Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age teen comedy film and is the brain-child of Cameron Crowe. It was adapted from Crowe's 1981 book where, as a free-lancer for Rolling Stone magazine, he went undercover at a California high school and wrote about his experiences. It was directed by Amy Heckerling.
The film follows a school year in the fictional lives of sophomores Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) with their respective older friends Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates) and Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), both of whom believe themselves wiser in the ways of romance than their younger counterparts. The ensemble cast of characters form two subplots with Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), a perpetually stoned surfer, who faces off against uptight history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), who is convinced that all of his students are on "dope" and Stacy's brother, Brad (Judge Reinhold), is a senior popular for working at a favorite burger joint who obsesses about paying off his car and easing out of his relationship with his girlfriend.
In addition to Penn, Reinhold, Cates and Leigh, this movie marks the early appearances by several actors who would later become stars as well, including Eric Stoltz, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker. Three of the actors who appeared in the film — Cage, Penn, and Whitaker — would win the Academy Award for Best Actor later on in their careers, with Penn winning twice.
Crowe would soon become a celebrated Hollywood director and screenwriter, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his movie Almost Famous.
The music is by Danny Elfman, who would go on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music (Scoring) numerous times. Paying homage to the movie's music soul, there is a cameo appearance by Nancy Wilson, famous as a member of the rock band Heart, which had several popular albums on the charts prior to the movie's release.
Synopsis
Stacy Hamilton (Leigh) is a high school sophomore who works in the mall at Perry's pizza parlor with the seemingly more sexually experienced Linda Barrett (Cates). Mark "Rat" Ratner (Backer) also a sophomore, works in the mall as "assistant to the assistant manager" at the movie theater. His friend Mike Damone (Romanus), who also hangs out at the mall scalping rock concert tickets, believes himself to be both worldly and wise in the ways of women. Stacy's brother Brad (Reinhold) is a bit dorky senior but is relatively popular because he has his own car and is a low-grade supervisor at All-American Burger, a favorite after-school hang-out and a place that treats teen employees well. Brad is spending his final year in high school basking in the joy of becoming the unfettered owner of his blue 1960 Buick LeSabre ("the cruising vessel"), which has only six payments left, and obsessing over the best way to ease out of the long-time relationship with his girlfriend, Lisa, who also works at All-American Burger.[1] Surfer Jeff Spicoli (Penn) begins the new school year tumbling out of a Volkswagen Microbus after hotboxing in the parking lot as the final attendance bell rings. Spicoli tries to come into Mr. Hand's history class after the final bell, but Mr. Hand has locked the door. Spicoli knocks on the door but when Mr Hand sends him to principal's office, Spicoli calls him "a dick," thus beginning a kind of vendetta between Mr. Hand and Spicoli.
The sexually curious Stacy initially hooks up with a much older home stereo salesman, Ron Johnson of Pacific Stereo in the mall. He provides her first sexual experiences. He dumps her a few months later, causing Stacy to wonder what was wrong with herself and seek other relationships.
In addition to his brief encounters with Stacy at the pizza parlor during his breaks at the movie theater, nerdy Mark Ratner ends up with Stacy as his lab partner in biology class. Ratner receives pointers from his friend Damone, the scalper. With prodding from Damone, "Rat" goes over to the pizza joint and asks for Stacy's phone number, saying he'll call her to ask her out on a date.
The date goes well despite Ratner forgetting his wallet at home and the tape deck being stolen from his sister's car during their dinner. They go back to her house, where she comes on to him. He chickens out, leaving her there with nothing but a robe on.
Back at school, Spicoli continually annoys Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), his American History teacher, including one episode in which Spicoli arranges for a pizza delivery in the middle of class by a less-than-thrilled "Pizza Guy" delivery man (Taylor Negron) only to have Mr. Hand take the pizza and distribute it to his favored students.
Brad loses his cherished job at All American Burger in a dispute with an unsatisfied customer and is forced to take a new job at "Captain Hook Fish and Chips," a Long John Silvers-styled fish restaurant. Employees are forced to wear pirate uniforms, and after being laughed at by a beautiful woman (Nancy Wilson of Heart, Cameron Crowe's eventual wife) while on a delivery, Brad quits in disgust while tossing all the "Catch of the Day" boxes out into the street.
At the pep rally before the football game with Lincoln High, Brad meets up with his girlfriend Lisa. In a complete turnabout from his plans to go solo during the summer, Brad bares his troubled soul to Lisa, telling her that he needs her now more than ever. But Lisa dumps him, saying she wants to see other people before she heads to college, the perfect culmination to Brad's personal annihilation.
As Brad's life crumbles, Stacy and Linda are sitting by the pool discussing men. Meanwhile, Damone convinces Mark to give it another shot with Stacy. Damone leads Mark to Stacy's house, where Damone crashes the girl chat. Brad comes home, dejected, and goes into the house. The teens all comment on how Brad is so depressed after losing his job at All America Burger. Brad heads for the bathroom and starts to masturbate as he fantasizes about Linda approaching him in her bikini and undoing her top (in a now near-legendary scene set to The Cars' song "Moving in Stereo"). Linda jumps into the pool and gets water in her ear. She makes her way to the bathroom for a Q-tip and is shocked as she catches Brad masturbating, which ruins the pool party.
Later that evening, Spicoli is drinking beer and smoking marijuana as he joyrides in a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 owned by Charles Jefferson (Whitaker), a mean monster of an individual who is the star of the Ridgemont football team. The car is a gift from a grateful alumnus, and Jefferson's little brother, along for the ride, freaks out as an unconcerned Spicoli drives like a maniac through the crowded city streets. Spicoli eventually wrecks the car but promises he can fix it.
The next day at school, a large crowd gathers around the front entrance--where Jefferson's totaled car is covered in anti-Ridgemont graffiti, making it look as if the rival high school, Lincoln, destroyed it as a prank. Jefferson takes out his anger on the Lincoln football team that night, winning the game and sending Lincoln's quarterback out of the game on a stretcher.
Stacy grows attracted to Ratner's friend, Damone. Stacy meets Damon after school and Damone drives her home. Damone asks if Stacy has any iced tea and then he wants to go for a swim. She brings him into the changing booth near the pool. Instead of swimming, the two have clumsy, unsatisfying sex in the changing booth.
Later, Stacy tells Linda that she is pregnant. Stacy tells Damone and they decide that an abortion is the only solution. She asks Damone to pay for half the abortion ($150) and give her a ride to the clinic. Damone agrees. Damone and Ratner get into a fight over Stacy in the locker room after Ratner hears that Damone has been with Stacy and they cut ties with each other.
Damone has a hard time coming up with half the money to pay for the abortion. Damone desperately and unsuccessfully attempts to collect from past "clients" who owe him money. It is only then that Damone discovers how little power and popularity he has with the other teens. Ashamed, Damone does not show up to drive Stacy to the clinic. Stacy catches a ride with Brad to a nearby bowling alley under the pretense that she is meeting some friends there. Brad sees Stacy leave the bowling alley and enter the clinic. After the procedure is finished, Brad is waiting for Stacy outside and talks to her about what happened, though Stacy will not tell him the identity of the father. Stacy's sibling bond grows with Brad when he shows a brotherly act of kindness by not pressing the issue. Linda, however, is not so charitable. After Stacy tells her of Damone's deception, Linda goes after Damone by scrawling "Prick" in spray paint on his car door and "Little Prick" in marker on his school locker.
Stacey and Mark are fated to be together again when they go on a biology class field trip to observe an autopsy. When Mr. Vargas starts to rip organs from the corpse, Stacy feels sick and Mark helps her out of the procedure room. Stacy is grateful to Mark for staying with her and says he's "a nice guy."
School is coming to an end. Mr. Hand takes some revenge on Spicoli by visiting him at home on the night of the graduation dance and administering an impromptu History lesson — long enough to delay Spicoli until well after the prom has started. Still, the teacher relents on the question of whether or not he will flunk Spicoli, telling the stoned surfer he'll probably "squeak by."
Damone and Ratner speak to each other at the prom. A tenuous bond is reformed, but Damone knows he no longer has power over "Rat."
In the closing scenes, Brad is working at his new job, the bottom rung on the high school scale of after-school employment, a convenience store called Mi-T-Mart. Spicoli walks in and tries to make a purchase while fumbling with pocket change. He then asks to use the bathroom. A robber pulls up, walks in the door, sprays the security camera, pulls out a pistol and tells Brad to give him the money. Brad gets very angry as he sees this as just one more rotten episode in his disintegrating life, but he starts to open the cash register. Spicoli walks out of the bathroom and inadvertently distracts the thief just long enough for a furious Brad to throw hot coffee in the robber's face, jump over the counter, take his gun away and capture the would-be thief as the getaway car peels out the parking lot, making Brad a local hero, at least in Spicoli's eyes.
Meanwhile, Stacy, working at the pizza joint, sees Mark at his station across the mall at the theater. She waves him over and gives him a demure photo of herself. She makes it clear she'd like to begin seeing him again. Mark is at first tentative. Stacy playfully nudges Mark and eggs him on. He looks at Stacy for a moment, smiles and then says he'll call her.
Before the end credits roll, the characters' futures are shown:
- Brad Hamilton — Made manager of Mi-T-Mart June 12.
- Mike Damone — Busted for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets. Now working at 7-Eleven.
- Mr. Vargas — Switched back to coffee.
- Linda Barrett — Attending college in Riverside. Now living with her Abnormal Psych professor.
- Rat & Stacy — Having a passionate love affair. But still haven't gone all the way.
- Mr. Hand — Convinced everyone is on dope.
- Jeff Spicoli — Saved Brooke Shields from drowning. Blows reward money hiring Van Halen to play at his birthday party.
Cast
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music from the Motion Picture, peaked at #54 on the Billboard album chart. The movie score contains many quintessential '80's rock artists and was put together by Danny Elfman, a member of the rock band Oingo Boingo. Elfman would go on to become famous and much sought-after in the movie industry for doing film scores. He has been involved in numerous hit films in many different genres, such as Men in Black, Good Will Hunting and Milk, all of which received Academy Award nominations for their music scores.
Several of the movie's songs were released as singles, including Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby", which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[2] Other singles were the title track by Sammy Hagar, "So Much in Love" by Timothy B. Schmit and "Waffle Stomp" by Joe Walsh. In addition to Schmit and Walsh, the album features solo tracks by two other members of the Eagles, Don Henley and Don Felder. The soundtrack also included a track called "I Don't Know (Spicoli's Theme)" by Jimmy Buffett.
Four tracks in the film, but not included on the soundtrack are "Moving in Stereo" by The Cars, "American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "We Got The Beat" by The Go Go's and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
Amy Heckerling, in the DVD audio commentary, states that the '70s "classic rock" artists like the Eagles were the idea of one of the film's producers, even though no songs by the Eagles band are in the soundtrack. In fact, Irving Azoff, one of the movie's producers, was the personal manager for the Eagles.
Track listing
- "Somebody's Baby" (Jackson Browne) - 4:05
- "Waffle Stomp" (Joe Walsh) - 3:40
- "Love Rules" (Don Henley) - 4:05
- "Uptown Boys" (Louise Goffin) - 2:45
- "So Much in Love" (Timothy B. Schmit) - 2:25
- "Raised on the Radio" (The Ravyns) - 3:43
- "The Look in Your Eyes" (Gerard McMahon) - 4:00
- "Speeding" (The Go-Go's) - 2:11
- "Don't Be Lonely" (Quarterflash) - 3:18
- "Never Surrender" (Don Felder) - 4:15
- "Fast Times (The Best Years of Our Lives)" (Billy Squier) - 3:41
- "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (Sammy Hagar) - 3:36
- "I Don't Know (Spicoli's Theme)" (Jimmy Buffett) - 3:00
- "Love Is the Reason" (Graham Nash) - 3:31
- "I'll Leave It up to You" (Poco) - 2:55
- "Highway Runner" (Donna Summer) - 3:18
- "Sleeping Angel" (Stevie Nicks) - 3:55
- "She's My Baby (And She's Outta Control)" (Jost Palmer) - 2:53
- "Goodbye, Goodbye" (Oingo Boingo) - 4:34
Origins and production
The film is adapted from a book Crowe wrote after a year spent at Clairemont High School in San Diego, California. He went undercover to do research for his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, about his observations of the high school and the students he befriended there.[3] Heckerling shepherded the young cast, which included Nicolas Cage in his first feature-film role. He was credited as Nicolas Coppola for the only time. It was also the film debut for Eric Stoltz and provided early roles for Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker. Crowe's girlfriend at the time, and later, wife, Nancy Wilson of Heart, has a cameo as "Beautiful Girl in Corvette".
Filming locations
Fast Times was filmed in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles (although it is never explicitly mentioned as such in the film), and many people identify the movie with that area and the teen culture that existed there, or was perceived to exist there, in the early 1980s. "Ridgemont" is a fictional name. (There is a small suburban community named Ridgemont in northern California near Hollister.) Crowe likely named it after Clairemont High School in San Diego. (Spicoli mentions surfing at Sunset Cliffs, a genuine surf spot near San Diego.) Most of the exteriors of Ridgemont High School were shot at Van Nuys High School, and other scenes were shot at Canoga Park High School and Torrance High. The "Ridgemont Mall" shown in the film was actually the Sherman Oaks Galleria, with its exterior shot at Santa Monica Place. The actual mall has since been converted to an open-air mall. Santa Monica Place was also recently closed and the entrance that was used in the film will be renovated. "The Point" was filmed at the Encino Little League Field in Encino.
In the DVD commentary, director Amy Heckerling tells of how Phoebe Cates was initially reluctant to carry out her character's poolside topless scene at the house (on Welby Way in West Hills) because she thought the neighbors might be spying on the set from the surrounding rooftops.
Reception
Box office
Universal Pictures gave it a limited theatrical release on August 13, 1982, opening in 498 theaters. It earned $2.5 million in its opening weekend. The release was later widened to 713 theaters, earning $3.25 million and ranking 29th among US releases in 1982. The movie has since earned more than $27 million,[4] six times its $4.5 million budget, gaining popularity through television showings and home video releases.
Critical reception
The film has an 80 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5] However, it was panned by critics at the time. Roger Ebert called it a "scuz-pit of a movie", though he praised the performances by Leigh, Penn, Cates and Reinhold.[6] Janet Maslin wrote that it was "a jumbled but appealing teen-age comedy with something of a fresh perspective on the subject."[7]
Nominations, listings
Crowe's screenplay was nominated for a WGA Award for best comedy adapted from another medium. In 2005, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film ranks #87 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list, is #15 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies"[8] and is #2 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies".[9]
American Film Institute recognition
Television spinoff
The movie inspired a short-lived 1986 television series called Fast Times. Ray Walston and Vincent Schiavelli reprised their roles, respectively as Mr. Hand and Mr. Vargas, the biology teacher. Other cast members were Courtney Thorne-Smith as Stacey, Wally Ward as Mark, Claudia Wells as Linda, Patrick Dempsey as Mike, Dean Cameron as Spicoli and James Nardini as Brad.
Moon Unit Zappa provided "teenage consultation" for this TV series. She was hired in order to research slang terms and mannerisms of teenagers, as she had just graduated from high school at the time and had a much better grasp of then-current high school behavior than the writers.
References
Notes
- ^ Fast Times at Ridgemont High at the Internet Movie Cars Database, IMCDB.org
- ^ Charts and Awards, Allmusic.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083929/trivia
- ^ Fast Times at Ridgemont High at Box Office Mojo (retrieved on December 6, 2006).
- ^ Fast Times at Ridgemont High at Rotten Tomatoes (retrieved on December 6, 1982).
- ^ Ebert, Roger. 1982. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Chicago Sun-Times (retrieved on December 6, 2006).
- ^ Maslin, Janet. September 3, 1982. "Ridgemont High", New York Times (retrieved via registered-user account on December 6, 2006).
- ^ "Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies List is Laughable", Manroomonline.com, June 2, 2006.
- ^ [1], Entertainment Weekly.
External links
