Stephen King and Rob Reiner, 1986

The film did extremely well in theaters. With a budget of $8,000,000, Stand by Me has grossed over $52,000,000. It has recieved a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an 8.1/10 on IMDb, and a 4/5 for Common Sense Media. 

It's accolades include:

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Raynold Gideon & Bruce A. Evans)

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Rob Reiner)

WGA Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Raynold Gideon & Bruce A. Evans)

Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama

Golden Globe Award for Best Director (Rob Reiner)

AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: "Lollipop" – Nominated[13]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated[14]

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated[15]

80's films

A review of the film in 1986 offers that Stand by Me was rated "R" for all the "dirty talk" throughout the film, which I find interesting because I think if the film were made today, it would be rated "PG-13" instead. Society has become desensitized to swearing and it is much more prevalent today. 

Goodman's review is general, as is probably meant to be a funny, tongue-in-cheek way, rather than a scholarly analysis of the film. He mostly speaks in summary, but it's interesting how even though swearing was deemed too inappropriate for children, Goodman describes Vern as "fat and a little slow, mentally and physically," which would certainly cause an uproar if written in 2017. The trope for a fat kid being stupid is prevalent in the 80's, and is often used to bring comedic elements into the film.

Amongst other 80's movies, such as Sixteen Candles, The Goonies, and Dirty Dancing, it is unique in it's horror aspect, but does not quite belong with King's other horror works due to the buddy-comedy elements. Stand by Me is a genre of its own. 

The partnership between Stephen King's darkness and Rob Reiner's childhood wholesomeness creates a masterpiece of pinkie swears and campfire stories with the power and depth that comes with the character's abusive families and the looming future coming at them like a speeding train. This complication of emotion and tone must also be considered when thinking about the title change from "The Body" to Stand by Me. "The Body, the title of the Stephen King novella on which the movie is based, is far more evocative, both of the story and its mood. “Stand by Me” makes the movie sound like just another fuzzy Hollywood movie branded with a boomer-friendly song title" (Hassenger). Although the tone is remarkably changed from the dark to the light, I do not think that this was a wrong choice, as the movie is not about the body itself, but about the boys that find it and the choices they must make when deciding about the future and making adult decisions. 

Hassenger, Jesse. "Both Nostalgia and Darkness are at Hand in 'Stand by Me'" PopMatters. 24 Mar. 2011.

Goodman, Walter. "Rob Reiner's Stand by Me." The New York Times. The New York Times, 8 Aug. 1986.