WSo8M: (6) Stand By Me v. (11) Say Anything

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Lincoln Hawk Conference, Castle Rock regionals:

(6) Stand By Me


(11) Say Anything

[Guest themetfairy]

Tough call.

Stand By Me, but only by a hair.

[Guest AG/DC]

The all-sentimental matchup.

[metirish]

My nightmare match up...damn you Mr.Seeding man.

[soupcan]

Stand By Me.

No contest.

[Fman99]

Never a big fan of "Say Anything." I am having a much tougher time with Spalsh v Feltch.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't remember "Say Anything" at all. But I remember really enjoying Stand By Me, so it gets my vote.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

My initial issue with Say Anything was Cusack obviously being in his early 30s playing a 18 year old.

I also had some problems maintaining my identity with the Cusack character when he chose that boring Peter Gabriel song as if it were cool. I mean, come on Lloyd. I was with you for a while there.

Stand By Me really jolted me espewcially the first tme through. We never found a dead body or anything but my friends and I at that age experienced the same forbidden freedom by walking the LIRR tracks. All the way to Northport!

[Fman99]

I also had some problems maintaining my identity with the Cusack character when he chose that boring Peter Gabriel song as if it were cool. I mean, come on Lloyd. I was with you for a while there.

The South Park send up of that scene was hysterical, one of their best moments...

[bebe's house, night. Stan walks towards the fromt door, looks around, and knocks three times. No response, so he knocks again. The door opens and Bebe appears]

Stan: Bebe, you need to go talk to Wendy for me right now! [bebe rolls her eyes and sighs] All this time I've been trying to have my friends do all the talking for me! Now I realize I need her friends to do it! Tell her I love her!

Bebe: Stan, why don't you show her you love her? If you really want Wendy back, try doing the most romantic thing you can think of.

Stan: [thinks] Okay, so what's the most romantic thing I can think of?
Bebe: If you really want a shot at getting her back, stand outside her window, hold a boombox over your head, and play [closes her eyes] Peter Gabriel.

[Wendy's house, night. Stan stands on the lawn with a boombox, looking up at Wendy's window. He presses the play button and holds up the boombox. Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" plays from somewhere in the middle. Wendy appears at the window and looks down, her jaw dropping. Stan holds the boombox higher, keeping Wendy's gaze on him. Wendy covers her mouth as Token appears next to her at the window. Stan's jaw drops. Wendy leaves the window. Token unleashes the curtain ties, and the curtains close upon the window]

[metirish]

Lloyd gets credit for predicting Mixed martial arts as the sport of the future, still I voted for Stand By Me.

[dgwphotography]

this is one of the toughest choices for me so far, but Stand By Me wins

[Willets Point]

Tough choice, but the hawtness of Ione Skye may tip the scales.

[Frayed Knot]

Every time I see 'Stand By Me' I wish I were 12 again as I very much identified with the whole first time exploring the area beyond your boundries thing. I didn't grow up nearly as rural as the kids in the flick but there were some undeveloped land around and we used to do some of that hang out in the woods overnight stuff too.

Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood


Saw 'Say Anything' just once (fairly recently) and didn't think it did enough to distinguish itself from the myriad of coming-of-age flicks.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Guest

[Guest AG/DC]

Cusack was 22 when Say Anything was shot in 1988, playing a 19-year-old high school senior who lost a year due to international travel. That's not as big a stretch as some. Judd Nelson was, like 26 when The Breakfast Club was shot. Matthew Broderick was 23 and Alan Ruck 28 or 29 when Ferris Bueller was shot.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

In the minority here. I really like Say Anything. Even the minor characters are pretty interesting. Remember to friend who wrote 500 songs about Joe, her cad boyfriend?

Stand By Me was obviously very good, too. I didn't realize it was a Stephen King story. Might be the best adaptation of his work, though Dead Zone is really good, too.

[Guest AG/DC]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: In the minority here. I really like Say Anything. Even the minor characters are pretty interesting. Remember to friend who wrote 500 songs about Joe, her cad boyfriend?

Lily Taylor, supporting player in lotsa Cusack work. His sister too.

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Stand By Me was obviously very good, too. I didn't realize it was a Stephen King story. Might be the best adaptation of his work, though Dead Zone is really good, too.

Certainly there's a lot of wonderful stuff here. (See above.) I'm kinda unfairly resistant to movies that take their names from golden oldies. I also don't like the Dreyfuss narration that much. Dreyfuss was transitioning from American Treasure to Annoying Smug Jerk at this point in his career.

I guess the Lloyd Dobler Effect doesn't work as well with others as it does with me. Obviously the boombox scene was written to melt the girlies' hearts, and it's become a source of much parody among comedy writers (mostly boys), but it must've worked at some level if it's become so institutionalized.

It's got that same ambiguity at the end that The Graduate had. You don't know where they're gonna end up or if they'll last at all, but they have a chance because they escaped the corruption that has tainted the previous generation. Good luck on that lasting but for now, they're free.

Anyfarts, I went Lloyd.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Guest

[bmfc1]

Lloyd Dobler: What I really want to do with my life - what I want to do for a living - is I want to be with your daughter. I'm good at it.

Tough one but I like Say Anything better. Maybe it's my bias toward John Cusack.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

There the boombox scene ... and then there's Dave Stoller serenading the sorority house. Camon!

[soupcan]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Stand By Me was obviously very good, too. I didn't realize it was a Stephen King story. Might be the best adaptation of his work, though Dead Zone is really good, too.

How about 'The Shawshank Redemption'? Also Stephen King, also from the same collection of novellas (Different Seasons) that 'Stand By Me' was from.

Also in that collection was a story made into a bad movie - 'Apt Pupil'.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I forgot about Shawshank.

Back to Say Anything for a moment. The story line about the father never sat well with me. The DVD has additional scenes, and there's one from the Dad's trial that paints a softer picture. He's still guilty, but it's obvious he cares for the seniors in the home very much. Makes him a little less of a villian.

[Vic Sage]

i love both these movies.

I went with Lloyd.
And Jon, about that Gabriel song... bite me.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Stand By Me made recall my long lost childhood and wish that I could return to it. Say Anything was enjoyable, but it didn't resonate with me like Stand By Me.


Edited for typo.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Guest

[MFS62]

Standin' by that movie.

Later

[Theoldmole]

This is a tough one. I love anything with Cusack (either Cusack). But I went with Stand By Me, maybe because I just watched it with my grandson -- but i think I would have picked it anyway.

[Fman99]

Lest we forget John Cusack was in both of these films, in "Stand by Me" portraying in flashback sequences the older deceased brother of Wil Wheaton's character.

[Gwreck]

Wow. I would have expected Say Anything in a blowout.

Iconic scene that you only wish you could've thought of yourself; superior use of music. Maybe it's boring now that it's been played to death but the Gabriel song is fantastic.

[Guest AG/DC]

It's iconic and Ionic.

[soupcan]

But is it ironic?

[Guest themetfairy]

Only to Alanis Morrisette.

[seawolf17]

Don't you think?