Things You Missed In The Film ‘Stand By Me’

1. River Phoenix Ages Overnight

Image source / Entertainment TonightIn the train scene, River Phoenix's voice has suddenly changed and he even looks older. This scene was obviously shot towards the end of the movie when the child actor had started going through puberty.  Puzzling, though, that he seems to have gone through the transition within two days.

2. Gordie Is Holding The Gun And Then He's Not

Image source / JoBioWhen Gordie shoots the garbage cans and then runs off, he's still carrying the gun.  After a scene cut, they're running when they get around the corner and he isn't holding the gun any more!  It's safe to presume that they stopped, put the gun away, then again took off running to leave the area quickly.

3. Disjointed Newspaper Article

Image source / Daily MailPausing on the newspaper article about Chris' death, reveals the only the headline and opening paragraph are related to this story.  These appear to have been pasted over another article about land tax!  You'd think the production team would have paid more attention to this error.

4. Vern's Mouth Doesn't Match His Lines

Image source / Sceen ItWhen Vern is first coming into the tree house and is climbing through the trap door, he can be clearly heard saying 'You guys are never gonna believe this...'   Strange that his mouth has other ideas and is still saying the previous line, 'Oh man, oh man.'  Was he running on delay?

5. Ben E King's 'Stand By Me' Being Played Hadn't Even Been Released

Image source / VarietyThe movie 'Stand By Me' derives its title from Ben E. King's classic hit and the song is used as the film's theme song.  Nothing wrong with that except that it wasn't recorded until 1961.  The only reasoning behind this could be that it was first heard in the opening scene, past 1961, when Gordie is an adult.

6. No Blueberries Grow In Oregon

Image source / EpicuriousLike many of Stephen King's novels, the original story takes place in Maine.  Although re-located to Oregon for the movie, it appears that the reference to picking wild blueberries is inaccurate.  As those who live there will know, you don't get these berries growing in Oregon!

7. Boys' Clothing Wet, Then Dry, In Leech Pond

Image source / Yahoo.UKAt the leech pond when the boys are dressed again, they all seem to be dry, clean and tidy! How does this work as their clothing would have been saturated and have taken ages to dry.  They would also be dirty from the muddy water. Their is still immaculate and well groomed even though Vern was the only boy who had a comb -which he lost at the trestle bridge.

8. Teddy's Glasses Do Acrobats

Image source / SteppingStonesWhen the boys get dunked in the swamp, Teddy takes his glasses off but when they are thrashing about in the water, both hands are clearly empty. Fast forward to when they get out of the water and hey presto, his glasses are back in his hands.  Continuity Dept. have something to answer for!

9. Make Up Your Mind How Many Extras Were There

Image source / Purple CoverThe extras who were wearing the BOA hats in the pie eating sequence are not always sitting in the same order. They seem to be moving on two occasions.  Could this be deliberate, to depict the absurdity of Gordie's imagination or has someone made a boo-boo!

10. Gordie's Hairstyle Keeps Changing

Image source / theussunHave you noticed that Gordie's hair changes throughout the film,  from floppy to gelled? In the scene on the trestle, over the water, he yells, 'Train!' and his hair is quite dry, without a parting. In the next short scene, around the campfire, it is perfectly combed and gelled. He cannot have borrowed Vern's comb as that was lost on the train bridge.

11. Now You See Them, Now You Don't

Image source / Nostalgic ReadsWhen the boys are seen walking into the leech pond, they all fall in.  We can all see Vern and Teddy go into the water and when they come back up, we can see Chris and Gordie on the surface already, on the right side of the screen.  In the very next shot, however, Gordie and Chris come to surface again!

12. What Happened To Teddy's Mole?

Image source / PinterestWhen we are first introduced to Teddy Duchamp in the tree house, we see his badly burnt ear but we also notice, on the same side of his face, that he has a big mole by the side of his nose. When the boys set out on their adventure, it has disappeared, never to be seen again!

13. Number Of Cars Changes

Image source / YouTubeWhen the boys are crossing the bridge and Gordie is trying to help Vern to his feet, there is a very brief cut-away which shows that the oncoming train is only the engine and one car.  That is pretty confusing as the previous shot and the later one, once it passes, all show it to have several cars.

14. A Geographical Error

Image source / YouTubeIn the junkyard when Vern is talking about the 'goocher', he mentions Weed Hill in Durham. This is a reference to Durham, Maine.  Durham, Oregon was not incorporated until 1966, 7 years after the timeline of the movie.  A few super fans of the movie pointed this out.

15. The Vehicle Shown In The Movie Hadn't Yet Been Invented

Image source / California ClassicsWhere the guys are cutting 'cobra' into their arms, a VW Beetle can seen amongst the old cars.  The style of the tail lights on the car show it to be anywhere from a 1962 to 1966 model year and this is too late for the setting of the movie, which was supposed to be 1959.

16. Train Tracks Are Shiny And Then Rusty

Image source / YahooThe train tracks the boys are traveling are obviously active as trains pass through many times during the boys' journey.  In some of the shots the top of the rails are bright and shiny, which is how they should appear in active lines.  However, in some scenes the tracks are clearly from unused lines as the tops of the rails are rust colored, just like the sides.

17. Campfire Mystery

Image source / YouTubeWhen Gordie is telling the story, they are all sitting round the campfire. Bob Cormier moves back and is squashed up against Principal Wiggins and this is just before David Hogan (Lardass) barfs on Billy .... but in the next shot he is not.  Smacked wrists again for lack of continuity!

18. Sleeping Bag Goes Sleep Walking

Image source / MediumTeddy is not carrying his bed roll as the boys leave the junkyard.  Chris actually grabs it as he drags the enraged Teddy away and continues to hold it while comforting him.  Gordie, in turn, is carrying Chris' bedroll.  Gordie's own sleeping bag is evidently inside his backpack.  I'm confused!

18. Whoops .... we spot the wireless mike

Image source / Legendary TripsIn the first train dodge scene, once Teddy and Chris have made up, Verne walks off and back on to the train track.  If you look closely, you can see his bright white wireless mike slip down his left leg and land near his ankle.  During the 'barf-o-rama' scene, the two twin brothers barf on each other. As the second brother barfs, the other one turns his head and you can see the white tubing of the barf mechanism around his left ear.

20. There's A Camera Man In Reflection Of Teddy's Glasses

Image source / ReelrundownIn the tree house scene, just after Chris says to Teddy, 'come on man deal', Teddy blows smoke from his cigarette while laughing at the same time.  As he's doing this, it's hard not to miss a film camera right next to Chris' head, in the reflection of Teddy's spectacles.  Did you see it?

21. Teddy Suddenly Has A Muscular Arm

Image source / CinemaBlendWhen Teddy walks across the bridge, a close-up of his arm and hand clearly shows an adult stand-in.  We know this because it is much more muscular than that of then teenager, Corey Feldman.  Stunt doubles have always been part of movies but for an arm!!

22. Was Vern Bending The Truth?

Image source / TheFWNear the beginning of the movie, Vern is described as burying and then losing a quart jar of pennies 'at the beginning of the school year' and searching for it for the last 9 months. The story takes place on the weekend of Labor Day so that description would indicate Vern did not start looking for the missing trove until early December!

23. Gordie Must Be Psychic

Image source / YARN MemesAt one point in the movie, Gordie states that Billy and Charlie were playing mailbox baseball with Ace and Eyeball.   If Gordie was with his friends the whole time then how would he know this?  Yet another discrepancy that hasn't gone unnoticed by super fans.

24. Gordie's Body Contains No Blood!

Image source / V's ReadsAs the boys rush over to Gordie who has passed out, there is a notable absence of blood on Gordie's white briefs.  This is despite him having just removed his bloody hands from his crotch after ripping the leech off himself.  This is a little too far fetched to be believable.

25. It's Daylight But No, It's Not

Image source / InsiderNear the end, adult Gordie's voice says that they arrived at Castle Rock just past 5 am on Sunday morning (September 6 1959), the day before Labor Day and it's daylight.   That being so, how can that be fathomed out.  In no place in Oregon, on that date, is there any daylight at that time.

26. Connections To Shawshank Redemption

Image source / IMDBAs much as 'Stand by Me' had a massive impact on the careers of all those involved in the movie, it also changed things for writer Stephen King.  The movie is based on King’s story 'The Body', taken from his 1982 collection, 'Different Seasons' – which also features the story that we now know was adapted in the 1994 blockbuster, 'The Shawshank Redemption'.

27.  The Leech Scene Really Happened To Stephen King

Image source / ZimbioStephen King has confirmed that one major sequence in 'Stand By Me' and 'The Body' is based on his own childhood experience.  When the boys go swimming in a pool in the woods, only to find themselves covered in leeches, the shock of this causes Gordie to faint.  This is what really happened to the author!

28. Phoenix Was ‘A Total Wreck’ After Filming

Image source / Slash Film

River Phoenix, who had suffered childhood trauma in his off-screen life, burst into tears for real when shooting the scene and struggled to regain his composure once the scene was over.  The young actor said that he identified so much with his character, that if he didn’t have his family to go back to, he would have needed to see a psychiatrist.

29. The Cigarettes Contained Cabbage

Image source / AmazonAccording to Corey Feldman, the other young actors and himself were given imitation cigarettes made from cabbage leaves.  This was because the director, Rob Reiner, had campaigned for anti-smoking laws in California.'  All the boys remarked that they tasted awful!

30. Michael Jackson was Approached For The Soundtrack

Image source / DAR.comStand by Me is set in 1959 and uses music that is appropriate to the era.  The filmmakers were hoping to get the biggest pop star of the time, Michael Jackson, for the opening sound track, using one of his many hits, but decided to stick with the fifties theme in the end.

31. Both Sean Astin And Ethan Hawke Were Considered For The Movie

image source: comicbook.com

It must be a pretty tough job to get the right child actors for a movie like this, and the leads weren't the very first choice for these characters. Sean Astin - who had appeared with Corey Feldman in The Goonies - was considered, as was Ethan Hawke who had starred with River Phoenix in Explorers.

32. The Studio Pulled The Plug - 3 Days Before Shooting Began!

image source: IMDb.com

The film was originally backed by the studio Embassy International, who were then bought out by Colombia Pictures. Unfortunately, Colombia Pictures weren't fussed about making this movie - so they pulled the plug. The producer then covered the entire budget himself to make sure the movie was made!

33. The First Time The Actors Saw The Body Was That Scene In The Movie

image source: reelclub.wordpress.com

The actors' reactions to seeing the dead body they'd been looking for, for the very first time, are genuine. The first time they saw the dead body was exactly when their characters see it in the movie - so what we see is their genuine reaction. They hadn't been allowed to see 'the body' before that scene.

34. Stand By Me Was Jerry O'Connell's Wife's Favorite Movie Growing Up

image source: entertainmenttonight.com

The child actor ended up marrying fellow actress Rebecca Romijin when he grew up, and it turns out that here favorite movie when she was a kid was Stand By Me. She even had posters of it in her room, not knowing that one of the kids she didn't know would grow up to be her husband!

35. The Crew Built A Pool Actually In The Woods For The Leech Scene

image source: zimbio.com

The crew took great care not to make the child actors go in a real pond with real leeches, of course - but the fact they built a pool 'set' in the middle of the forest did mean that the guys were sharing the water with nature - by the point of filming, the pool had filled with bugs, leaves and worms!

36. Rob Reiner Made The Change To The Name

image source: ericarobynreads.com

As we know, the original short story the movie is based on by Stephen King is called The Body. Not a bad name for a story, but for a film, it sounds a bit ominous - and Reiner suggested the name change to Stand By Me, knowing he wanted to use that title song for the movie.

37. And Made Gordie The Focus Character Instead Of All 4 Of Them

image source: looper.com

Another change Reiner wanted to make was the focus character. In Stephen King's story, the four viewpoints of each character are split equally, so there's no real 'main' character. But for the movie, Reiner wanted one of the boys to be the main character - and he wanted that boy to be Gordie.

38. Richard Dreyfuss Was Only Fourth Choice To Play Adult Gordie

image source: IMDb.com

The narration makes all the difference in a movie like this, and we know that Richard Dreyfuss provided the adult voice for Gordie that guided us through the movie. But he wasn't first choice - he wasn't even second choice! There was three other actors considerd before him.

39. They Even Had Other Actors Record The Part - Then Changed Their Minds

image source: outsider.com

The very first actor to be cast as grown up Gordie was David Dukes, who got so far as to even record his lines in the studio for the film's narration. But it was then decided that his voice wasn't quite right for the part, and two other actors - Ted Bessell and Michael McKean - were tried, until Richard Dreyfuss nailed it.

40. You Can Even See David Dukes In The Truck Scene!

image source: reddit.com

Because actor David Dukes had got so far as to shoot some scenes, there's even a movie error where you can see actor Dukes sitting in the truck, which is later changed to actor Richard Dreyfuss. You can clearly see the man in the truck is a completely different actor.

41. There Were A Ton Of Pranks On Set

image source: theguardian.com

You'd be disappointed if there weren't, based on the fact this is a kid's movie with child actors! Apparently the child actors got into all sorts of trouble on set, playing pranks on each other, including covering Keifer Sutherland's car in mud and throwing furniture into a pool.

42. The Kids Accidentally Ate Marijuana Cookies

image source: reddit.com

The cast and crew went to a fair during one of their days off, and while child actors buying cookies doesn't seem too weird, it turned out that the cookies actually contained marijuana. The adult crew members found Jerry O'Connell crying because of the drug's effects!

43. The Actors Were Exactly Like Their Characters

image source: IMDb.com

Playing their roles in this movie was apparently very easy for these child actors, because they were all exactly like their roles. Wil Weaton, playing Gordie, admits he was awkward and shy. Jerry was the comic relief - even now in his adult years - and River Phoenix was of course very cool. Corey was just as angry as his character, too, because of struggles in his personal life.

44. Director Rob Reiner Made The Boys Cry For Real In The Train Scene

image source: youtube.com

During that terrifying scene when the train comes up behind Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell, the director was getting frustrated because they didn't look scared enough. He ended up losing his temper and shouting at the two actors, which inevitably made them cry - which had the desired effect for the scene!

45. The Vomit In The 'Larda**' Story Is Actually Cottage Cheese And Blueberries

image source: entertainmentweekly.com

Gordie's campfire story of a boy named Larda** lets us watch a particularly repulsive pie-eating contest scene in which there's a pretty big chain reaction of vomiting. The 'vomit' used in this scene was actually made using cottage cheese and blueberries! Which is enough to put you off both for life.

46. Kiefer Sutherland Was Actually A Bully

image source: IMDb.com

Okay, so we don't mean he was a terrible person in real life, but he went the 'method actor' route for his role as bully Ace Merill. To get into the mind of his character and make the other boy actors more scared of them, he would pick on them off-camera as well as on!

47. Jerry O'Connell Was Genuinely Scared Of Sutherland

image source: pinterest.com

It's no surprise that Sutherland's methods would scare at least one of the other child actors, and that's what happened with Jerry O'Connell. As the youngest cast member, and also new to the acting world, he was genuinely scared of Keifer Sutherland - while the other boys weren't too fussed.

48. Stephen King Is A Huge Fan Of This Movie

image source: npr.com

Stephen King's books have always been a favorite to turn into movies or TV show adaptions - but that doesn't mean the author is always a fan of how they turn out. He famously didn't like Kubrick's adaption of 'The Shining', for instance. But this movie? He loved it.

49. And The First Screening Broke Him

image source: zimbio.com

Not only did King enjoy the movie, but he was pretty emotional when he'd finished watching it. King was shown the movie privately, and when it finished, he had to excuse himself for a short time because he was emotionally overcome. When he came back, he said it was the "best film" made out of anything he's written. How's that for a compliment?

50. The Film Was A Rare Case Of Commercial And Critical Success

image source: dailymail.com

Usually when you have a film that's a huge commercial success, there are critics ready to drag it down - but Stand By Me was a hit across the board, which is surprising seeing as it was a basic kid's movie - about kids - and was rated R. But everyone loved it - no surprise there.