Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) on Netflix
Freshman Stacy Hamilton works at a mall pizza counter and envies her friend Linda's experience. Her brother Brad works entry-level jobs, and Jeff Spicoli clashes with his teacher Mr. Hand.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.1/10126,353 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes78%
Trailer
Plot summary
Stacy Hamilton is a fifteen-year-old freshman at Ridgemont High who wants to learn about sex, and Linda Barrett, the senior she works with at Perry's Pizza, offers advice. Stacy's older brother Brad, a popular senior, holds down entry-level jobs for his car and weighs ending his two-year relationship with Lisa. Mike Damone takes sports bets and scalps concert tickets, and his best friend Mark "Rat" Ratner, an usher across from the pizza counter, falls for Stacy in biology class. Ron Johnson, a stereo salesman, asks Stacy for a date. Jeff Spicoli lives for surfing and getting high, and on the first day of class he arrives late to Mr. Hand's history room.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriter Cameron Crowe spent a full year secretly enrolled as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego to research his source book, and based the character Mark "Rat" Ratner on a real classmate, Andy Rathbone.
- Nicolas Cage made his film debut in a minor role as one of Brad's co-workers at All-American Burger, credited under his birth name Nicolas Coppola, after having auditioned for and lost the lead role of Brad Hamilton because of his age.
- Several future stars turned the film down: Justine Bateman passed on playing Linda Barrett to join Family Ties, Matthew Broderick declined the role of Jeff Spicoli, and Fred Gwynne turned down Mr. Hand because he felt the script had "too much nasty stuff."
- The MPAA originally slapped the film with an X rating over an extended pool-house sex scene and brief male frontal nudity; to secure an R rating, director Amy Heckerling had to shorten the sex scene and re-crop the male nudity out.
- Universal executives first suggested David Lynch direct the film, and Crowe actually met with him, but Lynch liked the idea and still passed on the job.
- Universal nearly shelved the movie entirely: Crowe said an internal memo to executives Ned Tanen and Sid Sheinberg warned that the studio's future was in doubt if it kept making films like this high school comedy.
- Actor Judge Reinhold recalled that someone senior at the studio branded the film "pornography" and said Universal would never release it, even though the cast saw it as an authentic portrayal of the real teenagers Crowe had spent a year documenting.
