A film about middle-aged men and their mid-life crisis' that appeals to children of all ages. I watched City Slickers for the first time since I was a kid and was surprised to see how much time was spent dealing with the 39-year-old trio's dissatisfaction with their lives. All I could remember was the baby cow Norman, yee-haws and Curly being cool as hell! But I guess having a plot and a meaning doesn't hurt!
Billy Crystal plays a middle aged radio ads salesman who is bored with his mundane life. His friends, one of the robbers in Home Alone and Crystal's best friend in When Harry Met Sally, decide the best birthday gift is to go on a two week holiday in the wild west driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. There they meet a father and son dentist, two brothers who make ice-cream and the only woman in the bunch. The cowboy to take them on their trip is Curly, who teaches them that the meaning of life is his finger finding that one thing.
The king of Oscar presenting is of course hilarious with his sarcasm and cynical sense of humour, and Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby make up a really fun trio. Not to mention Crystal's chemistry with Jack Palance as the legendary cowboy Curly, who oozes intimidation in a contest for the coolest cowboy in cinema. Plus the adorable Norman - I still get scared when he's stuck in the water despite having seen the outcome many times - and Jake Gyllenhaal's first film!
Billy Crystal co-wrote the script but didn't receive on-screen credit. The phone-call from his mother re-enacting his birth on his birthday and the story about his first Yankee game are both true.
Rick Moranis was cast in a major role but left the project due to creative differences.
Bruno Kirby was extremely allergic to horses. Prior to each day of filming involving a horse, he required an injection of allergy medication.
Daniel Stern declined riding lessons in order to better convey his character's inexperience at horse riding.
Crystal liked his horse Beach Nut so much, he bought him.
They used 6 calves during the birth scene and Crystal paid for them all to live long lives on a farm.
So I'm a bit behind again, but I was preparing for a job interview so I think I can be forgiven. But as I am exactly a week behind, let's just forget that week ever happened and start again from today. Yay.
Ok playlist time and this week it's one of my favourite movie soundtracks Empire Records:
1. Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You
2. The Cranberries - Liar
3. The Martinis - Free
4. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Crazy Life
5. The Innocence Mission - Bright As Yellow
6. Better Than Ezra - Circle Of Friends
7. Ape Hangers - I Don't Want To Live Today
8. Cracker - Whole Lotta Trouble
9. The Meices - Ready, Steady, Go
10. Drill - What You Are
11. Lustre - Nice Overalls
12. Please - Here It Comes Again
13. Evan Dando - The Ballad Of El Goodo
14. Coyote Shivers - Sugarhigh
15. The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon Is Over
1) The Pianist
2) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
3) The Shawshank Redemption
4) Ferris Bueller's Day Off
5) Catch Me If You Can
6) Rear Window
7) Silence Of The Lambs
8) Memento
9) WALL-E
10) American History X
11) The Shining
12) Inception
13) Monty Python And The Holy Grail
14) Snatch
15) One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
The 1986 film follows four best friends as they set off to see the dead body of a local boy who’s been stranded in the woods after a train accident. After Vern overhears his older brother talking about the macabre incident, and delivers the news to the group, they become convinced that they’ll become local heroes for finding the body and take the trip to find the body before the older guys get there. The boys’ journey to the elusive body is coloured by the personal pressures brought to bear on them by the adult world as they share, often painful, experiences. On the 25th anniversary Blu-ray, Stephen King indicated that this was the first successful translation to film of any of his works – and even with the brilliant Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption, I think it remains the best.
It is quickly clear what the rank is amongst the group of friends. Chris (Phoenix) takes on a fatherly role of the group despite his bad reputation, his best friend Gordie (Wheaton) is the sensitive writer who has the best shot at a good future, Vern (O’Connell) is a chubby kid with a heart of gold but a head full of rocks and Teddy (Feldman) with a deformed ear as a result of his ‘looney’ father’s rage, is an eccentric and unpredictable boy destined to follow in his dad’s footsteps. A significant part of the enjoyment of Stand By Me stems from the small group of realistic characters used and the quirks inherent in their behaviour.
In a 2011 interview with NPR, Will Wheaton attributed the film’s success to the director’s casting choices, saying: “Rob Reiner found four young boys who basically were the characters we played. I was awkward and nerdy and shy and uncomfortable in my own skin and really, really sensitive, and River was cool and really smart and passionate and even as that age kind of like a father figure to some of us, Jerry was one of the funniest people I had ever seen in my life, either before or since, and Corey was unbelievably angry and in an incredible amount of pain and had an absolutely terrible relationship with his parents.”
The boys’ courage is tested as they discover that the world outside their clubhouse doors and their secret knocks, is a lot bigger and scarier than they initially realised and that they have been hiding a lot of pain and fear from each other the years. As much as Stand By Me is a coming of age story about a group of boys in dusty Oregon, it’s also a reminder that allowing yourself to be vulnerable to life’s experiences can change your life.
Favourite Scenes:
Train Track:
Chris Crying
Lollipop
Leeches
"I don't shut up, I grow up and when I look at you I throw up"
Interesting Facts:
When filming the train scene, Wheaton and O’Connell didn’t look scared enough; in frustration Rob Reiner yelled at them until they started crying and that’s when they were able to film the scene.
To keep in character while off-camera, Keifer Sutherland often picked on Wheaton, Phoenix, Feldman and O’Connell.
The lead actors weren’t allowed to see Ray Brower until they unveil him on camera to gain the best reaction possible.
Feldman and Reiner tested thirty different laughs before deciding on the one for Teddy.
While practicing his lines, the 11 year old O’Connell was incredibly impressed that he was allowed to swear.
In the scene where Chris breaks down, Reiner asked Phoenix to think of a time in his life when an adult let him down and use it in the scene; upset and crying he had to be comforted by the director afterwards.
At the insistence of avid non-smoker Reiner, the cigarettes smoked by the boys were made from cabbage leaves.
Sutherland claimed in an interview that at one location they bought cookies from a Renaissance Fair which turned out to be pot cookies – two hours later they found O’Connell crying and high on cookies.
