The Writer Quotes in Stand by Me (1986)

The Writer: [voiceover] It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

[last lines]

The Writer: [typing on computer] I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?

The Writer: [referring to Chris] Although I hadn't seen him in more than ten years, I know I'll miss him forever.

The Writer: It was weird to me how, then, Teddy could care so much about his father, who practically tried to kill him. And I couldn't give a shit about my old man, and he hadn't laid a hand on me since I was three! And that was for eating the bleach under the sink.

Milo: Chopper! Sic'em, boy!

The Writer: Now he said, "Sic'em, boy!" But what I heard was, "Chopper! Sic balls!"

Gordie: [Chopper turns out to be a small golden retriever] *That's* Chopper?

Teddy: Ha ha ha! Come on, Choppy! Bite my ass, Choppy! Bite my ass! Bite shit. Come on, Choppy! Sic balls, Choppy!

Milo: Stop teasing that dog, you hear me! Stop teasing him! Sonny, I'm gonna beat your ass, teasing my dog like that!

Teddy: Yeah? I'd like to see you climb over this fence and get me, fat ass!

Milo: Don't you call me that, you little tin weasel peckerwood looney's son.

Teddy: What did you call me?

Milo: I know who you are. You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a looney. A looney up in the nuthouse in Togus. He took your ear and he put it to a stove and burnt it off.

Teddy: My father stormed the beach at Normandy.

Milo: He's crazier than a shithouse rat. No wonder you're acting the way you are with a looney for a father.

Teddy: You call my dad a looney again, I'll kill you.

Milo: Looney, looney, looney!

Teddy: I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!

The Writer: At the beginning of the school year, Vern had buried a quart jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mom cleaned out his room and threw away the map. Vern had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. You didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The Writer: Vern didn't just mean being off limits inside the junkyard, or fudging on our folks, or going on a hike up the railroad to Harlow. He meant those things, but it seems to me now it was more and that we all knew it. Everything was there and around us. We knew exactly who we were and exactly where we were going. It was grand.

The Writer: The freight woke up the other guys and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell them about the deer. But I didn't. That was the one thing I kept to myself. I've never spoken or written about it until just now.

[first lines]

The Writer: [voiceover] I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959-a long time ago, but only if you measure in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock. There were only twelve hundred and eighty-one people. But to me, it was the whole world.

The Writer: The kid wasn't sick. The kid wasn't sleeping. The kid was dead.

The Writer: The train had knocked Ray Brower out of his Keds the same way it had knocked the life out of his body.

The Writer: [voiceover] Around this time, Charlie and Billy were playing "Mailbox Baseball" with Ace and Eyeball.

[cuts to Ace hitting mailboxes with a bat in a moving car]

Ace: [Ace hits a wooden mailbox] Ahh shit! I'm out! Goddammit!

Eyeball: You shouldn't have gone for a wooden one. Huh-huh!

Ace: [Stares at Eyeball intensely] Why don't you tell me something I don't know, asshole?

[Hands bat to Billy]

Ace: Billy, you're up.

Billy Tessio: Nah, you guys win. I don't wanna play no more.

Eyeball: Hey, you can't quit! We've only played three innings! That would be a non-official game!

Charlie Hogan: Hey, Ace. Uh, we...

[Billy nudges him in the arm]

Ace: What's with you homos? You guys've been acting psycho all day.

[Long pause]

Ace: What is it?

Billy Tessio: It's nothin'! It's nothin'! It's nothin', right?

[Looks over at Charlie who concurs]

Ace: Then, if you gentlemen don't mind, I'd like to finish this game before I start collecting my goddamn Social Security, okay? You're up Billy. Move it!

Billy Tessio: All right! Gimmie this fuckin' thing.

[grabs bat and assumes batter's position]

Ace: Let's play ball!

Eyeball: Yeah!

The Writer: You know how you can tell when you're really getting old?

Father James Lavelle: How?

The Writer: No-one ever says the word 'death' around you any more.

Fico Fellove: [preparing his gun]

The Writer: Can I offer a serious thought from someone who is never serious?

Fico Fellove: No.

The Writer: Then that was it.

The Writer: [indicating Fico] When I grow up I want to be just like him.

Aurora Fellove: Why?

The Writer: Because, he never pays.

Fico Fellove: What illegal gambling?

Bola de Nieve: We caught two stage hands playing cards.

Fico Fellove: And that's illegal?

Miliciana Muñoz: Oh, it's worse than that. It is a dangerous distraction to the masses.

Bola de Nieve: "The opium of the people." Marx said it.

The Writer: I thought Marx said religion was the opiate of the people.

Miliciana Muñoz: Marx said that too.

The Writer: Carl or Groucho?

The Writer: Semantics, my friend, is made up of endings.

The Writer: Did you know that Cuba is half white, half black, and half Chinese?

Waitress in NY: That's three halves.

The Writer: Everything is coming in threes these days, even halves. Which half are you?

Waitress in NY: Owner.