Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

A group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs, and rock n' roll.

Director:

Amy Heckerling

Writers:

Cameron Crowe (screenplay), Cameron Crowe (book)

Stars:

Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

Follows a group of high school students growing up in southern California, based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for a love interest, and are helped along by their older classmates, Linda Barrett and Mike Damone, respectively. The center of the film is held by Jeff Spicoli, a perpetually stoned surfer dude who faces off with the resolute Mr. Hand, who is convinced that everyone is on dope.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | females talking about sex | female nudity | caught masturbating | title directed by female | 

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Taglines:

Hey Bud, Let's Party! [DVD]

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fast Times

Filming Locations:

Van Nuys Blvd & Vose St, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,545,674, 15 August 1982, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$27,092,880

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Refugee Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

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Goofs

When Mr. Hand is asking Spicoli about his truancy, he writes, "I don't know," on the chalkboard. As he does this there is a shot of the class where Stacy is wearing a completely different outfit than in the rest of the scene. It is established that she is wearing a brown sweater, beige pants and a brown headband, but in this one shot she is wearing a red vest over a pink shirt.

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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?

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Crazy Credits

"The End" appears on a video arcade game screen. The game is Atari's Missle Command (once all the player's cities have been destroyed).

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Alternate Versions

In broadcast television, Ron breaks up with Stacy after finding out her real age.

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: Clueless/An Awfully Big Adventure/Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home/Living in Oblivion/Bandit Queen (1995)

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Soundtracks

Kashmir
Performed by Led Zeppelin
Written by Jimmy Page (uncredited) & Robert Plant (uncredited) with John Bonham (uncredited)
Courtesy of Swan Song, Inc.

User Reviews

Required viewing for surviving the eighties

All throughout the decade of pencil-thin neckties and Pat Benatar look-alikes, various films came along that served to embody the times. "Valley Girl" (which introduced us to Nicholas Cage) and "Secret Admirer" were just a drop in the proverbial bucket. Amy Heckerling's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was the textbook definition of life as a teenager in the eighties and remains so to this day. The story was brought to life in a very unique way that hasn't been duplicated since:

There was no actual plot to speak of. This was just...High School.

It's a film about a group of kids looking for love, status, or a good buzz. The film was nothing more than that, and it didn't pretend to be more. In addition, Cameron Crowe's script made you *care* about what these kids went through as if their individual situations were happening to us (as they may very well have). It's almost a crime that a sequel was never made, although a mediocre TV series was spawned. Armed with a cast of characters that struck a chord with all of us (primarily because we knew someone in High School who acted just like them), and a soundtrack that reeked of the Mark Goodman-J.J. Jackson era of MTV, this film stands as a perfect portrait of a decade a lot of us say we'd like to forget....shortly before brushing the dust off an old Night Ranger cassette and indulging in a guilty pleasure.