Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, directed by Amy Heckerling and released in 1982, is a teen comedy and it’s a coming-of-age movie but don’t let that put you off. It isn’t an exercise in vulgarity and it’s remarkably goodnatured. It’s honest and clear-eyed and it’s actually funny.

It’s close to the end of the year at Ridgemont High but life for these kids is centred on getting laid and falling love.

The studio was convinced they were going to run into huge censorship problems, and if anyone tried to remake this movie today that would probably happen.

Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is desperate to lose her virginity. She’s found a really nice boy, Mark (Brian Backer) but he’s too scared to do anything. She gets plenty of advice from her friend Linda (Phoebe Cates). Linda is a woman of the world, or at least she thinks he is.

Mark is getting advice from his mentor, super cool guy Mike Damone. Mike is a high school kid and an aspiring businessman, making money from scalping concert tickets. Mike will get involved with Stacy as well.

Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) just wants to surf and stay stoned which leads to clashes with the school’s history teacher, Mr Hand (Ray Walston).

Stacy’s big brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) sees himself as a rising young professional but in fact he works in a burger joint. A job he will soon lose, as he loses every job he gets.

This was 1982. A year of great pop music. This was also Peak Mall Culture, Peak Car Culture, Peak Cheerleader Culture.

These kids are learning about love and sex. They make mistakes. Hearts get broken. But underneath there’s a basic optimism. Growing up is scary but it’s an adventure and life is good.

One of the things I love about this movie is the obvious things that it doesn’t do. We expect the clashes between Jeff Spicoli and Mr Hand to escalate but that doesn’t happen. Despite not understanding each other they don’t hate each other.

We expect the rivalry between Mark and Mike to culminate in a violent clash but it doesn’t.

These are fundamentally good people who sometimes do bad things or stupid things but there’s no malice in them. They just make mistakes because growing up is complicated.

Dating is terrifying. What if you do something wrong or say something wrong? What if you misjudge the situation? What if you’re pushing things too far, or not far enough? The possibilities for embarrassment are limitless.

This movie never crosses the line into outright crassness. Amy Heckerling and screenwriter Cameron Crowe do not despise their characters. They like them. The audience is expected to regard them with affection, or at least tolerant amusement.

The whole cast is excellent. The big surprise for me was Sean Penn. He’s really funny.

Look out for a very young Nic Cage in a bit part.

This movie has no room for self-pity or social commentary or misery. This is not a critique of 80s America. This is a love letter to 80s America, to its optimism and energy. The mall is not a symbol of the evils of consumerism. It’s the beating heart of a living society.

It’s a good-hearted perceptive movie and the audience is expected to leave the movie theatre having had a good time.

I haven’t seen all the 80s teen comedies but of those I have seen this Fast Times at Ridgemont High is the one I love most. Highly recommended.

It looks great on Blu-Ray and the audio commentary by Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe is worth a listen.