My Teenage Crush Was Mystifying and All-Consuming. Decades Later, I Finally Understand Why.

When he filmed Stand by Me, the 1986 Rob Reiner adaptation of Stephen King’s novella The Body, River Phoenix was only 14. Why did we rate the boys at our school against Chris Chambers, and find them all lacking? At the end, when Chris Chambers walks off the screen and vanishes, as Richard Dreyfuss’ voice-over describes the character’s heroic death, I cried and cried. Then, one reviewer wrote: “river phoenix is so sincere & gentle…it’s like there’s a wall he’s always able to break through to provide a sense of comfort.”This comment made me realize something. But as the film unfolds, Reiner alternates this joshing and arm-punching with sincere, deeply felt scenes between Wheaton’s character Gordie and Phoenix’s Chambers.