Stand by Me

Based on the Stephen King short story "The Body," Rob Reiner 's easygoing nostalgia piece is set in Castle Rock, Oregon in the early 1950s. A quartet of boys, inseparable friends all, set out in search of a dead body that one of the boys claims he's seen. The foursome consists of intellectual Gordie ( Wil Wheaton ), born leader Chris ( River Phoenix ), emotionally disturbed Teddy ( Corey Feldman ), and chubby hanger-on Vern ( Jerry O'Connell ). The boys' adventures en route to the elusive Body are colored by the personal pressures brought to bear on all of them by the adult world. Richard Dreyfuss , playing the grown-up Gordie, narrates the film, while Kiefer Sutherland dominates every scene he's in as a brutish high school bully. — Hal Erickson