That Was Then... This Is Now (1985)

Great Film overall

An Exercise In Nonsense

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Rated R for Language,Drug Content and Some Violence.That Was Then This Is Now is a film based on the S.E Hinton novel of the same name.S.E Hinton is a great author and I have read most of her books.The Outsiders is her best book,this is her second best,rumble fish is her third best and Taming The Star Runner is her fourth best.While Rumble Fish is her third best novel, it is the greatest adaptation from the original novel to the film.It was directed by Coppola who also directed the Outsiders film.That however was not so faithful to the original novel and I did not like it very much.Now this was not directed by Coppola, it was written by Emilio Estevez who also stars in it.While its more of a faithful adaptation than outsiders, it still could have been more faithful.The movie is about a teen named Bryon and his friend Mark who lives with him after his parents killed each other.They both used to do everything together but now Bryon has a girlfriend named Cathy and Mark is jealous of her.They also need money to pay for Bryon's mothers operation so Mark starts selling drugs to hippies including Cathy's little brother M&M.The character M&M is much different in the film.In the novel he is an innocent freshman student, in this film he's basically a normal teen who makes sex remarks.Also the endings of the two differ.Anyway That Was Then This Is Now is a decent movie but not as good as the book.

This is an excellent underrated film, that's often quite powerful and gripping, with a great story and amazing performances!. All the characters are excellent, and I was lucky enough to find this at my video store and buy it for 1$ at the VHS blow out sale, plus Emilio Estevez and Craig Sheffer are simply incredible in this!. The bond between Estevez and Sheffer really was incredible, and it was so sad when they started drifting apart, and Morgan Freeman has a small but very memorable part here as Charlie the bartender, plus the ending is really moving, and will really make you think, but it also leaves the viewer smiling!(you'll see what I mean when you watch it). I have not yet read the book but I did really enjoy this movie, and this is very well made and written as well, plus I felt sorry for Emilio's character. one of the most powerful scenes in the movie for me is when Bryan, and Mark get into a fight because Mark was responsible for giving drugs to M&M,and Estevez and Sheffer had brilliant chemistry together, plus this is truly an underrated gem. This is an excellent underrated film, that's often quite powerful and gripping, with a great story and amazing performances, and I say it's a must see for everyone!. The Direction is excellent!. Christopher Cain does an excellent! job here with awesome camera work, solid angles giving the film some good atmosphere and keeping it at an engrossing pace. The Acting is amazing!. Emilio Estevez is amazing as always and is incredible here, his character was a trouble maker, but was just so likable, that you are able to feel sorry for his character, I especially felt bad for him near the end, he also had brilliant chemistry with Craig Sheffer, brought lots of energy and charm to the role, and just did an amazing job this is one of his best performances! (Emilio Rules!!!!!!!). Craig Sheffer is just as good, he was really likable, and you will feel happy for him because he is getting his life on track and is growing up, it's just too bad his career never really took off, because he impressed the hell out of me here!. Jill Schoelen is very cute and does fine as Angela she had good chemistry with Sheffer and just seemed like a nice ordinary girl, I liked her lots. Kim Delaney does fine as the troubled teen I liked her. Morgan Freeman is amazing in his small role as the Bartender and as always couldn't take my eyes off him when he was on screen (Freeman Rules!!!!!!!). Rest of the cast are fine. Overall a must see for everyone!. ****1/2 out of 5

This book had alot of impact on me when I read it so very long ago-the movie wasn't terrible-though I really CAN understand people feeling cheated by it. However it is nowhere as good as the book.SPOILER: The ending in the movie was widely critiscized for differing from the book-I can actually understand both sides-I cared about Mark in Hinton's book-of coarse reading it one wants a happy ending for all involved-even if thats the easy way out.Yet the movie's which ended alot more sunny then the book also felt a bit unrealistic-because I doubt, sadly it WOULD happen that way in reality-so it's like:be careful what you wish for-you just might get it. By that I mean, reading the book you weep at the ending, wishing it could be different-but then it IS different in the movie and you feel a bit cheated. Tough call to make if changing the ending was a good idea or not.But I STILL liked this movie and thought it was welldone-I'd recomend it to anyone who hasn't seen it-the story still touches you and the acting is credible.

That Was Then... This Is Now is one of the best early performances of Emilo Estvez as a writer and actor. Estevz brings Mark to life they way S.E.Hinton intened by being brutal and cut throat in his performace. All of the actors in the film give equally good performacnes in particular Morgan Freemen and Craig Sheffer. A underlooked gem.