Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Directed by

Amy Heckerling

Genre

drama film, comedy film, teen film, coming-of-age film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

R

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 1,388 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film follows a group of California high school students through their daily lives, crushes, jobs, and awkward moments. Stacy and Mark navigate their first romantic experiences while stoner surfer Jeff Spicoli clashes with his strict history teacher.

lightheartedwrybittersweetslice-of-lifeenergeticnostalgicearthycomedic

What happens

Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Amy Heckerling in her feature directorial debut. The screenplay was written by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, and the film stars Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Brian Backer, Robert Romanus, and Ray Walston. Crowe went undercover as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego and wrote about his experiences. The film chronicles a school year in the lives of underclassmen 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. In addition to Penn, Reinhold, Cates, and Leigh, the film marks early appearances by several actors who later became stars, including Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, Forest Whitaker, and Anthony Edwards (the first two in their feature-film debuts). In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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