pierrebonomo 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.

babygeniusesvseightcrazynights It's a very Hinton-esquire story. Emilio's character has a crappy family life, and spends most of his time with Sheffer and his single mom, who treats Emilio like her own son. They steal cars and get in fights, but Sheffer is clearly the more well-behaved of the two. Morgan Freeman plays the owner of a local bar that the boys frequent, and does a fine job. SPOILER: he gets killed. END SPOILER. The story revolves around the two main characters friendship and the tough S.E. Hinton trademarked teenage obstacles they encounter.This is a very entertaining movie and I have to recommend it. Nothing fantastic as far as sophisticated filminess goes, but if you're a child of the 80s you will definitely enjoy it; there's lots of 80s high school/adolescent nostalgia to be found throughout this film. There are 80s punks with spiked hair who are so hardcore that they hang out at the prom but don't go inside. Kim Delaney is in it too, and she is (was?), of course, Hott.Of note: Delaney's younger brother, who is kinda screwed up in the head, is named "M&M". Could this (the novel or the film) be where Eminem got the idea for his name?

triple8 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.

DunnDeeDaGreat 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.