That Was Then... This Is Now

My grade 10 ESL students read the book and then watched this film version. They were not impressed at all and everyone agreed that it is not a good portrayal of the book. Some essential scenes are missing such as Mike Chamber's story which helps the reader really understand the motivation behind Bryon's change of heart. It would really have not been that difficult to just follow what was written in the book. Someone needs to be blamed for this poor excuse of a film!

The desperate male students in the class were hoping that the Angela character would have been as hot as she is described in the book!

Read the book instead.

I read the book for this movie and it was really good and very emotional to read as the characters change. The movie how ever is so ridiculous it's funny. For some reason it was changed to the 80's instead of the 60's which completely ruined the movie for me also making the sheppards immortal by doing this. Also since in the 80's it got rid of the hippies and changed it to punks but it is hard to take people that are supposed to be mean seriously when they're wearing a mesh tank top and eyeliner. And the way it's shot is just ridiculous and very over dramatic (classic 80's) but a great movie for a great laugh if I'm being honest.

"That Was Then...This Is Now" followed the book relatively closely up until the last scenes. I thought the acting could have been better, and I think it would have been a better movie if they had left it in the time period the book was in. Despite this, I thought it was pretty good, and I liked it until the last few scenes. The book was so powerful and real in the last chapters- and the movie took all of this out. I thought it would have been a good ending- for a whole different movie, for "That Was Then...", it was wrong, and in my opinion ruined the movie.

I always loved S.E. Hinton's novels as a kid: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish (which in my opinion, is the greatest film adaptation in the series despite everyone's fascination with The Outsiders), Tex, and That Was Then This is Now.

'That Was Then, This is Now' was the last film adaptation (although the TV series for 'The Outsiders' follows five years later after the release of this movie). I would've attribute the mediocrity of the movie, or at least the inability to really put forth all that the novel did, was because it was not directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who directs 'The Outsiders,' and does a fabulous job with 'Rumble Fish'), except 'Tex,' which was a pretty good movie, was likewise not directed by Coppola.

I think it is in part the chemistry among the characters. The whole mood looks like something out of a music video, with Craig Scheffer coming off more like a guy who broke off a long relationship with a girlfriend rather than dealing with a rambunctious brother (in addition to other things). Plus, as another viewer already mentioned, they shifted the focus on characters so that superstar Emilio Esteves becomes the center of attention. Most of S.E. Hinton's novel always portrayed a struggle from the brother who is looking out at things that, by his perception, have become (or always were) seriously out of control. (See 'Tex' and 'Rumble Fish'). And yes, they unfortunately acquiesced to the Hollywood happy ending, and in the sappiest way, despite all of the problems that the characters endure.

Unlike previous adaptations of Hinton's novels, even those not directed by Coppola, they really fail to portray the struggles that the characters realize in the book. And, lack of developing the story on this point really makes you only half appreciate the characters and their conflicts (and in this case, not even their resolution).

This is a very poor adaption of one of S.E. Hinton's best novels. The characterizations are quite off the mark, and there is little to no development of situations and characters. Periodically the viewer is thrown into really weak attempts at "deep", philosophical dialogue from out of nowhere - straight out of the book but oddly out of place in this disjointed film.

The acting is not much better. Only Frank Howard (as M&M) and Morgan Freeman (as Charlie) really make their roles believable. Emilio Estevez, perhaps due to the script itself, never makes Mark the character he needs to be to actually propel the story in the right direction.

All I can make of this film is an attempt at grabbing the same attention as "The Outsiders", another (and much better) film adaption of a S.E. Hinton novel. Both books/films have a few characters in common, some similar themes, and Emilio Estevez. "That was then..." just doesn't work out.