Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Full Screen Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Unapologetic, pure 80's fun!
Review: Amazingly accurate, dead on portrayal of high school life circa 1982. Jennifer Jason Leigh is wonderful, Judge Reinhold and Sean Penn have some of the best lines in cinematic history, and the guy who played Damone (what's his name, anyway?) is a riot. Favorite lines: "This shyness routine is really starting to aggravate me." "Hey, I found your wallet. Want it back?" "The Attitude dictates that you don't care whether she comes, stays, lays or prays. Whatever happens, your toes are still tappin." "That was my skull! I'm so wasted!" "Hey, there's no birthday party for me here!" "Doesn't anybody #@*%! knock?" (who could forget that scene?) "Not bad for a high school boy." "What are you people, on dope?" "Awesome! Totally awesome! All right Hamilton!" I could go on forever with this one. Great soundtrack...I can't hear Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" without thinking of that scene where Stacy loses her virginity. The book that the movie was based on is also worth checking out, if you can find it. It is even funnier than the movie, if that's possible. "Learn it! Know it! Live it!"

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate High School Classic
Review: Fast Times At Ridgemont High is a monumental film for a lot of people. I was 3 or 4 when it came out, but this film would still work and ring true to people my age in this modern day and time. That's why this film is completely timeless. The premise is pretty simple. It's about a bunch of high school kids in the early 80's dealing with everyday life, which includes girls, boys, sex, drugs, sex, and, oh, did I mention sex?. After watching this hilarious and downright touching film, you wonder why Phoebe Cates isn't a bigger star. Her famous scene(not for children)is classic and the fantasy of every red blooded American male in the country. Sean Penn gives one of comedy's most memorable characters as stoner Jeff Spicolli. He is brilliant in this film. There has not been another teen/school movie like this that is as special or classic. There have been a few that came close. The rest of the cast is great: Judge Reinhold, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forrest Whitaker, Ray Walston. This is a great film. A true comedy classic!.

Rating:
Summary: "Fast Times" Is Awesome..............Totally Awesome
Review: Fast Times At Ridgemont High is an awesome......totally awesome movie! Everything is great! I just watched it and I feel like watching it again. Everything from Sean Penn and his pizza delivery, or Phoebe Cates coming out of the pool, to Judge Reinhold in the bathroom. Everything in this movie is cool. This is one of those movies that you get your friends together and watch. My favorite characters have to be Mike, Rat, and, of course, Sean Penn as the stoned surfer, Jeff Spicoli. Sean Penn had the best lines for this entire movie. I also liked Brad Hamilton. He was a great brother and funny (100% Guaranteed Breakfast). Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Linda (Phoebe Cates) are two very hot people! You'll get to see. Who can't forget the pool scene? The soundtrack rocks too. There are so many great songs! This movie is gnarly!

Overall, I loved this movie. It was hilarious, funny, and dramatic at the same time. Parents must be warned though. This movie was originally rated X, but they cut down some scenes (in the shed, the baseball dugout).

Rated R for strong nudity, strong sexual content, drug use, and brief strong language.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Dice

Rating:
Summary: Good Times
Review: Fast Times At Ridgemont High is Cameron Crowe's first foray into the movie industry. He started out (as chronicled in Almost Famous) as a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone. After he left the magazine, he posed as a high schooler in a Southern California high school. The result was a book that was turned into this movie. Mr. Crowe wrote the screenplay and Amy Heckerling directed. The movie follows several different students and is one of the funniest movies ever made. Sean Penn stars as the stoner surfer Jeff Spicoli who only goal in life is to find some tasty waves and keep a cool buzz. His history professor, Mr. Hand (played with menacing glee by the late Ray Walston), provides an adversary for Spicoli to go up against. Judge Reinhold & Jennifer Jason-Leigh play brother & sister, Brad & Stacy. Brad is a senior who seems to have it all, cool car, good job at a burger joint and a perfect girlfriend. All of this collapses on him as his girlfriend breaks up with him, he's fired from his job and is forced to work a couple of embarrassing jobs. Stacy is a freshman and works at a pizza place in the mall (which is the center of alot of activity in the film) with the world wise Linda (played by Phoebe Cates). Linda is constantly giving advice to the naive Stacy. She meets an older guy and in one of the more poignant moments in the film, loses her virginity to him in a baseball dugout. Mark Ratner works at the movie theater in the mall and has a crush on Stacy. His friend, Mike Damone (played by Robert Romanus) is a hustler who scalps tickets to concerts and he, like Linda to Stacy, gives advice to "Rat". Stacy and Rat eventual go out, but Damone ends up sleeping with Stacy. A whole mess ensues, but in the end, every one makes up. The movie was a springboard to the careers of Mr. Penn, Ms. Cates, Ms. Leigh and Mr. Reinhold and is riff with future stars in small roles including Nicholas Cage, Anthony Edwards, Eric Stoltz & Forrest Whitaker. The movie has a great soundtrack and is a perfect snapshot of the fashions, trends and lives of teenagers in the early 80's. But throw away the different hairstyles, clothes, slang and music, the situations that the kids get into are the same for any generation and we can all relate.

Rating:
Summary: The background of Fast Times...
Review: The film itself is a classic, from the soundtrack (which features recently broken-up members of The Eagles), Stevie Nicks, and Jackson Browne. Cameron Crowe wrote the true story of teenagers in late 70s San Diego (Clairemont High) from his own perspective, originally written for Rolling Stone magazine. Because he looked so young at the time, he was able to go to school and fit in. Even though Crowe changed the city to the LA area (the movie also takes place in LA), the Clairemont High schoolers were upset with a lot of it. "Rat" is now the writer of some of the "Dummies" books.

The film itself is an essential 80s comedy classic, a lot of subjects bold at the time, a lot of new talent to move on to bigger paychecks (Forest Whittaker, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage).
Cameron Crowe should make a film about the story behind making "Fast Times" as a sequel to "Almost Famous".

I think it would be great if Crowe and Heckerling did a commentary with the original cast members as well as the Clairemont High students to give added perspective on the fact and fiction of it all. I think people would want to know if these people really existed, and what happened to them.

Rating:
Summary: A Great DVD
Review: This movie is a great movie. It's a classic. Even at 20 years old, it is funny and smart. Cameron Crowe did an awesome job with the screenplay. Amy Heckling did a great job directing as well.

The plot is somewhat simple. It's about 6 kids who are in high school, and they are growing up fast and not realizing it. The kids are:

Jeff Spicoli( Sean Penn ) who is a stoner, surfer dude, who is extremely funny and well played by Sean Penn.

Stacy Hammilton( Jennifer Jason Leigh ) who is a younger girl who is just trying to fit in in high school.

Brad Hammilton ( Judge Reinhold ) who is Stacy's older brother, who has a tough time in the fast food world during his senior year.

Linda ( Phoebe Cates ) who is a beautiful girl who has a lot of knowledge about sex and relationships.

Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brain Backer) who is the theater's manager's assistant and ticket-taker who falls in love with Stacy.

Damone (Robert Romanus) who is a ticket-scalper who becomes Rat's mentor.

I think I got everything right, oh well.

It was orginaly rated X (X was the NC-17 back then) because of the pool house sex scene, but that was trimmed a little for its R rating. There's not that much cursing, and there's just a little bit of drug content. So the R is just due to the nudity (maybe 20 total seconds of it, but it's spread out into 3 parts). There's only a couple gross-out gags (maybe about 3 or 4)...As for the extra features, not bad.

The Commentary with Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe- is actually watchable. I liked it. It had some funny parts. There was some cursing (maybe 15 cuss words) but it was never very offensive.

The documentary- It was 39 minutes long. It was alright. I personally liked the "Fast Times At Ridgemont High: True Hollywood Story" on E! Entertainment Television better, but this was a good extra feature.

The production notes- Always nice to have included. I like that they were on here.

Cast & Filmakers- Also, this is always nice to have. On this digital video disc, it has biographies and filmographies for the 6 characters I mentioned early in my review, Ray Walston (who plays Mr. Hand), and Amy Heckerling. I also like having this on the disc.

Theatrical Trailer- This is also an awesome special feature. I like this too.

Hangouts Of Ridgemont High (Video Map)- It has a map that you can pick about 3 places in the movie, and then it shows you what they are and how they are used now. The places are the school, the mall, and the baseball dugout(it's called something else in the movie, but I don't remember.) A good extra feature.

Music Highlights- Excellent. You can pick any song, and it will show you the scene in the movie where the song was played. Another good special feature.

Overall it was good. It is 1.85: 1 widescreen, not too bad picture quality, great sound, and awesome menus. It has a couple of menus where you can pick a famous quote from the movie, and see the scene that it was in. I suggest you purchase this.It's a great buy.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Times...Stands the Test of Times!
Review: When the trailer for FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH was being previewed before the feature film in the theatre I was in, an elderly couple behind me(elderly..they were probably only in their early 40's..but this was way back in 1982 when I barely got out of high school..)the husband stated to his wife "Remind me NOT to watch this movie!". This is because the preview showed mostly clips of Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli character. This was a little misleading because the movie wasn't all about Spicoli. This was a dead-on representation of high school life at that point of history of the early 1980's. The movie is episodic focusing on various character's ups and downs during the course of one school year. Some thought provoking real life situations and some comedic situations a little exagerated. However, the movie is honest in its depiction of teen high schoolers. Good cast of future stars such as Judge Reinhold, Nicholas Cage, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anthony Edwards, Pheobe Cates,Eric Stoltz,Forest Whitaker, and of course..Sean Penn. Also, some veteran character actors such as Vincent Schiavelli (GHOST, TOMORROW NEVER DIES) and of course Ray Walston as Mr. Hand. Written by Cameron Crowe (JERRY MCGUIRE, ALMOST FAMOUS). Note: Classic line -(after counselor tells Brad Hamilton/Judge Reinhold that the "fun" is over because he's about to graduate) "Over? I'm still waiting for the fun to begin!"