This film has been called one of the better of a disreputable genre, which is exactly right. No one (at least no healthy male :) should miss Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh's famous nude scenes, or Sean Penn's unforgettable performance as stoner Spicoli, with his classic one-line summary of Thomas Jefferson. Cameron Crowe made up the characters based on real teens from his year as an undercover high school senior. His script shows a rare ear for teen dialog and absurd situations. The film launched Sean Penn's long (some would say too long) and Phoebe Cates' short (some would say too short) careers.
Fast Times is an early classic of the film genre best represented by the John Hughes flicks of the late 80s (Molly Ringwald, Ferris Bueller). Unlike the gross-out Porky's or later slick ripoffs like Scream and American Pie, this movie is both funny and bittersweet. The whole teen-twenties category captured the late Boomers/Gen-X-er's struggling into adulthood without adult guidance, which is the subtext of Crowe's "fast times" - kids growing up too fast. Neither Crowe nor director Amy Heckerling offer explicit morals here, but the standard question of postwar American life - where *are* your parents? - floats in the background. As in Almost Famous, Crowe delivers devastating judgments without being the least preachy. Fast Times was released in 1982, at just the moment when American culture was leaving behind the decadent 70s and the Boomers were starting to have their own kids. Definitely a funny-sad snapshot of a bygone time.
http://home.earthlink.net/~donzig/Ferris_Saves/
Fast Times is an early classic of the film genre best represented by the John Hughes flicks of the late 80s (Molly Ringwald, Ferris Bueller). Unlike the gross-out Porky's or later slick ripoffs like Scream and American Pie, this movie is both funny and bittersweet. The whole teen-twenties category captured the late Boomers/Gen-X-er's struggling into adulthood without adult guidance, which is the subtext of Crowe's "fast times" - kids growing up too fast. Neither Crowe nor director Amy Heckerling offer explicit morals here, but the standard question of postwar American life - where *are* your parents? - floats in the background. As in Almost Famous, Crowe delivers devastating judgments without being the least preachy. Fast Times was released in 1982, at just the moment when American culture was leaving behind the decadent 70s and the Boomers were starting to have their own kids. Definitely a funny-sad snapshot of a bygone time.
http://home.earthlink.net/~donzig/Ferris_Saves/