Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Director:

Amy Heckerling

Writers:

Cameron Crowe (screenplay)
Cameron Crowe (book)

Release Date:

13 August 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

Fast Cars, Fast Girls, Fast Carrots...Fast Carrots?

Plot:

A story of a group of California teenagers who enjoy malls, sex and rock n' roll.

Plot Keywords:

California | Surfer Dude | Sex | Rock 'n' Roll | High School

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sean Penn	...	Jeff Spicoli
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Stacy Hamilton
Judge Reinhold	...	Brad Hamilton
Robert Romanus	...	Mike Damone
Brian Backer	...	Mark 'Rat' Ratner
Phoebe Cates	...	Linda Barrett
Ray Walston	...	Mr. Hand
Scott Thomson	...	Arnold
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Mr. Vargas
Amanda Wyss	...	Lisa
D.W. Brown	...	Ron Johnson
Forest Whitaker	...	Charles Jefferson
Kelli Maroney	...	Cindy
Tom Nolan	...	Dennis Taylor
Blair Tefkin	...	Pat Bernardo (as Blair Ashleigh)

Also Known As:

Fast Times (Australia) (poster title) (International: English title) (informal short title)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (UK) (video title)
Ça chauffe au lycée Ridgemont (France) (DVD title) [fr]
Øl, fis og rockmusik (Denmark) [da]
Aquel excitante curso (Spain) [es]
Beztroskie lata w Ridgemont High (Poland) [pl]
Fuori di testa (Italy) [it]
Häftigt drag i plugget (Sweden) [sv]
Hæla i taket (Norway) [no]
Ich glaub' ich steh' im Wald (West Germany) [de]
Kuumat kimmat (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Kuumat kinkut (Finland) [fi]
Picardías estudiantiles (Argentina) [es]
Picardias Estudantis (Brazil) [pt]
Plakatzides kai bouboukia (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M (re-rating) (uncut) | Australia:R (original rating) (cut) | USA:R (edited for re-rating) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-12 | Ireland:18 | Norway:16 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:11 | UK:18 | West Germany:12 | USA:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

24124 Welby Way, Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Refugee Films

Trivia:

Near the beginning of the movie, right after Mr. Hand sends Spicoli to the front office for being late to class, Mr. Hand passes out the class schedule of quizzes. After the paper is passed out, the students put the page up to their noses and deeply inhale. This was a popular school ritual of the '60s, '70s and early '80s as photocopying machines were very expensive, so spirit duplicators were used. The spirit duplicators used a colored wax as the "ink" and a noxious solvent as a transfer agent to impress the ink on the paper. These solvents sometimes took a long time to dry, hence the students' use of these solvents as a short-term "high".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stacy is waiting by the curb for Damone to pick her up, Brad's car is clearly not in the driveway. However, when Stacy hears Brad's car start she runs outside to catch a ride with him and his car is just backing out of the driveway like it had always been there.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Perry's Pizza Waitress: Linda, Linda, there he is. There's that guy from the stereo store. Don't you think he looks like Richard Gere?
Linda Barrett: Did you see his cute little butt?

Movie Connections:

Features Pakkuman (1980) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Kashmir

Fairly Funny Time at Ridgemont High

: I was encouraged to see this because it was hailed as one of the best `teen comedies', a genre revived more recently by `American Pie'. This is an amusing but also touching tale of a bunch of teenagers caught between childhood and adulthood (as teenagers tend to be..).

The characters are, naturally, disparate (they always are). You've got the geek, the tender one, the surfing one, the `cool cat' one, et cetera. All these stock types can be bland but, when done well, really flesh out a movie. As in `American Pie', this is an example of the combination working to good effect. The issues dealt with, mild enough by today, were quite controversial for its time. They touch on concepts of underage sex, drugs, employment and so on and their relevance still resonates - despite its founding in 80s culture, the movie still has something to actually say. Cameron Crowe's script - based on his own book - is sharp. The characters actually have a depth (rather than being a one line joke as it is too often) and the humour is gentle, rather than of the bodily-fluid nature. The film is never preachy, merely saying, `This is how it is' and moving on. The structure is fairly conventional - follow a set of characters over a long period, and see how they fare in a final big event, but again that's okay.

Acting is quite good here, especially considering the genre. This is of course helped by some of these actors, such as Sean Penn and Nicholas Cage, having gone on to do bigger and better things with their talents. They all have a warmth and even Mike (Robert Romanus), who could appear sleazy if portrayed poorly, comes across as an ultimately affable man who is a good guy. The non-teen cast, principally the teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) are all good as well and the only problem I may have is the occasional eighties styling (principally the haircuts and outfits) which tend to make me feel one step removed from the characters (but that's not a fault of the actors).

`Fast Times at Ridgemont High' surprised me with its depth. I had expected farce, but I got some genuine thought and characterisation, along with the requisite humour. It's not quite the laugh-fest I expected but it was good viewing. It still has meaning for today, although time has dulled its sharpness somewhat. Not a must, but certainly - given its short length - a good maybe. 6.9/10.