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.
#
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).
