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Fast Times at Ridgemont High
(1982)
In Amy Heckerling's R-rated cult teen, coming-of-age
youth sex comedy (after the success of Porky's (1981)), her
directorial debut feature film (from a script by free-lance journalist
and future film-maker Cameron Crowe, who went undercover in a SoCal
HS); it was the quintessential teen comedy and seminal high-school
film of the 80s, told from a feminine perspective. It was the frank
story of Southern California (Los Angeles area) teens preoccupied
by sex - with some scenes of unglamorous sex (especially for the
female involved) and promiscuity. See Sex
in Films for uncensored version:
- the popular early 80s film followed the exploits
of a number of San Fernando Valley (CA) HS students in and out
of the classroom, including
- Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a virginal
and naive 15 year-old freshman, sexually-inexperienced but curious
- Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates), Stacy's 17 year-old
senior friend and her more experienced and out-spoken mentor
and co-worker at Perry's Pizza at the Ridgemont Center Mall
- Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold), Stacy's semi-nerdy
older brother - a senior who had an unfulfilled crush on Linda
- Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer), a
sophomore, and a movie-theatre usher at the Mall, who was Stacy's
on-and-off eventual boyfriend
- Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), a smooth-talking,
slick hustler who was friends with Mark
- Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), a
perpetually-stoned,
carefree, often truant and tardy, happy-go-lucky, bleached-blonde
California surfer slacker-dude who was in constant
conflict with his history teacher
- Brad Hamilton was skating through
his last year at Ridgemont HS, while working an entry level, fast-food
job at All-American Burger, where his girlfriend of two years
Lisa (Amanda Wyss) was also employed
- the 'worldly', experienced, sexually-outspoken high-school,
liberated sexpot Linda Barrett claimed she had sex for the first
time when she was 13; she often tutored co-worker Stacy about the finer points
of sex
- Jeff Spicoli often arrived late at school; he tumbled
out of his VW mini-van (filled with pot-smoke), and then disrupted
his American history class taught by stern and exasperated Mr.
Hand (Ray Walston) - and was kicked out for tardiness and for calling
the teacher a "dick"
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Jeff Spicoli's Arrival at School in VW Van And His
First Day at School with History Teacher Mr. Hand
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- one of the earliest scenes occurred in a crowded
school cafeteria, when Linda demonstrated for Stacy how to perform
oral sex ("blow jobs"): ("There's
nothin' to it. It's so easy...Relax your throat muscles. Don't
bite. And slide it in...Good. Push it slowly in and out. You got
it"); the naive Stacy then asked: "When a guy has an
orgasm, how much comes out?" Linda revealed her tendency to
exaggerate: "A quart or so," but then claimed she was just kidding
Linda's Lesson - With a Carrot
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- the lecherous, boasting,
ticket-scalper Mike Damone spoke to inexperienced
and shy movie-theater usher Mark "Rat" Ratner who was secretly
in love with Stacy, emphasizing to him that he
must have attitude: ("The attitude dictates that you don't care
whether she comes, stays, lays, or prays. I mean whatever happens,
your toes are still tappin'. Now when you got that, then you have the attitude")
- during the chronicling of one school year, Stacy
was sexually taken advantage of twice; there were two uncomfortable,
awkward and devastating scenes of Stacy's sexual initiation - to "cure" her
of her virginity; both times were highlighted by Jackson Browne's
"Somebody's Baby":
- in the first instance, a night scene
in a dilapidated softball dugout at the Point, Stacy had snuck
out for a date with older 26 year-old Pacific Stereo audio consultant Ron Johnson
(D. W. Brown) whom she had met at her job at Perry's Pizza;
he asked: "Am I gonna get to first base?" and then
wondered if the innocent-looking Stacy was really 19 years
old as she claimed; Stacy was painfully and uncomfortably
deflowered in the field's dugout; from her point of
view, Stacy looked up at the graffiti-covered ("SURF NAZIS")
concrete walls during intercourse; the next day at school, she
shared the experience with Linda ("I like Ron. But it
hurts so bad"), who responded: "Don't worry. Keep doing it, it gets a lot
better, I swear"; although she received a bouquet of red
flowers from Ron, he didn't keep in contact with her, and Linda
comforted her friend at Perry's Pizza parlor where they worked
in the Ridgemont Mall: "It's
his loss"
Stacy Having Sex in a Dugout with Older Audio Consultant
Ron
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Linda to Stacy: "Don't worry. Keep doing it,
it gets a lot better, I swear"
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- in early scenes during his work at the All-American
Burger joint, Brad contemplated ending his long-term, 2 year relationship
with his co-worker girlfriend Lisa so that he could experience "freedom" in
his senior year: ("I just feel like I need my freedom now,
you know?"); when he began to discuss things with her on the job,
she told him: "I don't want to have to use sex as a tool, Brad," and
then refused to talk any further: "I don't want to talk about
it here"; he practiced delivering a speech to Lisa in the rest-room
- after three weeks in Mr. Hand's class, when
Spicoli was late again, Mr. Hand asked him: "Why do you shamelessly
waste my time like this?"; Spicoli said he didn't know; Mr.
Hand used his response for a lesson written on the chalkboard: "I
Don't Know"
- in a dream-fantasy sequence, Jeff gave a surfing
interview to sportscaster Stu Nahan (as Himself) including his
fantasy dream of glory and fame as a championship-winning, world-class
surfer - while surrounded by two bikinied Playmate babes (Ava Lazar
and Lori Sutton); Jeff delivered his answer to the question: "When
you get out there, do you ever fear for your life?": ("Well
Stu, I'll tell ya, surfing's not a sport, it's a way of life. No
hobby. It's a way of lookin' at that wave and sayin', 'Hey bud,
let's party! Ha, ha, ha'")
- after being fired from his job at All-American Burger
for poor customer service to a complaining patron when he used
profanity and threatened violence, Brad felt that his life was
crumbling around him; during a basketball game, he confided in
Lisa that he actually really needed her, but
she reversed things on him and dumped him; she
told him exactly what he had been planning to tell her: "And I
think we owe it to ourselves to be free, to go out with other people.
I still want to be friends"
- after Mark made a date to take out his crush Stacy,
Mike offered "for free" his 'five-point
plan' to inexperienced Mark, about how to successfully make-out
and score with girls: ("All right, now pay attention. First
of all, Rat, you never let on how much you like a girl. 'Oh, Debbie.
Hi.' Two, you always call the shots. 'Kiss me. You won't regret
it.' Now three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to
be. 'Isn't this great?' Four, when ordering food, you find out
what she wants, then order for the both of ya. It's a classy move.
'Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and
a Coke with no ice.' And five, now this is the most important,
Rat. When it comes down to makin' out, whenever possible, put
on side one of Led Zeppelin IV")
- Mark's first date with Stacy that began at a German
restaurant was a disaster, including the fact that Mark forgot
his wallet; later in Stacy's bedroom after she had changed into
a white robe, Stacy made an attempt at seducing him and partially
succeeded when they kissed, but then he shyly and abruptly claimed
that he had to leave; she assumed that he had no interest in her
and explained the awkward experience to Linda: "I
made the first move, I made the second move. I made a complete
jerk out of myself, is what I did"; when Linda suggested that
she date someone older, Stacy admitted: "But I was really
beginning to like him"
- Brad acquired another job at Captain Hook Fish & Chips,
but hated work (later, he quit this second job due to his disgust for wearing
the required silly pirate uniform)
- Linda was sunbathing at Stacy's
house swimming pool, where she claimed that she always climaxed
with her older boyfriend Doug: "He's no high-school boy"; they
were joined by Mike and Mark; when Stacy's depressed and dejected brother, senior-year student Brad
came home and saw Linda and Stacy at the pool, he retreated to the house
- in the film's most memorable fantasy, slow-motion sequence
(to the tune of The Cars' hit "Moving
in Stereo"), Linda was mentally disrobed when Brad imagined the emergence
of Linda speaking seductively to him: "Hi, Brad! You know
how cute I always thought you were"; she slowly opened and
shed her bright red-bikini top from the middle as she walked
over to Brad and toplessly kissed him; the scene has regularly
been voted as one of the sexiest scenes ever filmed in the 80s - and of all-time
- it was actually revealed that
Brad was spying through the nearby pool-side bathroom window and
fantasizing about Linda while pleasuring himself. In reality, she
dove into the pool, got water in her ear, and went to look for Q-tips
in the pool-side bathroom to remove the water. She barged into the
bathroom and was shocked to catch Brad pleasuring himself; humiliated,
he asked himself after his privacy was invaded: ("Jeez.
Doesn't anybody f--king knock anymore?")
Brad's Pool Party Fantasy Scene with Linda (Phoebe
Cates)
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- there were further encounters in Mr. Hand's
history class during the film; after Spicoli ordered a double cheese
and sausage pizza delivered to his desk by "Pizza
Guy" delivery man (Taylor Negron) during a class lecture, the
incident caused major outrage: (Mr. Hand: "Am I hallucinating
here? Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?" -
Spicoli's laid-back response: "Learning about Cuba, and having
some food"); Mr. Hand confiscated the pizza pie and shared some of the pieces
with other students ("Mr. Spicoli has been kind enough to bring
us a snack. Be my guest. Help yourselves")
- Stacy's 2nd painful and quick impregnation was by
lecherous Mike Damone in her own poolhouse's changing room when
she invited him in for iced tea and a swim; after he kissed her
and she was complimented, "You're
really a good kisser," she asked: "You want to take off
your clothes, Mike?" He responded: "You
first." She decided: "Both of us at the same time." After
stripping off her top and her panties and lying down on a sofa, he
laid on top of her and quickly and prematurely climaxed during love-less
sex, causing her to ask: "Are you OK?" He said he had come
("I think I came, didn't you feel it?"), then hurriedly
dressed and left ("See ya!") as she sat up and looked bewildered,
used, unsatisfied and hurt
- the next day, Stacy unabashedly lied to Linda (as
they both sliced a large phallic-shaped slab of salami) about how
long Damone took to orgasm: "15 to 20 minutes." She was
assured when Linda said: "That's not bad for a high school
boy"; however, intercourse had resulted in Stacy's pregnancy, and
Mike had no interest in taking responsibility: "It was your
idea. You wanted to do it. You wanted it more than I did"; Stacy
arranged for an abortion at the Free Clinic for $150, but Mike reneged
in splitting the fee ($150 dollars) and offering a ride; he was unsupportive
toward Stacy and abandoned her
- Stacy was able to talk her brother into taking her
to a bowling alley (close to the clinic) and after the procedure
he became suspicious ("Since when do you go bowling anyway?"), but
promised not to tell their parents; to retaliate against Mike
on Stacy's behalf, Linda spray-painted "Prick" on
his car door and marked his school locker with "Little" Prick
- at the end of the school year, on
the night of the HS graduation dance, Mr. Hand surprised malingering
Spicoli by calling on him at home while he was lying in bed and
getting high (with his room decorated with Playboy centerfolds)
- to discuss "in great detail the Davis Agreement, all the associated treaties,
and the American Revolution in particular"; his scheme was
to vengefully compensate for 8 hours of wasted and lost history
class time during the school year, and to delay Jeff from attending
the dance
Mr. Hand's Final Class Lesson with Jeff In His Bedroom
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Stacy to Linda: "I want a relationship. I want
romance"
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Stacy Showing Romantic Interest in Mark Ratner
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- after Stacy's unfortunate dual experiences with
sex, she explained at work to Linda how she wanted a relationship
with romance: ("Linda, I finally figured
it out. I don't want sex. Anyone can have sex. I want a relationship.
I want romance."); Linda advised: "You
want romance? In Ridgemont? We can't even get cable TV here, Stacy,
and you want romance!"; to the tune of the Tymes" So Much In
Love," Stacy waved and summoned nerdy
Mark Ratner, across the way at the theater, to come over so she could
give him a picture to remind him of her during the summer; as she
was called away, she quickly kissed him; the film implied that she
would soon have the possibility of fulfilling her wish; the epilogue mentioned
that she and Rat were "having a passionate love affair
--- but still haven't gone all the way"
- in the film's final scene,
Brad was employed at Mi-T-Mart (a convenience store), where Spicoli
entered as a customer and vowed he didn't need work: "All I need
are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine"; while Jeff was
using the store's restroom, Brad foiled an armed
robbery heist committed by a thief (James Russo) by tossing a pot
of hot coffee into his face, retrieving the gun, and holding the
man at gunpoint - and thus became a hero in Spicoli's eyes ("Awesome!
Totally awesome!")
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Senior HS Student Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold) Working
in a Lowly Fast-Food Job
Sexpot Linda (Phoebe Cates) Tutoring Co-Worker Stacy (Jennifer
Jason Leigh)
Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer)
Slick Hustler Mike Damone (Robert Romanus)
Brad's Long-Term Girlfriend Lisa (Amanda Wyss)
Mr. Hand's "I Don't Know" Lesson
Spicoli's Dream Fantasy Surfing Interview
Lisa's Unexpected Break-up With Brad
Mike Damone's 5-Point Plan to Help Mark For His Date With
Stacy
Mark's Awkward Seduction by Stacy in Her Bedroom - He Abruptly Left After
Kissing Her
Linda and Stacy Sunbathing by Pool
Linda Discovering Brad in Bathroom
Delivery of Pizza to Spicoli in History Class
Mark to Stacy: "You're a really good kisser" Before Loveless
Sex in Stacy's Pool House with Mike Damone
Slicing Salami with Linda, Stacy Lied That Damone Climaxed Between
15 and 20 minutes
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