| | | | Fast Times At Ridgemont High
(1982) |
ast Times At Ridgemont High is a true 80's masterpiece, capturing the culture of the period like a time capsule.
Written by "Say Anything" and, more recently, "Almost Famous" writer director Cameron Crowe, Fast Times is the film version of his novel that resulted from a spell undercover in a Californian High School.
Whilst receiving little critical acclaim or awards, the fact remains it is in fact a very well made movie, with many catchy one-liners and comical characters. Despite the studio hating the movie upon completion, it went on to great success and remains one of the most influential teen movies of trhe decade.
Rather than the popcorn fluff view of high school, Crowe and Heckerling show a revealing and accurate cross section of the student body, with their aims and desires (both good and bad) on show for all to see.
The story centers around no one person, instead showing the events that occur in the lives of several of the broadly different "clicks" of students that attend Ridgemont High.
The surfers and their clan, the girls and the dweebs stories are all intertwined, with their social and economic centers being focussed on "the mall". This is a masterstroke because by not tying itself down to one main character, it has the ability to show us the highs and lows of all walks of life.
Although a very funny movie in many parts, the film also contained many serious messages, like the true nature of abortion and the repercussions of unprotected sex.
Perhaps the most memorable character in the movie is the "spaced out" "surfer dude", Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn). His antics in Mr Hand's class are nothing short of Hilarious and it is in the pizza delivery scene that we see the debut of Russell the pizza boy, who was later destined to become yet another pizza boy in a masterpiece of the 90's, "Bio Dome".
The movie shows the good, the bad and the ugly, all present in any high school, all warmly wrapped up in a package that seems very nostalgic.
This movie is a true piece of 80's nostalgia, portraying the decade perfectly. It also introduced a scary number of Hollywood's brightest stars including Nicolas Cage, Judge Reinhold, Sean Penn, Antony Edwards, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Don't forget that Fast Times At Ridgemont High is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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| | | |  Fast Times is a serious movie, it is no laugh fest from beginning to end, this will appeal to many to have a side of seriousness with the main comedy course, but to others it may just frustrate.
The acting is done very well and is a credit to almost all of those involved, but perhaps it can be said that the female characters in this movie come accross as a little too material for their own good.
The 80's portrayed as it was, cutting out the "try hard" decade references and still managing to retain the decade theme.
Overall an "Awesome" movie that deserves you attention... And you can watch it every day for a month and not get brain damage, unlike Jeff's weed.
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To develop the idea, Cameron Crowe actually spent a year at Clairemont High School in San Diego posing as a student. This was done with the permission of the school administration and allowed Crowe first hand exposure to the realities of the American high school experience in the early 1980's. The characters in the book and movie are based on real people and all of the events described in the book and film actually happened.
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Writer Cameron Crowe also wrote and directed "Say Anything" and became very popular in the late 90's with movies like "Jerry Maguire" (1996) and "Almost Famous" (2000).
The original title of 'Fast Times' was 'Stairway to Heaven', as Crowe began writing it after his fast track education and time writing for Rolling Stone Magazine and on the road with Zeppelin at 15, (see almost famous, life imitating art??) Crowe wanted to write about the experience he missed and found the entire school year was about Zeppelin coming to town' only for the tour to be cancelled after Bonham died. -Thanks to Jen
Amy Heckerling who directed "Fast Times..." also wrote and directed the 1995 movie "Clueless"- In the short lived T.V series which followed, one particular episode saw the shows main character Cher (played by Rachel Blanchard, as aposed to the movies Alicia Silverstone) develop a crush on a pizza delivery boy, to seduce him, Cher asks for the pizza to be delivered beside the pool, what follows is a scene of Cher (in slow motion) emerging from the pool, drenched and an obvious homage to Pheobe Cates memorable scene in Fast times... This idea was also spoofed in the video for the song "Stacey's Mom" by the band Fountains of Wayne. -Thanks to Joe Wheeler
The alternative rock group "Damone" took it's name from the character Damone.
The front of the mall which is shown in the opening credits is not the Sherman Oaks mall, but the mall in Santa Monica, which can still be seen today. The Sherman Oaks Mall had to be destroyed due to heavy damage done during the Northridge earthquake. -Thanks to Jason
Andy Rathbone was the student Cameron Crowe based Mark "Rat" Ratner on. Rathbone was known as "the rat" in high school, and was initially extremely upset at the portrayal of his character. He said that Crowe only accentuated his bad attributes and gave cool things he had done to other characters, such as ordering a pizza during class - that was done by Jeff Spicolli in the film but done by Rathbone in real life. Crowe said he worked diligently to "disguise" all the characters and give them mixed personalities so as NOT to point to anyone specifically. Rathbone has since grown to appreciate the role. He is now famous in his own right for creating the "for Dummies" help books series, which he writes with his wife. -Thanks to Rene Thurston
In the Ridgemont High book, it was actually Ratner who ordered the pizza, but when the film was being made, they decided it was cooler if Spicoli did it.
Nicolas Cage is the nephew of famed director Francis Ford Coppola. In this movie he appears under the name Nicolas Coppola for the first and only time. Nicolas Cage might have had a bigger role in the movie, but he was just 17 when it was getting made, and thus couldn't take on a meatier part -Thanks to Hector
Nicholas "Cage" Coppola appears only four times in the movie. First, he's standing in line listening to Brad (Judge Reinhold) when Arnold comes up to ask for a job at All American Burger. Two, when Brad gets fired, and he looks at the two guys in the grill, the two guys quickly hang their heads, well, the guy on the right is Nick. Third, is a quick shot of him in the crowd cheering at the football game.Fourth time...during the opening sequences, While "An American Girl" by Tom Petty is playing, He's the guy in the green jacket with a green hat and red backpack that's putting a sign on another guy's back that says "I'm a homo". He had no speaking parts. -Thanks to John W. Evans III
Nicholas Cage had two speaking scenes. First is in the gym when Stacy tells her brother she has Mr. Hand U.S. History first period. Clearly you can see Brad (Rhinehold) & his two buddies, one of which is Nicholas Cage, they are all saying "OOOOH MR. Hand Aloha" and when Stacy leaves the scene Nicholas Cage says "Brad, your sister is turing into a fox". The other scene is when Brad arrives at school in his blue car. His two buddies are waiting for him, one of them is Nicholas Cage, before brad gets out his car you hear Cage say "Big Cruising Missile". THE gym scene where N.Cage talks about Brad's sister is only in the Cable T.V version. -Thanks to Chris
Damone, the film character, is actually a mesh of two book characters. This bummed me out big time when I realized this -- Damone is one of my favorite movie characters of all time!
The girl in the car that pulls up next to Brad when he's in his pirate uniform is, I believe, Nancy Wilson from the group "Heart". She was Cameron Crowe's girlfriend at the time. They later married and remain so. -Thanks to Charles Stump &Amp; Steven Strauss
Anthony Edwards (ER) and Eric Stoltz play Spicoli's 'stoner buds'. It was actually Anthony Edward's first film role. -Thanks to Jeff Kennedy
According to Amy Heckerling (the films director); Sean Penn and pals were actually smoking marijuana in the van as they exited for the prom.
After initial review, the MPAA gave the film a X rating, resulting from a full-frontal nudity scene in the pool house at Stacy & Brad's house. It was later re-edited for an R-rating. -Thanks to Matthew Smith
There were actually TWO reasons the MPAA decided to give Fast Times At Ridgemont High an X rating. First and foremost was because of a full frontal nude shot of Robert Ramanus (Damone) during the pool house love scene with Jennifer Jason Leigh. Now, the SECOND reason is because of a filmed, but cut scene of Jennifer Jason Leigh (Stacey) having an abortion done. In the film, we see Brad's reaction to Stacey walking across the street from the bowling alley and going into the hospital which is IMMEDIATELY followed by a nurse telling Stacey she can go home if she has a ride. Between these two scenes was a scene that showed Stacey actually getting the abortion done. After a negative test screening, the scene was cut along with the pool house scene. Stills from this sequence can be found on the E! Special, "Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The E! True Hollywood Story". -Thanks to Phil Smith
The aforementioned hospital scene (or parts from it, not seen in the theatrical release) now appears in the cable TV version. -Thanks to Kevin Miller
There are several scenes that appear only in the television broadcast version of the film; including Brad's meeting with his guidance counsellor, Mr. Hand signing yearbooks at the prom and a story about how Spicoli received a pick from Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. There are also several soundtrack alterations. -Thanks to Matthew Smith
The film was released only on the West Coast initially, as there was fear that the rest of the country "wouldn't understand" the feel of the film. After initial success, it received full nationwide distribution. -Thanks to Matthew Smith
Bruce Springsteen's sister, Pamela Springsteen, is credited in the movie. She's the brunette cheerleader during the PeP Rally. Pamela Springsteen would go on to play the murderous Angela Baker in the Sleepaway Camp sequels. -Thanks to Mason
Cameron Crowe makes a cameo appearance as one of the students in Mr. Hand's class. He can be seen sitting in the back row as one of the many students that received an F on the papers Mr. Hand is handing back.
Cameron Crowe WAS NOT in a cameo seated in the back of Mr. Hand's class. He WAS shown, in some versions of the film, being led off in handcuffs by police at the mall.
Jennifer Jason Leigh actually worked at Perry's Pizza (the place her character, Stacy worked at) before she landed the part in the film.
Stacy & Linda were actually both naked in a hot tub. This contributed to earning the film an X-rating, so the scene was cut & the setting was changed to the school cafeteria.
Sean Penn dated Bruce Springsteen's sister, Pamela Springsteen (she was the the brunette cheerleader in the pep rally) in the early '80s.
Brian Backer said Jennifer Jason Leigh & her family were the sweetest people he knew, they allowed him to stay at their house for no charge till filming wrapped being that he flew down to star in the film from his hometown of Brooklyn, NY & was pretty broke. -Thanks to Stephanie
Amanda Wyss, who plays Lisa, Brad's girlfriend in the movie, also appeared in another cult 80's teen hit, "A Nightmare On Elm Street". -Thanks to Juan
Pheobe Cates and Judge Reinhold also starred together in another popular 80's movie, "Gremlins". -Thanks to Stacy Johnson
The woman who plays Mrs. Vargas, wife of the science teacher, is none other than Lana Clarkson, the woman who Phil Spector is accused of murdering. Clarkson died of a gunshot wound, aged 40, at Spector's house on February 3, 2003. -Thanks to DPC And Lori, Dave And Robert Duff
The guy who plays Hamilton's boss at the Pirate Restaurant is Stuart Cornfeld who went to film school with Amy Heckerling. He has numerous one-liners in many films, most recent was 'Old School', as the taxi driver in the beginning of the film. He is the other half of the production company, Red Hour Films, co-owned by Ben Stiller. -Thanks to Samantha Taylor
In the lunchroom scene where Phoebe Cates is schooling Jennifer Jason Leigh on how to give a man head, Ralph Macchio of "Karate Kid" fame is among the group of guys seated at the opposite table that starts clapping. -Thanks to Gene Wright
The type of car (Jeffersons') that Spicoli and Jefferson's little brother wreck is a 1979 Z28 Camaro. -Thanks to Beancounter
Named as one of AFI's 100 Funniest Movies of all time.
This movie was followed by a brief TV series "Fast Times" in 1986.
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Fast Times At Ridgemont High or 80's Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... License To Drive ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
| | | | Nicolas Cage actually taunted the rest of the cast of "Fast Times" by bragging about his Uncle Francis Ford Coppola- he told all the other young actors that he would be famous faster than any of them, because he had the connections. After a few weeks of this, the cast started to strike back at Nicolas by doing imitations of Robert DuVall in Apocalypse Now, which finally got Cage to stop bragging about his famous family. My brother was an extra in all the high school scenes, and saw this happen. He also said that Sean Penn was dating Pamela Springsteen and Eric Stolz was dating Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Phoebe Cates was dating Timothy Hutton who was always hanging around. -Thanks to Michelle
Universal Studios HATED 'Fast Times' and decided to take away the Eastern Coast theatres thinking it was going to bomb.
Judge Reinhold was the boyfriend of Amy Heckerling's best friend, who was also doing casting. He got the part anyway without the producers knowing.
The cast of the film said Nicolas Cage (Nicholas Coppola at the time) was in the film because of his uncle & some of the actors would stand outside his trailer & recite a version of Robert Duvall's famous line from Apocalypse Now "I love napalm in the morning," altering it to "I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning." -Thanks to Stephanie
Spicolli's dream sequence was actually written and filmed after the film was wrapped. After beginning the editing process, Amy, Art and Azimoff realized how great Spicoli had been acted by Penn, and that they needed to beef up Penn's role in the film.
Penn had to fly back to LA, in between another job in Chicago. Because Cameron wrote the lines the day of the shoot, they used cue cards offscreen to help Penn. The cue cards of the infamous lines 'Those guys are fags!' hang to this day on the walls of Cameron's home. -Thanks to Steve Shasta
Sean drove the cast & director Amy Heckerling crazy with only wanting to be referred to as Spicoli & staying in character even after filming. He was never Sean till filming wrapped.
The role of Mr. Hand was originally offered to Fred Gywnne, who turned it down because he was offended by the sexual content in the film.
Oops! After Brad gets fired & punches the bathroom door, the sound doesn't come until after he has punched it.
Spicoli's pizza is supposed to be extra cheese & sausage but when the pizza's shown, there's clearly no sausage! -Thanks to Stephanie
Mr. Hand was wrong about the Platt Amendment! He tells his class that the Platt Amendment was "a piece of legislation introduced into Congress by Senator John Platt. It was passed in 1906. This amendment to our Constitution has a profound impact upon all of our daily ..." (He stops because he notices that Spicoli is absent.) The senator's name was Orville H. Platt, not John. The legislation was introduced in 1901. The Platt Amendment was not an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but, rather, to the Cuban Constitution. (It's major impact was to keep European nations away from Cuba and it led to the establishment of Guantanamo Bay.) -Thanks to Duane
In the scene were Jeff Spicolli has to be brought to class by a fellow classmate (the scene when he comes in with the bagel in his pants) there is a blooper with the clothing on the boy in the front row. When Mr. Hand is writing the famous "I Don't Know" on the board, it shows the class reaction as he is writing it. Take note of the boy on the left hand side of the screen in the front row, they first show him with his vest off. Then they show him again and the vest is clearly on. You may reconize this boy, because he played one of the geeks in John Hughes' "16 Candles." -Thanks to Tom Blank
Hey there, I noticed after watching this movie so many times, lol, that Stacy, before she goes to get her abortion, calls and asks if Mike is there and his mom tells her he is helping his father in the garage and he will call her later. Then,in the scene when Mike is leaving in the morning and sees the sign on his car, it seems that he lives in an apartment, meaning they don't have a garage! -Thanks to Jr
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|  |  |  | | Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Locations |
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Featured Movie Location: The High School Wanna see the real life filming location used for The High School in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at Van Nuys High, located in Van Nuys, S. California. [New! Show Google Map]
Van Nuys was also the school from the movie "Christine", "Rock & Roll High School" as well as "Life Goes On" and "The Wonder Years". For the TV series, they used a closed High School in Glendale instead of Van Nuys High. [Thanks to Mike Martin]
Canoga Park High School, 6850 Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Canoga Park was used for some other scenes.
The mall scenes were shot at the Sherman Oaks Galleria [Now demolished], 15303 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, CA. The Sherman Oaks galeria has been rebuilt with a lot of business offices and eating establishments. They basically tore it down to the frame and re-used the frame that they could. [Thanks to Anastasi Scourtis and Carl Yuan]
The scene where Jennifer Leigh has her "one night stand" in the beginning of the movie and ends up pregnant is the Franklin Fields baseball dugout. This is across the wash from my old high school Birmingham High in Van Nuys (which is now called Lake Balboa). [Thanks to Matthew Malone]
Despite The DVD telling us that All American Burger (where Brad works a part-time job in the movie) is now a Starbucks, many people have written in to say that it is still open today and in the same location along Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood California.
The All American Burger on Sunset Blvd. is still there, but the one shown in the movie was located in Westwood, CA and now really is a Starbucks. [Thanks to Hank Hardison]
The school used to film the scene where Damone, Ratner's friend, the scalper who called him a wuss, promised to pay for the girl's abortion is the long closed (since 1981) Excelsior High School in Norwalk, CA. [Thanks to Carol Landi]
Excelsior High in Norwalk has been remodeled and reopened since its closing, and stands on the original site it once did. I believe it is on Alondra Blvd in Norwalk. [Thanks to Brian Doyle]
(This location was also the location where the scene in Grease where Olivia Newton John tries to make John travolta jealous by talking to a jock and John Travolta trips and falls on his face [Thanks to J. Garcia]
The scene where Brad gets upset while wearing the pirate gear, throws everything out the window, including the food, was filmed on Chatsworth Street, at the Zelza Cross Street. He's traveling east on Chatsworth, if you look at the businesses there, they are still present to this day. [Thanks to Jeri]
Pizza Guy, the people who delivered Spicoli's pie are on Moorpark St. in Studio City, California.
Brad & Stacy's house is located at 24124 Welby Way in Canoga Park, CA -The pool is still there! [Thanks to Diamond Tim Pleshaw and Chuck Johnson]
The Mi-T Mart where Hamilton was robbed is on Santa Monica Boulevard by Brockton. It's right next to a car dealership. [Thanks to CG211 and Craig]
There's a Mi-T-Mart on the SW corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Westgate Ave. in West LA. I'm not sure if it is the same Mi-T-Mart used in the movie, but it has the same interior layout (albeit everything looks older now) and it is very close to the other shooting locations. [Thanks to Peter]
The Fish & Chips Brad worked at, when the order for the "boys at IBM" came, was located in Panorama City at the corner of Van Nuys Blvd. and Nordoff. [Thanks to Gary Bernat]
Other locations used include: Clark Community Center, La Crescenta; Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA
Can you help? Do you know any of the S. California (or any other) filming locations used for Fast Times At Ridgemont High, particularly the store he worked at when he got robbed? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes |
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| | | | | The soundtrack was thankfully re-released on CD in 1995. Track listing:
1. Somebody's Baby - Jackson Browne 2. Waffle Stomp - Joe Walsh 3. Love Rules - Don Henley 4. Uptown Boys - Louise Goffin 5. So Much In Love - Timothy B. Schmit 6. Raised On The Radio - Ravyns 7. The Look In Your Eyes - Gerard McMahon 8. Speeding - The Go-Go's 9. Don't Be Lonely - Quarterflash 10. Never Surrender - Don Felder 11. Fast Times (The Best Years Of Our Lives) - Billy Squier 12. Fast Times At Ridgemont High - Sammy Hagar 13. I Don't Know (Spicoli's Theme) - Jimmy Buffett 14. Love Is The Reason - Graham Nash 15. I'll Leave It Up To You - Poco 16. Highway Runner - Donna Summer 17. Sleeping Angel - Stevie Nicks 18. She's My Baby (And She's Outta Control) - Palmer/Jost 19. Goodbye, Goodbye - Oingo Boingo
One of only 5 films to feature a licensed song from Led Zeppelin. -Thanks to Matthew Smith
Well, this song wasn't in the movie, but was created because of the movie! It's a song by a band called (Fenix Tx) named 'Phoebe Cates', a punk rock/alternative style song. The song was featured on the 'American Pie 2' Soundtrack. I'm guessing they wrote it hoping to someday be able to meet Phoebe. -Thanks to Jonathan King
I noticed on the soundtrack that 2 of the most memorable songs aren't listed but on the dvd they play the Go Go's 'We got the beat' and Tom Petty's 'American Girl'. -Thanks to Invisigoth
When Mike Damone tells Mark Ratner what to do to get Stacy, he says... "When it comes to makin' out, play side 1 of Led Zeppelin 4", The song that's on in the car is "Kashmir" which is on the Led Zeppelin album "Physical Graffitti", NOT Led Zeppelin "4" ! On the DVD commentary, writer Cameron Crowe explains that they were unable to license a track from LZ4 but were offered Kashmir instead. They knew the problem that caused with the script but did it on purpose. Crowe added that this was the most common 'mistake' that people point out to him. -Thanks to Squirrel
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