Where was Stand By Me filmed?

There is no other single scene in Stand By Me that’s anywhere near as iconic or instantly recognizable as the so-called Train Dodge scene. Here’s how it plays out.

After a lengthy debate about whether to take a risk and cross a narrow railway bridge or walk an extra 10 miles and go the long way round, the boys decide to choose the fastest route and tackle the bridge.

As Gordie and Vern dawdle across the trestle bridge, with Vern crawling on his hands and knees, the inevitable happens and a train comes roaring round the bend. “TRAIN!” Gordie screams at the top of his lungs, the sound echoing around the valley as the boys begin a frantic dash to the other side of the bridge. Chris and Teddy make it to safety with relative ease, but Gordie has to push a terrified Vern every step of the way, eventually diving off the edge and avoiding being crushed by the narrowest of margins.

As mentioned, this scene wasn’t actually shot in Oregon but at Eagle Mountain Lane in Burney, California — to find it, just search for ‘Bridge from “Stand By Me”’ on Google Maps. It’s over 300 miles from Brownsville to the bridge, and there’s some dirt-road driving involved, but the trek is well worth it for a look at this famous Stand By Me filming location.

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No list of memorable and funny scenes in Stand By Me would be complete without this story tangent that would seem right at home in any gross-out comedy. Even though it’s in no way central to the plot of Stand By Me, it’s just one of those scenes that sticks in the mind long after the film is over.

As the friends sit around a campfire one night during their trek, Gordie relates the story of Lardass Hogan, a kid relentlessly bullied because of his weight. To get revenge on the townsfolk who make his life miserable on a daily basis, Lardass deliberately makes himself violently ill during a pie-eating contest, which sets off a chain reaction of puking, vomiting, and barfing.

In the words of Gordie: “Girlfriends barfed on boyfriends, kids barfed on their parents, a fat lady barfed in her purse, the Donnelly twins barfed on each other, and the women’s auxiliary barfed all over the benevolent order of antelopes. Lardass just sat back and enjoyed what he’d created: a complete and total barf-o-rama.”

This disgusting scene was filmed in Brownsville’s Pioneer Park, just a short two-minute walk from the center of town. There’s a sign in the park celebrating its 15 minutes of fame and also mentioning that nearly 100 Brownsville residents featured as extras in the film.

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Take a wander around downtown Brownsville and chances are you’ll recognize a host of Stand By Me filming locations from the silver screen. One such spot is found just off North Main Street behind what was known in the film as the Blue Point Diner.

It was of course here that Chris shows Gordie the gun he’s stolen from his dad. “Is it loaded?” Gordie asks. “Hell no! What do you think I am?” Chris responds instantly.

Little do the boys know that the gun is actually loaded, so when Gordie pulls the trigger they’re in for a rude surprise. The look of sheer terror on the kids’ faces when the gun goes off is one of our favorite moments in the film.

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In the introductory scenes of Stand By Me, we meet three of the film’s four protagonists sitting around in a treehouse. Gordie, Chris, and Teddy are hanging out, smoking, playing cards, sharing stories, and telling jokes when an out-of-breath Vern arrives.

He’s desperate to tell them something, but he struggles to get his friends’ full attention until he utters one immortal line: “You guys wanna go see a dead body?” From that moment on the boys are hooked, and they decide that finding the body of the missing kid will lead to instant fame. Later in the film, Gordie and Chris say goodbye by the same treehouse in a poignant scene.

Sadly, the treehouse that features in the film is no longer there, but you can check out the impressive tree. Located on School Avenue in Brownsville, it’s easily accessible from the nearby Blue Point Diner setting on North Main Street.

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Having made plans to set out on their quest to find the dead body, the four friends meet up on the train tracks to begin their life-changing journey. They start by crossing a distinctive girder bridge, completely unaware of the dangers, laughs, and adventures that lie ahead.

Today, you can follow in the footsteps of Gordie, Teddy, Chris, and Vern and take a stroll across this iconic piece of real estate. The bridge is located in Cottage Grove, Oregon, some 45 minutes south of Brownsville, and crosses scenic Mosby Creek.

The bridge is now part of the 14-mile Row River Trail, which follows the route of the old Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railroad line, so don’t forget your walking shoes. And while the map below shows you exactly where the bridge is located, it’s worth parking at the trailhead on nearby Jenkins Road before setting out on foot.

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While the boys’ epic journey starts with them crossing a bridge, it ends with them crossing a different, green one. With their quest over, the boys return to town early on a Sunday morning and somehow seem a lot older than when they departed just a couple of days earlier. As Gordie narrates from the future: “We’d only been gone two days, but somehow the town seemed different; smaller.”

The pretty bridge the boys stand in front of as they prepare to re-enter town and their everyday lives is also found in Brownsville on Main Street. If you’re approaching from the south, it’s one of the first sights you see as you head into town. You’ll definitely want to stop here and snap off a few pics as part of your Stand By Me filming location adventure.

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