It’s challenging to replicate the charm of “Stand By Me” because of how Rob Reiner and screenwriters Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans genuinely captured the details of childhood. They didn’t treat their child characters as children — they were adults, making their own decisions and acting upon them. Both “Stand By Me” and its source inspiration mainly featured the overall journey of one character, Gordie, as a writer narrating a fond memory from when he was 12.
While “Stand By Me” is a pretty faithful adaptation of “The Body,” there’s one scene toward the end of the film that the team changed to fit the narrative better. In the book, when the boys finally discover the corpse of the boy who was run over by a train, they face off with a gang of older boys who also want to take the body back. As per King’s novella, Chris picks up a gun and threatens the others to leave, but in the film, Gordie picks up the gun instead. The story has always been about Gordie’s journey, and that’s what the director wanted every moment in the film to reflect.
