Stand by Me: Home to the Greatest Scene Ever.

'The kid wasn't ill, the kid wasn't pretending, the kid wasn't high, the kids wasn't drunk, the kid wasn't allergic to ketchup, the kid wasn't afraid of John Carpenter films, the kid was dead.' - Gordy LeChance aged 47

Stand By Me is one of the greatest coming of age films of all time. This is fact and cannot be argued with to do so would be to able yourself insane. There is one scene in particular that makes this film stand out, one that is immortalised and made the film iconic. This is of course the leech scene.

Gordy and the gang decide to cut through a forest to save time. They encounter a pond, that they believe to be shallow in which they must wade through to continue to the other side. However it is much deeper then what they think, they fall in, have a joke and a wrestle and it's all very fun. Soon they realise it is infested with leeches a disgusting and scary thought for anyone. They manage to rip them all off of each other's bodies except one. One that has its suction deep in Gordy's LeChancer. As he slowly pulls it out of his bill grundies we see the blood covering his fingers. The laughter from the viewer is silenced as boys and girls alike find it difficult to imagine what that must feel like. UNLESS YOU'VE BEEN THE RAZ!

But on a serious note, this is one of the best scenes in cinema ever. This is also a fact. If we take the scene in isolation, we could watch as a short film and get everything that is happening. The boys are taking a short-cut on an adventure and they face the consequences. It has a beginning, a middle and a bloody end. It has laughter, horror, shock and surprise. It also has some fantastic and insightful dialogue, one in particular I have taken to heart and maybe in the near future should let go:

Chris Chambers  'Come on Teddy, act your age'
Teddy: 'This is my age, I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once!'

Seriously I heard this when I was 12 and I have it tattooed on my soul.