4K Ultra HD SteelBook Review: STAND BY ME

Home » 4K Ultra HD SteelBook Review: STAND BY ME

Dec 13, 2023 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Stand By Me is a coming of age story based on Stephen King’s Novella “The Body”. It’s the summer of 1959 in the small town of Castle Rock, Oregon, population 1281—actually make that 1280. 12-year-old Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell) has just overheard his older brother and his friend talking about how the body of a boy who had gone missing may have been found in the woods 20 miles away. So Vern gathers up his friends—Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton), Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) and Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman)—to head out on a trek to find the body first. This becomes one last summer bonding trip for the friends before they start junior high in the fall, and everything changes. Along the way, they talk about life, learn more about each other’s hardships, share some fun stories, and face some wild obstacles—like running from junkyard dog, outrunning a train, swimming in a leech-filled swamp, getting harassed by bullies, and more. What do they hope to find or learn when they reach the body? Or is this trip just an excuse to spend time on what will ultimately be the best friendships of their lives?

The story is told from the perspective of an adult Gordie, who’s now a writer (Richard Dreyfuss) working on his memoir. When he reads about the death of his childhood best friend, he starts to recount this story of the best summer of his life. Adult Gordie’s narration can be heard throughout the film.

I hadn’t seen Stand By Me in decades, but it still holds up quite well. While the period setting grounds the story to a particular era, once the boys set off on their trek, it feels timeless. The friendship these boys have feels very natural and real, and it’s the kind of friendship everyone wishes they had growing up. The guys often razz one another (especially Vern as he’s the “fat” one) but it’s never mean-spirited and more out of love. While some of the language would be deemed unacceptable by today’s PC police, it feels very appropriate to the era.

The tone of the movie constantly shifts between drama and comedy. You’ll be laughing one moment, but then the talk between the boys starts to get real. The film makes use of flashbacks to explore the backstories of the characters. Gordie is the smartest of the group, and wants to be a writer, but doesn’t really get any support or encouragement from his parents. His older brother Denny (John Cusack) was a high school football star who died in a car accident at the prime of his life. Gordie’s parents still haven’t gotten over the loss of their favorite son. Teddy’s father is a vet, who hasn’t coped well since coming back from the war. He gets drunk a lot, and once even tried to burn Teddy’s ear off. This has left Teddy physically scarred and a bit messed up himself. Chris is the leader of the group, and his brother, “Eyeball” (Bradley Gregg) is part of the local gang of hooligans led by Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland), so it seems likely that he’ll also wind up down the same criminal path. Finally the youngest of the group is Vern, who’s a bit overweight and timid, and often the one who gets picked on the most. His brother Billy (Casey Siemaszko) is also part of the gang.

Stand By Me is a very entertaining movie, with a stellar cast, all of whom have gone on to bigger roles. Sadly, River Phoenix’s career ended way too soon. But you can see how all of these young actors were destined to be stars, bringing both the humor and the emotion to these roles. The film is rated R, and that’s likely due to language—these kids are constantly cursing.

Sony had previously released Stand By Me on 4K disc in 2019, but this new SteelBook release now offers the film with Dolby Vision color grading in addition to the original HDR10. The supplements and included Blu-ray disc appear to be the same as the standard 4K release. The picture quality is generally quite good, with a beautiful and natural looking color palette, nice detail in close-ups, and a natural, grainy film feel to it. That said, the grain does get a bit aggressive at times, but I never found it too distracting, and this is certainly the best this film has ever looked. The release includes an Atmos soundtrack. While I never really found it overly immersive, it does bring in the sounds of nature, and roars as the boys are being chased by the train. Dialogue is clear throughout, and the film’s amazing soundtrack really shines.

The 4K disc includes 6 minutes of deleted scenes, while the accompanying Blu-ray disc (which is identical to the 2011 25th Anniversary release) includes an entertaining picture-in-picture retrospective commentary with the director and two of the stars, an older audio-only commentary from the director, an entertaining making-of documentary, and a music video.

This release features beautiful new SteelBook packaging, which can be seen below. The 4K and Blu-ray discs reside on the right side of the case. A J-card is wrapped around the back with the content details. Unfortunately there is no digital copy included (the previous 4K and Blu-ray releases didn’t include one either).

What’s Included:

Film: (1:28:34)

2160p / Widescreen 1.85:1
Dolby Vision / HDR10
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible), English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Mono DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Blu-ray:

1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Original Mono, French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Extras:
There is no new bonus material included here—the contents are identical to the previous standard 4K release from 2019.

Deleted & Alternate Scenes (6:17)
Collection of 8 short scenes. These are not as cleaned up as the film presentation, and some include temp narration, but it’s nice to see them included. Play All, or select from:
- End of Scene 6 ‘Through the Fence’ (0:18)
- Scenes 8-12 ‘Boys Get Ready to Leave’ (2:36)
- Scene 40 ‘Am I Weird?’ (0:42)
- Scene 40 ‘Chris’ Final Speech’ (0:31)
- Scene 45 ‘Train Trestle’ (1:25)
- Scene 49 ‘Smell Hit the Crowd’ (0:11)
- Scene 94 ‘Goodbye Looks’ (0:26)
- Scene 98 ‘Ending’ (0:47)

Blu-ray:
This disc appears to be identical to the 2011 25th Anniversary release

25 Years Later: A Picture-in-Picture Commentary Retrospective (1:32:42)
Originally recorded for the 2011 25th anniversary Blu-ray release, Director Rob Reiner reunites with stars Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton to discuss the film. After the guys catch up with one another, they sit down to watch the movie, providing lots of fun and interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the production. The participants appear in a window in the bottom right corner of the movie. It’s a very entertaining commentary track, and nice to actually be able to see the participants—I wish more films would do these picture-in-picture tracks.
Audio Commentary (1:28:44)
Originally recorded for the 2000 special edition DVD release, director Rob Reiner provides some interesting behind-the-scenes information about the production. Some of it is repetitive to the newer retrospective commentary, but still worth a listen.
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand By Me (36:46)
Originally created for the 2000 special edition DVD release, the cast and crew look back at the making of the film, discussing the story, characters, and more, and sharing stories about the production. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with author Stephen King, director Rob Reiner, and stars Richard Dreyfuss (“Narrator”), Wil Wheaton (“Gordie Lachance”), Corey Feldman (“Teddy Duchamp”), Jerry O’Connell (“Vern Tessio”) & Kiefer Sutherland (“Ace Merrill”). Presented in 4:3 Full Frame format.
Stand By Me Music Video (3:21)
Music video for Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”. Presented in 4:3 Full Frame format.
Previews
Trailers for Get Low (2:11), Country Strong (2:37), Taxi Driver (3:10), and The Green Hornet (2:38) play back-to-back.
MovieIQ
When enabled, a Movie IQ icon appears on the screen, allowing the viewer to click to view factoids about each scene.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

Stand By Me has a great blend of drama, humor and nostalgia, and features an amazingly talented young cast. The film holds up quite well over 35 years later. Sony’s 4K SteelBook release doesn’t include any new bonus material compared to the previous 4K release, but does offer a new Dolby Vision HDR option. And compared to the previous Blu-ray release, the additional bonus material is 6 minutes of deleted scenes. That said, the SteelBook version offers quality picture and sound, and beautiful new collectable packaging. If you don’t already own this movie, this is certainly the version to buy!