History Film / NowAndThen

* SpookySeance: The girls hold one in a cemetery, where they come to believe they have summoned the ghost of "Dear Johnny", a boy who died in 1945m

%%* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler:Chrissy, near the end of the film.]]

55* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Chrissy and Morton.]]

* DisappearedDad: Samantha's father walks out on the family. This is especially significant because of the time period ("I decided not to tell the others about my father. Call me a fool but I actually thought he'd be back, a wishful notion I held on to for years. At the time, no one in the Gaslight Addition had ever gotten a divorce, and the last thing I wanted was to be different from my friends.")

--->'''Samantha''': Thomas Wolfe once said, "You can't go home again". That might be good for old Tom, but he wasn't a chick who made a pact with her friends when she was twelve to get together when any of them needed each other. So here I am, driving back to my childhood home in Indiana, a place I can say I never wanted to see again.

* SkinnyDipping: The Wormer boys at one point do this, and the girls catch them in the act, leading to GoneSwimmingClothesStolen (see above).

--->'''Samantha''': My parents had been fighting for as long as I could remember. Never really bothered me though, quite the opposite in fact. It was comfort, and consistency.
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Chrissy and Morton.]]

--->'''Samantha''': The Treehouse was supposed to bring us more independence, but what the summer actually brought us was independence from each other.
* DeadpanSnarker: Samantha and Roberta.

* {{Dramedy}}

* {{Flashback}}

--->'''Roberta''': (crying) 'My dad lied to me, he told me this beautiful angel swooped down to earth and he carried her away, before she had a second to feel any pain.' In reality, Roberta's mother suffered horrible injuries in the crash and lingered in agony before dying the following night.
* GirlinessUpgrade: After Roberta's first kiss.

* GrowingUpSucks

--->'''Crazy Pete''': Samantha, things are going to happen in your life that you can't stop. But that's no reason to shut out the world. There's always a reason for the good and the bad.

* NaiveEverygirl: Chrissy has shades of this.

--->'''Teeny''': I don't really know my parents. As far as I'm concerned, they're assholes.

* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler:Chrissy, near the end of the film.]]

--->'''Roberta''': Scott...
--->'''Scott''': Yeah?
--->'''Roberta''': If you mention this to anyone, especially your brothers, I'll beat the shit out of you.

* PlayingGertrude: The adult versions of the characters should logically be 37, assuming the PresentDay is current as of the film's release (1995, 25 years after 1970). As for the ages of the actresses playing them?
** Creator/RosieODonnell was 32, and only 18 years older than Christina Ricci.
** Producer/star Creator/DemiMoore turned 32 shortly after filming began.
** Averted by Creator/MelanieGriffith (who was 37 exactly) and Creator/RitaWilson (who was 38).

* TheSeventies: The film is set in 1970, the summer where the girls are all 12. The girls read early issues of Cosmo, there are references to the Vietnam War and Key Parties. The local drive-in shows ''Film/LoveStory'', a popular film of that year and Samantha's mother wears the on-trend hot pants.
* SeventiesHair: A lot of long hair on the girls, the hair on boys and men are growing out, Cindy Brady style hair on girls, the mothers still get their hair set albeit in simpler looking styles.

** Teeny may be immature, but she cares very deeply for Sam (whom she is closest to in the friend group), and comforts her when she (Sam) is devastated by her parents' divorce. Plus, as an adult she mentions that she would send Crazy Pete a Christmas with cash each year, until he died.

* MacGuffin: Crazy Pete, an elderly man from the neighborhood whose name in the community derives from the fact that he only comes out at night. At the end of the film, he is revealed to be Dear Johnny's father, and his only coming out at night is his coping mechanism in dealing with the grief over the loss of his family even 25 years later. Evidently, he'd been out at a bar the night the murders took place, and the guilt over not being there to protect his wife and son led to him being unable to face people, or even himself. The girls apparently befriended him in the following years, although until the present sequence only Samantha knew he was Dear Johnny's father. Teeny mentioned that after moving to California she'd send him a bit of cash every year, but the previous year it had been returned, after which Roberta informed her that he had died.

-->'''Teeny:''' Have you ever been french kissed?

** Ironically, it's Chrissy's mother who is a more active presence in her life, giving her daughter TheTalk. (Albeit with a metaphor about gardening that Chrissy doesn't seem to fully get)

* TheTalk: Chrissy's mother gives her 'the talk' by using a potted flower as a metaphor, which later on results in Chrissy as an adult developing an obsession with gardening. ("Planting the seed, watering the flower")

* WaterGunsAndBalloons: Early on in the film, the Wormers attack them with jello-filled balloons.

** Creator/RosieODonnell was 32.

* Samantha Albertson. In youth played by Gaby Hoffmann, in adulthood by Creator/DemiMoore.

* Roberta Martin. In youth played by Creator/ChristinaRicci, in adulthood by Rosie [=O'Donnell=].

* TheSixties: When Roberta's mother was killed.

* TheNineties

* TheSeventies