Connect with us
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Image: Universal Pictures

Film

Crowe’s Canon: Marking 40 Years of Fast Times at Ridgemont High

At Ridgemont High Only the Rules get Busted!

Revisiting Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is not only one of the best teen movies of the 1980s, but it’s one that has one of the best backstories. 

Cameron Crowe was in his early 20s — though as everyone who has seen Almost Famous knows, his journalism career started in his mid-teens — when he went back to high school undercover to survey what was going on, and the result was 1981’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story.”

The book resulted in the following year in the movie of the same name, for which Crowe wrote the screenplay, in his first-ever big screen credit. Amy Heckerling made her directorial debut with the film, which was in the perfect wheelhouse of teen movies: Sexually frank, right up to the inclusion of an abortion subplot, but not too crass or exploitative. Heckerling would land the same dynamic 13 years later with Clueless

Overall, Fast Times was a much more honest depiction of teen life than the entire John Hughes canon that would follow. 

Sean Penn
Image: Universal Pictures

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was released in August of 1982, 40 years ago this week. It’s also notable for featuring very young versions of a lot of famous performers, starting with Sean Penn. He played the iconic surfer/stoner Jeff Spicoli, at a time in his career when he had a sense of humor about himself. Spicoli was a truly wonderful character, an original, who never succumbed to the laziness so often associated with stoners on screen. 

Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was 20 at the time, convincingly played the pivotal role of a young teenager, though Phoebe Cates, playing her older, more worldly best friend, was actually younger at the time. Judge Reinhold, 25 at the time of the movie’s release, was a much less believable teenager as Brad, the film’s protagonist. The other male leads, Robert Romanus and Brian Backer were also well into their 20s at the time. 

The film also features very young versions of Forrest Whitaker, Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, and Anthony Edwards. 

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Some of the humor is pretty specific to the early ’80s, although it remains funny, such as when a guy going on a date is told to impress a girl by playing the first side of “Led Zeppelin IV.” 

And yes, of course, the movie is perhaps best known for the scene of Phoebe Cates coming out of the pool, although rather than pure voyeurism, the scene’s punchline is Brad’s humiliation when he’s caught looking.

Roger Ebert may have called Fast Times “a scuzpit of a movie,” but it’s a lot funnier, and not nearly as gross, as Porky’s, which arrived the year before. And in addition to actually giving the female characters something close to equal time, it also acknowledges that girls get horny too, which most such films at the time never quite got around to doing. 

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Image: Universal Pictures

Some have called Fast Times “problematic,” although it’s not as though the film is endorsing, say, sex between a guy in his 20s and a 15-year-old girl, or homophobic slurs, or vulgar graffiti. 

While it certainly doesn’t approach the material the way a teen movie set in the present day would, Fast Times at Ridgemont High certainly holds up- and remains very funny.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is available to stream on Peacock. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Written By

Stephen Silver is a journalist and film critic based in the Philadelphia area. He is the co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and a Rotten Tomatoes-listed critic since 2008, and his work has appeared in New York Press, Philly Voice, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Tablet, The Times of Israel, and RogerEbert.com. In 2009, he became the first American journalist to interview both a sitting FCC chairman and a sitting host of "Jeopardy" on the same day.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Kendall David Rivers

    May 19, 2023 at 10:04 pm

    Stephen, Nice article. And for the idiots who called it problematic they’re probably just mad because they’re still pathetic losers now as they were in high school so of course they have zero sense of humor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

Is Andy Allo Pregnancy Rumors Real Or Fake? Is Andy Allo Pregnancy Rumors Real Or Fake?

Is Andy Allo Pregnancy Rumors Real Or Fake?

Celebrity

Christian Stracke Net Worth 2024 Christian Stracke Net Worth 2024

Christian Stracke Net Worth 2024

Celebrity

Jackson Taylor's Death Jackson Taylor's Death

Cause Of Jackson Taylor’s Death: The Shocking Details of His Fatal Accident!

Celebrity

Is Country Legend Alan Jackson Dead At 64? Is Country Legend Alan Jackson Dead At 64?

Is Country Legend Alan Jackson Dead At 64?

Celebrity

Is Taraji P Henson Pregnant In 2023? Is Taraji P Henson Pregnant In 2023?

Is Taraji P Henson Pregnant In 2023?

Celebrity

Who Is David Rives? Who Is Jenna Ellis's First Husband? Who Is David Rives? Who Is Jenna Ellis's First Husband?

Who Is David Rives? Who Is Jenna Ellis’s First Husband?

Celebrity

Who Is Terri Ficca and Why Is She Going Viral on the Internet? Who Is Terri Ficca and Why Is She Going Viral on the Internet?

Who Is Terri Ficca and Why Is She Going Viral on the Internet?

Celebrity

Who Is Lola Consuelos's Boyfriend Who Is Lola Consuelos's Boyfriend

Who Is Lola Consuelos’s Boyfriend: About Her Dating History

Celebrity

Who Is Samantha Woll Husband? Who Is Samantha Woll Husband?

Who Is Samantha Woll Husband? Secrets Revealed

Celebrity

Travis Kelce’s Wife and The Surprising Rise to Fame of Travis Kelce

Celebrity

What Happened to Rev. Bryan Dunagan? Cause of Death Revealed What Happened to Rev. Bryan Dunagan? Cause of Death Revealed

What Happened to Rev. Bryan Dunagan? Cause of Death Revealed

Celebrity

Is Suki Waterhouse Pregnant? Fact Check Is Suki Waterhouse Pregnant? Fact Check

Is Suki Waterhouse Pregnant? Fact Check

Celebrity

Are Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin Married? Discover The Love Journey Between The Couple Are Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin Married? Discover The Love Journey Between The Couple

Are Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin Married? Discover The Love Journey Between The Couple

Celebrity

Candace Parker Net Worth: Unraveling the Basketball Star’s Path to Wealth, Legacy

Celebrity

Caliphate Season 2 Release Date Caliphate Season 2 Release Date

Breaking: Caliphate Season 2 Release Date, Cast, Spoilers, Trailer, Plot, and Every Newest Update!

TV

Gwyneth Paltrow Pays Tribute to Her ex Matthew Perry

Celebrity

Connect