"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is writer Cameron Crowe´s cult coming-of-age film that helped launch the career of actor Sean Penn. Featuring an ensemble cast of familiar faces from Eighties pop culture, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" has cemented itself as a seminal teen comedy with its strong sexual themes and glamorization of drug use that have carried on today with films such as "American Pie," "Dude, Where´s My Car?" and "Road Trip." Many characters, situations and elements from the film are still a familiar part of pop culture references and many of the actors that appeared in this film have went on to have very good film careers. In addition to Sean Penn, fellow Academy Award winners Nicolas Cage and Forest Whitaker were unknowns when they took a role in director Amy Heckerling´s film.
The film is a look at love and lust through high school years. Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a high school freshman who has just turned fifteen. She works with the sexually experienced and active Linda (Phoebe Cates) and has a strong interest in finding a boyfriend and having sexual experiences. She lusts for a number of men and has no fears in being aggressive in her pursuits. Her brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) is a senior who views himself as a successful male after a long career at a fast food restaurant. He has strong urges for Linda, but tries to remain composed and mature as his life starts to fall apart during his senior year. Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) works across the way at the mall from Stacy and has a huge crush on the pretty freshman girl. His friend Damone (Robert Romanus) has a high opinion of his own suaveness and tries to educate Rat on getting the girl of his dreams.
Stacy is seduced by an older man who thinks Stacy is much older. This opens up her thirst for sex and she agrees to a date with Rat. However, when her forward advances sent Rat leaving in a panic, she is sexually unfulfilled and loses interest in the boy. Her next victim is Rat´s friend Damone and he has no problem having a quick and nervous sexual encounter with Stacy, which leads to problems between Mark and Stacy and Mark and Rat. After this encounter, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" grows up quick and moves away from being a comedy about drugs, rebellion and sex and morphs into becoming a serious look at teenage responsibility due to the consequences about spontaneous sex.
Surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is another example of how the film utilizes comedy to build a case early in the film and then prove a serious point by exposing the consequences. He is the adversarial student of teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and is routinely truant in his classroom attendance and seemingly does what he can to perturb Mr. Hand during class. When Spicoli has no chance of passing Walston´s class and resorts to filling in quiz answers in the shape of a surfboard, he is certain to fail and the concerned teacher ruins Spicoli´s planned evening and shows up at his house to educate him on history and make up for time wasted after Spicoli was so disruptive during Mr. Hand´s classroom time.
Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe found his big break as the writer of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and quickly moved on to become a very successful director. He followed his success as the writer of this film with the coming-of-age romantic comedy "Say Anything," the Seattle music scene film "Singles," his biggest hit "Jerry Maguire," the autobiographical "Almost Famous" and other films. The characters of this story are still among his most memorable and best written. There are not many people who do now know who Jeff Spicoli is; with both Cameron Crowe´s writing and Sean Penn´s acting deserving equal credit. Crowe´s love of music bleeds through the frames as well, as the soundtrack for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is very solid. The music, the humor, the story and the performances of this film keep "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" a highly entertaining film a quarter of a century after its theatrical release.
The film is a look at love and lust through high school years. Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a high school freshman who has just turned fifteen. She works with the sexually experienced and active Linda (Phoebe Cates) and has a strong interest in finding a boyfriend and having sexual experiences. She lusts for a number of men and has no fears in being aggressive in her pursuits. Her brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) is a senior who views himself as a successful male after a long career at a fast food restaurant. He has strong urges for Linda, but tries to remain composed and mature as his life starts to fall apart during his senior year. Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) works across the way at the mall from Stacy and has a huge crush on the pretty freshman girl. His friend Damone (Robert Romanus) has a high opinion of his own suaveness and tries to educate Rat on getting the girl of his dreams.
Stacy is seduced by an older man who thinks Stacy is much older. This opens up her thirst for sex and she agrees to a date with Rat. However, when her forward advances sent Rat leaving in a panic, she is sexually unfulfilled and loses interest in the boy. Her next victim is Rat´s friend Damone and he has no problem having a quick and nervous sexual encounter with Stacy, which leads to problems between Mark and Stacy and Mark and Rat. After this encounter, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" grows up quick and moves away from being a comedy about drugs, rebellion and sex and morphs into becoming a serious look at teenage responsibility due to the consequences about spontaneous sex.
Surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is another example of how the film utilizes comedy to build a case early in the film and then prove a serious point by exposing the consequences. He is the adversarial student of teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and is routinely truant in his classroom attendance and seemingly does what he can to perturb Mr. Hand during class. When Spicoli has no chance of passing Walston´s class and resorts to filling in quiz answers in the shape of a surfboard, he is certain to fail and the concerned teacher ruins Spicoli´s planned evening and shows up at his house to educate him on history and make up for time wasted after Spicoli was so disruptive during Mr. Hand´s classroom time.
Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe found his big break as the writer of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and quickly moved on to become a very successful director. He followed his success as the writer of this film with the coming-of-age romantic comedy "Say Anything," the Seattle music scene film "Singles," his biggest hit "Jerry Maguire," the autobiographical "Almost Famous" and other films. The characters of this story are still among his most memorable and best written. There are not many people who do now know who Jeff Spicoli is; with both Cameron Crowe´s writing and Sean Penn´s acting deserving equal credit. Crowe´s love of music bleeds through the frames as well, as the soundtrack for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is very solid. The music, the humor, the story and the performances of this film keep "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" a highly entertaining film a quarter of a century after its theatrical release.
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is writer Cameron Crowe´s cult coming-of-age film that helped launch the career of actor Sean Penn. Featuring an ensemble cast of familiar faces from Eighties pop culture, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" has cemented itself as a seminal teen comedy with its strong sexual themes and glamorization of drug use that have carried on today with films such as "American Pie," "Dude, Where´s My Car?" and "Road Trip." Many characters, situations and elements from the film are still a familiar part of pop culture references and many of the actors that appeared in this film have went on to have very good film careers. In addition to Sean Penn, fellow Academy Award winners Nicolas Cage and Forest Whitaker were unknowns when they took a role in director Amy Heckerling´s film.
The film is a look at love and lust through high school years. Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a high school freshman who has just turned fifteen. She works with the sexually experienced and active Linda (Phoebe Cates) and has a strong interest in finding a boyfriend and having sexual experiences. She lusts for a number of men and has no fears in being aggressive in her pursuits. Her brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) is a senior who views himself as a successful male after a long career at a fast food restaurant. He has strong urges for Linda, but tries to remain composed and mature as his life starts to fall apart during his senior year. Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) works across the way at the mall from Stacy and has a huge crush on the pretty freshman girl. His friend Damone (Robert Romanus) has a high opinion of his own suaveness and tries to educate Rat on getting the girl of his dreams.
Stacy is seduced by an older man who thinks Stacy is much older. This opens up her thirst for sex and she agrees to a date with Rat. However, when her forward advances sent Rat leaving in a panic, she is sexually unfulfilled and loses interest in the boy. Her next victim is Rat´s friend Damone and he has no problem having a quick and nervous sexual encounter with Stacy, which leads to problems between Mark and Stacy and Mark and Rat. After this encounter, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" grows up quick and moves away from being a comedy about drugs, rebellion and sex and morphs into becoming a serious look at teenage responsibility due to the consequences about spontaneous sex.
Surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is another example of how the film utilizes comedy to build a case early in the film and then prove a serious point by exposing the consequences. He is the adversarial student of teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and is routinely truant in his classroom attendance and seemingly does what he can to perturb Mr. Hand during class. When Spicoli has no chance of passing Walston´s class and resorts to filling in quiz answers in the shape of a surfboard, he is certain to fail and the concerned teacher ruins Spicoli´s planned evening and shows up at his house to educate him on history and make up for time wasted after Spicoli was so disruptive during Mr. Hand´s classroom time.
Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe found his big break as the writer of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and quickly moved on to become a very successful director. He followed his success as the writer of this film with the coming-of-age romantic comedy "Say Anything," the Seattle music scene film "Singles," his biggest hit "Jerry Maguire," the autobiographical "Almost Famous" and other films. The characters of this story are still among his most memorable and best written. There are not many people who do now know who Jeff Spicoli is; with both Cameron Crowe´s writing and Sean Penn´s acting deserving equal credit. Crowe´s love of music bleeds through the frames as well, as the soundtrack for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is very solid. The music, the humor, the story and the performances of this film keep "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" a highly entertaining film a quarter of a century after its theatrical release.
The film is a look at love and lust through high school years. Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a high school freshman who has just turned fifteen. She works with the sexually experienced and active Linda (Phoebe Cates) and has a strong interest in finding a boyfriend and having sexual experiences. She lusts for a number of men and has no fears in being aggressive in her pursuits. Her brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) is a senior who views himself as a successful male after a long career at a fast food restaurant. He has strong urges for Linda, but tries to remain composed and mature as his life starts to fall apart during his senior year. Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) works across the way at the mall from Stacy and has a huge crush on the pretty freshman girl. His friend Damone (Robert Romanus) has a high opinion of his own suaveness and tries to educate Rat on getting the girl of his dreams.
Stacy is seduced by an older man who thinks Stacy is much older. This opens up her thirst for sex and she agrees to a date with Rat. However, when her forward advances sent Rat leaving in a panic, she is sexually unfulfilled and loses interest in the boy. Her next victim is Rat´s friend Damone and he has no problem having a quick and nervous sexual encounter with Stacy, which leads to problems between Mark and Stacy and Mark and Rat. After this encounter, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" grows up quick and moves away from being a comedy about drugs, rebellion and sex and morphs into becoming a serious look at teenage responsibility due to the consequences about spontaneous sex.
Surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is another example of how the film utilizes comedy to build a case early in the film and then prove a serious point by exposing the consequences. He is the adversarial student of teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston) and is routinely truant in his classroom attendance and seemingly does what he can to perturb Mr. Hand during class. When Spicoli has no chance of passing Walston´s class and resorts to filling in quiz answers in the shape of a surfboard, he is certain to fail and the concerned teacher ruins Spicoli´s planned evening and shows up at his house to educate him on history and make up for time wasted after Spicoli was so disruptive during Mr. Hand´s classroom time.
Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe found his big break as the writer of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and quickly moved on to become a very successful director. He followed his success as the writer of this film with the coming-of-age romantic comedy "Say Anything," the Seattle music scene film "Singles," his biggest hit "Jerry Maguire," the autobiographical "Almost Famous" and other films. The characters of this story are still among his most memorable and best written. There are not many people who do now know who Jeff Spicoli is; with both Cameron Crowe´s writing and Sean Penn´s acting deserving equal credit. Crowe´s love of music bleeds through the frames as well, as the soundtrack for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" is very solid. The music, the humor, the story and the performances of this film keep "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" a highly entertaining film a quarter of a century after its theatrical release.
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