Stand by Me (1986)

The proof that King writes boyhood better than almost anyone. Rob Reiner turned the 1982 novella The Body into a story of four boys from the small town of Castle Rock on a walk to find a body in the summer of 1959, and the friendship on the way matters far more than what they find at the end. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell talk like real friends, crude and loyal in the same breath. The screenplay earned an Oscar nomination, and King himself called it the best film made from anything he'd written. If you only try one entry here, start with this.