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Fast Times at Ridgemont High

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In genre studies , a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature , theatre , film , and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or " coming of age ". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers. The Bildungsroman is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story.

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50-560: 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 . Crowe went undercover at Clairemont High School in San Diego and wrote about his experiences. The film chronicles

100-415: A Teenage Girl (2015), Mistress America (2015), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), Lady Bird (2017), Sweet 20 (2017), Aftersun (2022) and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023). Postscript A postscript ( P.S. , PS , PS. ) may be a sentence, a paragraph, or occasionally many paragraphs added, often hastily and incidentally, after the signature of a letter or (sometimes)

150-460: A beautiful older woman laughs at his pirate-themed uniform while he is making a food delivery. Stacy later confronts Damone to inform him she has gotten pregnant from their one-time encounter. She asks if he can cover half the cost of an abortion and provide her with a ride to the clinic, and he agrees. Damone is unable to come up with his half, and he ends up abandoning Stacy on the day of her appointment. Stacy asks Brad to drive her and lies that she

200-462: A fight in the boys' locker room, but the gym teacher breaks it up. On the evening of the end of the year school dance, Mr. Hand visits Spicoli's house and informs him that he must make up the eight hours of class time he has wasted over the school year. They have a history session that lasts until Mr. Hand is satisfied that Spicoli has understood the lesson. Rat makes peace with Damone. Sometime later, Rat resumes his relationship with Stacy. Brad takes

250-438: A fundraiser for CORE ( Community Organized Relief Effort ), a nonprofit charity co-founded by Sean Penn, a table read was organized for the film. After the table read, Cameron Crowe and Amy Heckerling hosted a discussion about the film. [REDACTED] Quotations related to Fast Times at Ridgemont High at Wikiquote Coming-of-age story The plot points of coming-of-age stories are usually emotional changes within

300-595: A job at a convenience store called Mi-T-Mart and foils an armed robbery with some help from an oblivious Spicoli, who stumbles out of the store's bathroom just in time to distract the robber. A postscript states that Brad was promoted to manager of Mi-T-Mart on June 12. Damone was busted for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets and now works at a 7-Eleven . Mr. Vargas switched back to coffee. Linda attends college in Riverside and lives with her abnormal psychology professor. Rat and Stacy are in love, but they still haven't gone all

350-473: A new job at Captain Hook Fish & Chips. When Rat and Damone later drop by Stacy's house to join her and Linda in the swimming pool, Stacy becomes infatuated with Damone. One afternoon, she invites him to her home where they have sex in the pool house. Their encounter is cut short when Damone ejaculates early and immediately leaves. After this incident, Damone avoids her. Brad later rethinks his employment when

400-584: 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. In addition to Penn, Reinhold, Cates, and Leigh,

450-400: Is a raunchy crowd-pleaser replete with stoner humor, a masturbation gag, and a blow-job tutorial that makes use of school-cafeteria carrots. But it is also attuned to the emotional lives of teenagers—girls and boys—in ways that place it far ahead of its time." In Collider , Grace Neave noted that in teen comedy films like Porky's , the women are typically objectified and are chased after by

500-484: 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. Jeff Spicoli is a carefree stoner and slacker who lives only for surfing and getting high. On the first day of school, Spicoli runs afoul of history teacher Mr. Hand, when he shows up late for class. A battle of wits ensues between

550-492: Is an important characteristic of the genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses, rather than action. The story is sometimes told in the form of a flashback. Historically, coming-of-age films usually centred on young boys, although coming-of-age films focusing on girls have become more common in the early 21st century, such as The Poker House (2008), Winter's Bone (2010), Hick (2011), Girlhood (2014), Mustang (2015), Inside Out (2015), The Diary of

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600-463: Is going to a bowling alley to meet friends, but he sees her cross the street to the abortion clinic. After the appointment, Brad confides to Stacy that he knows the truth. Brad promises not to tell their parents but she does not divulge who got her pregnant. When Linda finds out about Damone flaking on Stacy, she paints the insult "Prick" on his car and his school locker as revenge. Rat angrily confronts Damone about his involvement with Stacy. They get into

650-427: Is just how life is. And it meant a lot when she did it at the time, and it still means a lot. It was a very courageous thing to do, and it actually is the one thing about the movie that I'm probably happiest about at this point." For the film's 40th anniversary in 2022, critic Richard Roeper said that out of all the raunchy teen comedies of the 1980s, Fast Times "continues to resonate as a substantial time capsule of

700-450: Is pornography, and there's no way that Universal's going to release [it]. We didn't see it as this horny high school movie at all. We saw it as having the opportunity to do something authentic that was based on the actual experiences of the kids that Cameron chronicled for that whole year." The film opened on August 13, 1982, playing in 498 theaters. Positive word-of-mouth, with audiences showing up to repeat viewings and quoting dialogue from

750-464: Is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: National Film Preservation Board The film inspired a short-lived 1986 television series titled Fast Times . Ray Walston and Vincent Schiavelli reprised their roles as Hand and Vargas on the show. Other characters from the movie were played by different actors, most notably Patrick Dempsey as Mike Damone. During the COVID-19 pandemic , as

800-547: Is sex and drugs,' and blah, blah, blah. And we were worried that we would have to cut out a lot of stuff." However, producer Linson, who maintained that conservative audiences in Orange County were not the film's target audience, ensured that no major cuts or edits were done. The soundtrack album Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music from the Motion Picture was released by Elektra Records on July 30, 1982. It peaked at #54 on

850-501: Is smitten with her, and takes her to a German restaurant. Back at her home, Stacy invites Rat into her bedroom and they begin to kiss, but he nervously leaves before they can proceed further. Stacy mistakenly interprets his shyness as lack of interest. Linda advises her to move on and find another boy. Brad is fired from his job after threatening an obnoxious businessman and using profanity. When he realizes he needs Lisa, she confesses she wants to date other guys. Spicoli accidentally wrecks

900-513: Is somebody wrote a memo shortly before the [release]...to [Universal executives] Ned Tanen and Sid Sheinberg that said the future of the studio was in doubt if we are making movies like this high school movie ." Tanen stood by releasing the film theatrically, and it was given a limited theatrical release. It was not given a big marketing push due to a lack of marquee names and concerns over its sexual content. Actor Judge Reinhold recalled, "We were really heartsick because somebody high up said, 'This

950-602: The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, "Raised on the Radio" by the Ravyns and "Waffle Stomp" by Joe Walsh . In addition to Schmit and Walsh, the album features solo tracks by other members of the Eagles : Don Henley and Don Felder . The soundtrack also included "I Don't Know (Spicoli's Theme)" by Jimmy Buffett and "Goodbye Goodbye" by Oingo Boingo (led by Danny Elfman ). Five tracks in

1000-716: The Bildungsroman exist, such as the Künstlerroman ("artist novel"), which focuses on the self-growth of an artist. In film, coming-of-age is a genre of teen films. Coming-of-age films focus on the psychological and moral growth or transition of a protagonist from youth to adulthood. A variant in the 2020s is the "delayed-coming-of-age film, a kind of story that acknowledges the deferred nature of 21st-century adulthood", in which young adults may still be exploring short-term relationships, living situations, and jobs even into their late 20s and early 30s. Personal growth and change

1050-424: 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. Leigh expressed disappointment that the re-cut version "eliminated the sense of awkward hesitancy between the two characters". Universal was not confident the film would be a box-office success and was considering shelving the film. Crowe said "What happened

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1100-622: The San Fernando Valley town of Ridgemont, the lives of teenagers who attend Ridgemont High School intersect. Brad Hamilton, a popular senior, looks forward to his final year of school. 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 older friend Linda Barrett. Stacy desires to be as sexually experienced as Linda. Mike Damone

1150-560: The Sherman Oaks Galleria during after hours. Principal photography began on November 2, 1981, and lasted for a total of 8 weeks. Scenes at Ridgemont High School took place at Van Nuys High School . Universal test-screened an early cut of the film in Orange County , California. Heckerling said feedback from audiences and the studio was worrying because "people were like, 'We teenagers are not like that,' 'You think all we care about

1200-626: The protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age ), in which character change is important. The genre evolved from folk tales of young children exploring the world to find their fortune. Although the Bildungsroman arose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world. Thomas Carlyle had translated Goethe's Wilhelm Meister novels into English, and after their publication in 1824/1825, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it. Many variations of

1250-414: The 1981 Chevrolet Camaro of Ridgemont star football player Charles Jefferson during a joyride with Jefferson's younger brother. 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. This causes Jefferson to assist his team in decisively routing Lincoln in a later football game, where he makes several brutal tackles. Brad gets

1300-540: The Eagles and Stevie Nicks . The film was initially given an X rating by the MPAA due to a protracted sex scene and brief male frontal nudity during the pool house scene. 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. To secure

1350-587: The Edge , Fast Times at Ridgemont High is both serious and funny enough to hold its own in their company." 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". 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. They shouldn't have to worry so much about sex at such an early age." As time went on, however,

1400-580: The Fast Lane " and Sam the Sham 's " Wooly Bully ". The Donna Summer track "Highway Runner", was recorded in 1981 for her double album titled I'm a Rainbow ; however, the album was shelved by Geffen Records but ultimately released in 1996 by Mercury Records . Todd Rundgren also recorded the song "Attitude" for the film at Crowe's request. It was not included in the film, but was released on Rundgren's Demos and Lost Albums in 2001. A track titled "Fast Times"

1450-524: The US Billboard 200 album chart. The soundtrack features the work of many quintessential 1980s rock artists. Several of the movie's songs were released as singles, including Jackson Browne 's " Somebody's Baby ", which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Other singles were the title track by Sammy Hagar , a cover of The Tymes ' " So Much in Love " by Timothy B. Schmit which reached #59 on

1500-399: The abortion scene, foregoing judgement or moralizing about the act itself and instead focusing on Damone's failure to support Stacy. Of Heckerling's decision to depict the scene, Crowe later said, "She said 'you know what, this is life. I want to shoot this like life.' She just quietly did it, and in an almost European way, she put this young girl's life onscreen in a way for you to judge — this

1550-467: The character(s) in question. In literary criticism , coming-of-age novels and Bildungsroman are sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. The Bildungsroman (from the German words Bildung , "education", alternatively "forming" and Roman , "novel") is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features. It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of

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1600-440: The film endures because it accurately captured the small details of school, work, and teenage life." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. On its initial release, multiple critics dismissed the film as just the latest in a wave of teensploitation films such as Porky's and The Last American Virgin . Roger Ebert

1650-527: 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". In

1700-467: The film negatively to another teen coming-of-age movie, American Graffiti . Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that it was "a jumbled but appealing teen-age comedy with something of a fresh perspective on the subject." In contrast, LA Weekly praised the film, particularly its screenplay, direction, and the performances of Leigh and Penn. The review read, "While neither as slapstick as Animal House , nor as apocalyptic and biting as Over

1750-670: 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

1800-494: The film was increasingly seen as a classic. 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

1850-500: The film, prompted the studio to expand the release. On its opening weekend, the film earned $ 2.5 million. The release was widened to 713 theaters, earning $ 3.25 million. The film ranked 29th among U.S. releases in 1982, earning $ 27.1 million, six times its $ 4.5 million budget, and later gaining popularity through television and home video releases. Fast Times at Ridgemont High was released to DVD on December 21, 1999. The DVD included audio commentary with Heckerling and Crowe, as well as

1900-446: The high school and the students that he befriended there, including then-student Andy Rathbone , on whom the character Mark "Rat" Ratner was modeled. Universal executives recommended David Lynch as a director, and Crowe met with Lynch. Though Lynch liked the idea, he passed on directing. Producer Art Linson showed Crowe's script to Amy Heckerling, who at that point had directed only student films. Heckerling then met with Crowe, and

1950-471: The main body of an essay or book. The term comes from the Latin post scriptum , an expression meaning "written after" (which may be interpreted in the sense of "that which comes after the writing"). In a book or essay, a more carefully composed addition (e.g., for a second edition) is called an afterword . The word "postscript" has poetically been used to refer to any sort of addendum to some main work even if it

2000-549: The making-of documentary "Reliving Our Fast Times at Ridgemont High". It was released on Blu-ray on January 10, 2012. On May 11, 2021, a digitally restored 4K version was released on Blu-ray and DVD through The Criterion Collection . The Criterion release restores Heckerling's original cut of the film. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 78% of 60 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "While Fast Times at Ridgemont High features Sean Penn's legendary performance,

2050-462: The male characters; however, in Fast Times , Stacy and Linda are fully formed characters that also pursue the guys. 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." Fast Times has also received praise for its realistic depiction of

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2100-399: The period, capturing the music, the fashions, the attitudes and the social mores of the time", and called it "the best ribald teen comedy ever made." Crowe's screenplay was nominated for a WGA Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. The film ranks No. 15 on Bravo 's "100 Funniest Movies" and No. 2 on Entertainment Weekly ' s list of the "50 Best High School Movies". The film

2150-526: The role of Brad Hamilton, but he was not cast in the role due to his age. It was also the film debut for Eric Stoltz and provided early roles for Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker . 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. Tom Hanks was considered for the role of Brad Hamilton. Justine Bateman

2200-563: The script had "too much nasty stuff". In a scene in Spicoli's dream where he was originally going to be on The Tonight Show , Johnny Carson passed on a cameo appearance, as did Tom Snyder . 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. Mall scenes were filmed at

2250-562: The two began brainstorming different ideas for the film. Heckerling thought the book "had just such an amazing wealth of material" that could be incorporated more into the script." She liked how much of the book's action is centered around a mall, and suggested featuring the mall setting even more prominently in the film. Said Crowe, "Amy completely got it and we were up and running." Nicolas Cage made his feature-film debut, portraying an unnamed co-worker of Brad's at All-American Burger, credited as "Nicolas Coppola". Cage originally auditioned for

2300-455: The two with Mr. Hand attempting to get Spicoli to take school seriously. At work, Stacy is asked out by 26-year-old stereo salesman Ron Johnson. Stacy agrees to go out with him and lies about her age, claiming she is 19. On their date, she loses her virginity to him in the dugout of a baseball field. Ron sends her flowers the next day, but quickly loses interest in her. Rat meets Stacy in a science class (run by Mr. Vargas who switched to Sanka ),

2350-535: The way. Mr. Hand is convinced that everyone is on dope. 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. He went undercover to do research for his 1981 book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story , about his observations of

2400-435: Was highly critical of the film's vulgar humor and called it a "scuz-pit of a movie". Though he praised the performances of Leigh, Penn, Cates, and Reinhold, he lamented that Leigh's character is put through "humiliating" situations that he found degrading to young women. In later years, Ebert reevaluated his opinion of the film and became a big supporter of Cameron Crowe's directorial career. Richard Corliss of Time compared

2450-460: Was offered the role of Linda Barrett, but she turned it down to star in Family Ties . Matthew Broderick was offered the role of Jeff Spicoli, but he turned it down. Jodie Foster was considered for the role of Stacy Hamilton. Ally Sheedy , Meg Tilly , and Ralph Macchio also auditioned for roles but were not cast. Fred Gwynne was offered the role of Mr. Hand, but turned it down as he felt that

2500-466: Was recorded by Heart but was not used in the film. The track ended up on their 1982 album Private Audition . In some countries, the album was released as a single LP with 10 tracks. Heckerling, in the DVD audio commentary, states that the 1970s artists, like the Eagles, were insisted upon inclusion in the film by one of the producers. Irving Azoff , one of the film's producers, was the personal manager for

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