Now and Then is a 1995 film directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and starring Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rosie O'Donnell and Rita Wilson. It was filmed largely in Savannah, Georgia using the downtown squares and the Country Walk subdivision [Gaslight Addition] and Bonaventure Cemetery and Statesboro, Georgia, highlighting the downtown area.
Plot
Four 12-year-old friends made a pact to be there for one another, which is why the now-adult Sam, Roberta, Teeny, and Chrissy find themselves returning to their hometown of Shelby, Indiana to reunite. Most of the film, however, is a flashback to the summer of 1969, in which the four 12-year-old girls (played by Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann and Ashleigh Aston Moore) have a seemingly carefree summer, full of bike-riding, midnight seances, saving up money for a treehouse, and truth-or-dare. However, this is the summer that they learned painful realizations about life and growing up—lessons which simultaneously bring the girls closer as well as grant them their independence.
Character Profiles
Samantha "Sam" Albertson
Sam (Gaby Hoffman/Demi Moore) narrates the frame story of the film. Sam believes in the paranormal and leads the seances in the graveyard. Her home life is shaken during that summer as her father leaves and her parents get a divorce (which was particularly shocking in 1970). As an adult, Sam is a popular science fiction author who has issues committing in relationships. At 12, Sam was the most invested in the mystery of "Dear Johnny," the ghost that the girls believe they have resurrected from the grave. She alone learns the truth behind his story, and hears some valuable advice that later, as an adult, helps her to come to terms with her current struggles in life.
Roberta Martin
Roberta (Christina Ricci/Rosie O'Donnell) is the only girl in her house, after mother died in a car accident when she was 4 years old. As a result, Roberta is a tomboy who has issues with femininity and tapes her breasts, plays sports, and won't hesitate to get into a fight with a boy. Roberta struggles to come to terms with death in general and the circumstances of her mother's death in particular. Roberta leads the girls in their rivalry with the Wormer brothers, but ends up sharing a first kiss with Scott Wormer (Devon Sawa). As an adult, Roberta is a doctor (an obstetrician), and "lives in sin with her boyfriend."
Chrissy DeWitt
Chrissy (Ashleigh Aston Moore/Rita Wilson) grows up under the care of an overbearing, fastidious mother (played by Bonnie Hunt) who shelters her. Chrissy's naivete, particularly towards all things sexual, is often laughed at by her friends. When Chrissy asks her mother what sex is, she becomes incredibly uncomfortable and compares it to gardening, which confuses Chrissy and leads to an adulthood obsession with gardening. Chrissy is the "good girl," who chastises the other girls for cussing (both as a child and an adult). She closely keeps track of the "treehouse money," and is always the reluctant party of the others' schemes. However, she is fiercely loyal, and when Roberta pulls a stunt of faking her own death, Chrissy rushes to perform mouth-to-mouth. Upon learning that she was faking it, Chrissy slaps Roberta and yells at her, "Don't ever do that to me again!" As an adult, Chrissy marries the nerdy Morton Williams and lives with him in her mother's old house in Shelby, complete with the girls' old treehouse in the backyard. It is the birth of her first child which brings Sam, Roberta, and Teeny back to their hometown.
Tina "Teeny" Tercell
Tina (Thora Birch/Melanie Griffith) lives with her rich country-club parents who are rarely around, which according to Sam's narration is "typical upbringing for actors and pathological liars." Tina loves glamor, and likes to dress up, play with makeup, and watch the movies at the drive-in screen that she can see from her roof. She demonstrates the most interest in boys and sexuality of all the girls, and flirts and expresses a desire for bigger breasts. (As an adult, she gets breast implants.) She goes through multiple marriages and becomes a wealthy actress, arriving in Shelby via limousine (which is later co-opted for transporting Chrissy to the hospital when she goes into labor).
Reception
The film was released on October 20, 1995 and was a commercial success.[citation needed] This film is based on the town of Winchester, Indiana and mentions many sights and sounds around this Midwestern city. The city council and many city leaders suppressed the inclusion of the name of Winchester in the film for fear it may have an adverse impact on the city.[citation needed] Shelby, Indiana is a real town in Indiana, but is located in the Northwest part of the state.
Cast
External links
