Stand by Me (1986)

Stand by Me rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.1/10· 480K votes

Rotten Tomatoes89%

Metacritic75%

TMDb7.8/10· 7K votes

With 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.1/10 on IMDb and 75/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Stand by Me

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

Cast of Stand by Me

• 

  Wil Wheaton

  as Gordie Lachance

• 

  River Phoenix

  as Chris Chambers

• 

  Corey Feldman

  as Teddy Duchamp

• 

  Jerry O'Connell

  as Vern Tessio

• 

  Kiefer Sutherland

  as Ace Merrill

• 

  Casey Siemaszko

  as Billy Tessio

• 

  Gary Riley

  as Charlie Hogan

• 

  Bradley Gregg

  as Eyeball Chambers

• 

  Jason Oliver

  as Vince Desjardins

• 

  Marshall Bell

  as Mr. Lachance

• 

  Frances Lee McCain

  as Mrs. Lachance

• 

  Bruce Kirby

  as Mr. Quidacioluo

Stand by Me facts

Budget

$8M

Box office

$52.3M

Our take on Stand by Me

Rob Reiner's 1986 coming-of-age drama follows four boys in a small town who set out along the railroad tracks to find the body of a missing peer their own age. The journey, part dare and part escape from unhappy homes, becomes a formative passage as they face petty threats, a menacing junk dealer and their own fears, learning as much about one another as about death. Reiner grounds the crime-tinged premise in tenderness and honest, funny, sometimes painful conversation, capturing the particular intensity of boyhood friendship. It speaks to anyone who values character and nostalgia over plot, and lands hardest for viewers looking back on their own childhood.