Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling (in her feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, and starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Brian Backer, Robert Romanus, and Ray Walston.
[3] The film chronicles a school year in the lives of sophomores Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner and their older friends Linda Barrett and Mike Damone, 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, a perpetually stoned surfer facing off against history teacher Mr. Hand, and Stacy's older brother Brad, a popular senior who works in entry-level jobs to pay for his car and ponders ending his two-year relationship with his girlfriend Lisa.
He has a job at All-American Burger, his 1960 Buick LeSabre is almost paid for, and he plans to break up with his girlfriend Lisa so he can be single for his senior year.
His younger sister Stacy, a 15-year-old freshman, works at Perry's Pizza at Ridgemont Mall alongside her friend Linda Barrett, a fellow senior of Brad.
Mike Damone is a smooth-talker who fancies himself a worldly ladies' man and earns money taking sports bets and scalping concert tickets.
Mark "Rat" Ratner, Damone's shy but amiable best friend, works as an usher at the movie theater across from Perry's Pizza.
Rat meets Stacy in biology class (run by the awkward Sanka-drinking Mr. Vargas), is smitten with her, and takes her to a German restaurant.
He conceals his role in the damage by making it look like the car was destroyed by fans of Ridgemont's sports rival, Lincoln High School.
Stacy asks Brad to drive her and lies that she is going to a bowling alley to meet friends, but he sees her cross the street to the abortion clinic.
Spicoli saved Brooke Shields from drowning and blew the reward money hiring rock band Van Halen to play at his birthday party.
Other minor appearances include: The film is adapted from a book Cameron Crowe wrote after having spent a year at Clairemont High School in San Diego, California.
Crowe's future wife, Nancy Wilson of Heart, has a cameo as the "Beautiful Girl in Car" who laughs at Brad in his Captain Hook uniform during a traffic-light stop.
[12] Jennifer Jason Leigh stated that she prepared for the role of Stacy by rereading her own high school diaries and letters, as well as taking a job at the Sherman Oaks Galleria Perry's Pizza restaurant for three weeks.
[7] The soundtrack album Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music from the Motion Picture was released by Elektra Records on July 30, 1982.
Five tracks in the film 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, which is the movie's opening theme; Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir"; and "Winter Wonderland" by Darlene Love.
In addition, the live band at the prom dance during the end of the film played two songs also not on the soundtrack: The Eagles' "Life in the Fast Lane" and Sam the Sham's "Wooly Bully".
[7][21][22] The original scene was longer, as Heckerling wanted to portray what she felt was the awkwardness of teen sexuality realistically, and with gender equality when it came to showing nudity, as X-rated films up to that point had mostly shown only nude women.
[7] To secure the R rating needed for commercial release, the sex was drastically shortened in editing, and Heckerling re-cropped the full-frontal male nude scene in question.
[24] Positive word-of-mouth, with audiences showing up to repeat viewings and quoting dialogue from the film, prompted the studio to expand the release.
[25] The DVD included audio commentary with Heckerling and Crowe, as well as the making-of documentary "Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High".
The website's consensus reads, "While Fast Times at Ridgemont High features Sean Penn's legendary performance, the film endures because it accurately captured the small details of school, work, and teenage life.
The review read, "While neither as slapstick as Animal House, nor as apocalyptic and biting as Over the Edge, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is both serious and funny enough to hold its own in their company.
"[33] The review added the film presents "a portrait of modern school life that speaks lightly but truly to the fears and trials of post-Watergate teens".
[33] Speaking on earlier negative reactions to the film due to the sexual content, Heckerling said, "The whole theme, of even the title, is things are going too fast for young people.
In an essay written for the Criterion Collection edition in 2021, critic Dana Stevens wrote, "Fast Times is the polar opposite of exploitation.
Deep in its horny heart, this is the story of one fifteen-year-old girl's clumsy and sometimes painful introduction to the world of sex, related without judgment or preconception or the least hint of sentimentalization.
Heckerling's film is a raunchy crowd-pleaser replete with stoner humor, a masturbation gag, and a blow-job tutorial that makes use of school-cafeteria carrots.
[34] Neaves added that unlike most teen comedies of its time, which tended to "encourage misogyny as a comical gag", "Stacy's enthusiasm about sex is never shamed or used as a plot point to cast judgment over her character.
"[34] Fast Times has also received praise for its realistic depiction of the abortion scene, foregoing judgement or moralizing about the act itself and instead focusing on Damone's failure to support Stacy.