Fast Times at Ridgemont High
It seems like we are celebrating every and any anniversary we can, especially when it comes to movies. Its like it’s the best way to get people to come out to the theater to see a movie they possibly seen a million times at home. Fast Times in no different. Saw this on the big screen while the movie was celebrating it’s thirty Five years since it’s release. I must admit it was cool seeing that 80s film print on a big screen, plus Fast Times is a classic, simple because, despite the fact that the film is burned into the 80s, it’s a timeless classic. If you went to high school…ever you can relate to one of the characters in the movie. Pot head surfer, Jeff Spicoli seems so far away from the people I went to high school with and yet I do indeed remember the Spicoli of my high school, and if you think hard enough no matter when or where you went to high school, you’ll notice there was a Spicoli in yours as well (If you don’t recall this could mean you are Spicoli), and of course Spicoli’s arch nemesis, Mr. Hall who I’m sure nobody has to think that hard about to recall who that teacher was in High school.
The movie deals with a lot of issues high school kids still deal with on a regular basis making it a timeless classic, but I think what the film is really going to be remembered for is the fact that so many famous names started their career with this movie, I mean Sean Penn as Spicoli, look how young he looks in one of or perhaps his very first role, A role that he is not necessarily ashamed of but seems to glace over whenever he talks about his acting career, a career that seems so far to the left of what he did as Spicoli, yet only credits what a great actor he is, because Penn was all in as Spicoli, that’s why people loved the character so much.
You have other nameless actors like Judge Reinhold who would became an 80s star, and then you have Forest Whitaker whose in the movie who like Sean Penn would go on to do some great acting roles and get himself an Oscar in the process.
(On a side note, I just want to give the movie its props for having so many black faces at least in the background of this movie just being kids. It’s like they would do a classroom screen and the class has more black kids than I’ve seen in most 80s teen comedies , and even though Whitaker is playing a football player who supposedly got his fancy car cause he’s a great defensive linemen, I’m still impress that that was the only black stereotype I saw in a 80s movie with so many black extras. No one was talking jive, No white kid was trying to communicate with the black kid with something they herd from rap lyrics, It just seem to understand that black kids go to high school too.)
So that was just the main cast, which also includes future stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates, then you have Nicolas Cage in the film who has just a cameo in the film. You would not even notice the cameo if it was anyone else but Nicolas Coppola (As he was credited in the movie so early on in his career he was not even Cage yet).
Definitely understand why you would want to give this film it’s props, not just for it’s cast which consisted of some many future stars (And was Written by Director Cameron Crowe), but It’s a movie that when you see it, it takes you back to high school, no matter when you actually went to high school.
