March 31, 1989: “Heathers” Premieres

March 31, 1989: The film Heathers premieres.

In 2019, for a 30th Anniversary column, Ben Schwartz wrote that it doesn't hold up well, through little more than divulging the plot:

With archly funny emotional detachment, it depicts the school shootings, date rapes, self-loathing, eating disorders, and petty viciousness that made up high school in the 1980s.

Intelligent, cynical Veronica (Winona Ryder) has sold herself out to a popular but horrible high school clique, the Heathers. She reluctantly helps demean and trash other kids and even regularly assists one Heather (Shannen Doherty) by putting a finger down her throat to help with her bulimia.

Then JD (Christian Slater), a dark, charismatic new kid, shows up at school. He attracts Veronica by pushing back violently on their cruel little bullying world with guns, poison, and, finally, a bomb.

"Dear Diary," Veronica Sawyer writes, once the 2nd (and, simultaneously, 3rd) death she and Jason "JD" Dean are involved in not only can't be chalked up as an accident, but is definitely her fault, however goaded into it by JD she might be, and however much the jackass jocks might deserve it: "My teen angst bullshit has a body count!" It's only after JD tells her of his plan to blow up an assembly at their suburban Ohio high school, and have it masked as a mass suicide, calling "a Woodstock for the Eighties," that she finds it within herself to resist and defeat him.

Ten years later, the Columbine High School massacre in suburban Colorado happened, and no one should have gotten away with doing a movie like this again. And yet, somebody made a Broadway musical out of it.

In 2018, Paramount Network was set to launch a TV-series reboot, but just before the premiere, the Parkland shooting happened. Did they do the right thing and cancel it outright? No, they postponed the premiere.

Kim Walker, who played Heather Chandler, was then Slater's real-life girlfriend, and was Jennifer Aniston's best friend at LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York, a.k.a. "The Fame School." As it turned out, she did die young, of a brain tumor in 2001. The rest of the main cast is still alive. Shannen Doherty, who played Heather Duke -- asked by Veronica, "Why are you such a megabitch?" answers, "Because I can be" -- starred on Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed, and is still alive as of March 31, 2022, but has been battling cancer.

Winona Ryder found the adjustment to grownup roles tough, but has now grown into middle-aged roles, including as Joyce Byers on Stranger Things. Christian Slater now does cartoon voices. Jennifer Connelly and Brad Pitt, respectively, auditioned for their roles, but were turned down.

Lisanne Falk (Heather McNamara) hasn't acted since 2002. And Carrie Lynn Abelson (Martha Dunnstock, a.k.a. "Martha Dumptruck") has become a producer, acting only once since 1991.

UPDATE: Shannen Doherty died in 2024, after a long battle with cancer.

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March 31, 1989 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Golden State Warriors, 134-114 at Madison Square Garden. Mitch Richmond scored 37 points.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 116-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets, 109-126 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 114-93 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. 

* The Washington Bullets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-105 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 105-102 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 109-100 at Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 37 in defeat.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 122-104 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Tom Chambers scored 34 for the Suns. Terry Cummings scored 36 in defeat for the Bulls.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 109-106 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Ken Norman scored 33 for the Clips.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 111-108 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were just 2 games in the NHL. The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. And the Calgary Flames beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.