That Was Then, This Is Now by S.E. Hinton

(pb; 1971: YA fiction)

From the back cover

“Bryon and Mark have been inseparable best friends from childhood, but now, at sixteen, they both sense they are growing apart. Bryon is disturbed by the fights and violence, yet Mark takes all of it as a matter of course─part of the life of a kid on the street. Things seem to be changing too fast for Bryon. He is in love with Cathy─growing up and beginning to care and to realize that they are no longer kids.

“When Bryon discovers that Mark is pushing dope to young kids, he mut face a decision that might destroy their longtime friendship.”

Review

That is a mostly excellent, character-focused, waste-no-words YA novel that deals with tricky-for-YA subject matter, drugs, rough living and criminal activity.Its characters are relatable,even─especially?─when they screw up. This is another genre milestone from Hinton, who specialized in writing about troubled teens and life on the wrong side of social expectations.

I wrote “mostly excellent” because Hinton’s near-the-end hyperbolic just say no take regarding a canary-in-the-coal-mine character (M&M) and LSD comes off as screedish. Other than that, this is a worthwhile and life-smart novel.

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The resulting film, That Was Then. . .This is Now, was released stateside on November 8, 1985. Christopher Cain directed it, from a screenplay by one of its stars, Emilio Estevez, who played Mark Jennings.

Craig Sheffer played Bryon Douglas. Larry B. Scott played Terry Jones. Matthew Dudley played Curly Shepard. Jill Schoelen played Angela Shepard. Kim Delaney played Cathy Carlson. Frank Howard played M&M Carlson.

Morgan Freeman played Charlie Woods. Ramon Estevez, billed as Ramon Sheen, played Mike Chambers (Ramon is Emilio Estevez’s brother).