Director: Rob Reiner
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 89 minutes
Stand by Me (1986) (4K UHD) – Movie Review
While the title will immediately have people humming the song with the same name (which is also featured in the movie), this film is actually a somewhat forgotten gem. While the movie is based on one of Stephen King’s novellas, the film itself is not really a horror story. Stand by Me is somewhat a rite of passage of four twelve-year-old boys that go on a small journey. Now, rereleased in a 4K UHD edition, we will take a look at the quality of this edition itself, and not the 1986 movie by itself.
Stand by Me tells the story of four young boys, who all have a rough background. One is being abused at home, the other’s dad is locked up, one seems to be somewhat neglected, while the other one is basically considered unwelcome by his own parents. When the small group of boys hears that they might find the body of a missing boy, which could make them heroes, they don’t hesitate to put a plan together and go on an adventure. This journey allows them to open up even more, and learn what it is to be friends.
As the movie is set in 1959, this was way before the smartphone and internet era, which graces the movie even more. The film itself was made in 1986, and thus we’d expect low-quality footage, but the 4K edition immediately throws this sentiment off the table. The quality is superb, considering the age of the movie. While the techniques used for this film are quite simplistic, we do get to see nice sceneries and basically how life really was a few decades ago. While the story itself remains fairly superficial, we do get a certain attachment to the young boys’ (mis)fortunes. It’s also nice to see certain the younger selves of famous stars, such as Kiefer Sutherland, Will Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell and several others.
Surprisingly enough, this 4K UHD edition comes with a fair amount of additional content to explore. While all this content comes in the form of alternative/deleted scenes, it’s still nice to have extra footage of a 1986 film. As this movie also starred many actors at the start of their acting careers, it would have perhaps been nice to see some current interviews with these cast members, but it’s understandable that this would cost a bit too many resources for a physical rerelease.
Conclusion
Stand by Me has withstood the test of time quite well, and is still a nice story of the coming-of-age of four young boys. While there’s a lot of underlying pain in these kids’ lives, the superficial story itself is very solid, the acting feels spot-on and the overall remastered quality is great. Add some additional content to the physical edition and you can easily add a true classic to your ever-growing 4K UHD collection.
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