had simply doesn’t exist anymore. There’s not another movie out there that captures the arc of those kinds of friendships quite like this one.
And the bonus? That is one kickin’ soundtrack. It’s one of the first cassette tapes I ever saved up my allowance to buy. (Again, I just told you how old I am, huh?)
How about you? Any movies grab you and hold on tight over the years?
-JB
Jessica R. Patch says
Jerry O’Connell did nice growing up! lol
I loved Stand by Me too! I agree, you think you’ll move in next door to your besties, marry jr. high crushes, have families and live out your lives together, but you don’t. It is a punch to the gut. A perfect and fitting description.
Beaches was another movie that followed those two friend, Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. When it counted, at the end, they came back together. I loved that movie and that song: Wind Beneath My Wings. Great movie.
Jodie says
Precisely! Never got into Beaches as much as SBM, although I loved the movie. (And hated the song. Sorry… Still like me anyway?) Did you ever read the sequel to Beaches? I remember reading it, but I only remember the first scene.