“You can’t just write a sequel to Stand by Me.”
“It’s
my blog. I can write whatever I want.”
“But
the original movie isn’t exactly open-ended,” Katelin argues. “What could your
sequel possibly be about?”
“Well,
the first movie is about four boys on a quest to see a dead body,” I say. “My
sequel is about the two of us on a quest to see the town in which the original
movie was filmed. It’s meta.”
“Do
you even know what that means?”
“Oooh,
a playground!”
I
run over to the childless jungle gym and start climbing up a web of ropes. We
are in the Brownsville Town Park, in Brownsville, Oregon—the town where much of
Stand by Me was filmed. After
watching the Rob Reiner-directed film earlier this week, we decided to take the
ninety minute drive from Portland to see the small town in person. We are far
from the first people to visit Brownsville solely because of the 1986 film. The
town openly welcomes fans, taking pride in being the setting for the classic
coming of age story. The historical museum offers two different brochures that
map out the filming locations, one in English, and one in Japanese. It turns
out that the film has a huge cult following in Japan and tourists from the far
away country visit Brownsville on a regular enough basis to warrant a map in
their home language. I grab a copy of both versions, though Katelin and I use
the English edition as we explore the town.
First,
we checked out the iconic steel bridge that the four main characters walked
across as they left their hometown on their adventure. Our second stop is here,
at the park, where the classic pie eating scene was filmed. After about twenty
minutes, I wear out all my options on the playground, so we continue on our
journey. We take some back roads, passing Gordie’s House on our way to the site
of the tree house. The house is gone, but the tree remains. It stands tall on a
vacant lot, which has a sign that reads “NO TRESSPASSING.” We think about
ignoring the sign, just as the boys did as they jumped the fence at the
junkyard, but a small makeshift shelter gives us concern. Constructed from long
pine branches, it sits not far from the tree, and doesn’t seem to fit in among
the new houses that have recently sprouted up on the adjacent lots.
“Do you think there’s
somebody living in there?” Katelin asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “Corey
Feldman.”
“You mean Teddy Duchamp?”
“No. I mean Corey Feldman!”
We continue through the
heart of downtown Brownsville, which hasn’t changed much since Stand by Me was filmed here. In fact, if
all the cars were removed, you’d be hard-pressed to know what decade it is. The
main drag still has the look and feel of the 1950’s. Even the sign for the “Blue
Point Diner” continues to hang from the side of a building which has since
become the Brownsville Saloon.
On our way out of town we
stop for lunch at Kirk’s Ferry Trading Post. “What brings you two to
Brownsville?” The young waiter asks as he hands me my beer.
“We watched Stand by Me the other night and decided
to take a road trip to see the town,” I say.
“Speaking of Stand by Me,” he says, “have you ever
seen The Cable Guy?”
“With Jim Carrey?”
“Yeah, that one. My
father played the Blue Knight in that movie. The one Jim Carrey battles against
at the renaissance restaurant.”
The waiter goes on to tell us more about
jousting and how he grew up performing at amusement parks.
After an absolutely
amazing cheeseburger, we hit the road and head for home. “This is the perfect ending
for my sequel,” I say.
“What’s that?” Katelin asks.
“Well, in Stand by Me, the movie ends with the
boys finding a dead body. The sequel ends with us finding the son of the man
who played the Blue Knight in The Cable
Guy!”
Katelin laughs and all I
can think is: I never had any friends later on like the one I had when I was 32.
Jesus, does anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment