Fast Times At Ridgemont High

[SteveAJones]

This film really has become a time capsule of early 1980s America...the mall, the fast food restaurants, the way concert tickets were sold, no computers in the classroom...

[redrum]

1 minute ago, SteveAJones said:

This film really has become a time capsule of early 1980s America...the mall, the fast food restaurants, the way concert tickets were sold, no computers in the classroom...

👍

[Strider]

7 minutes ago, SteveAJones said:

This film really has become a time capsule of early 1980s America...the mall, the fast food restaurants, the way concert tickets were sold, no computers in the classroom...

The great American Highschool Trilogy:

American Graffiti: The pre-Beatles 1960s

Dazed & Confused: 1976

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: 1981-82

[custard pie man]

7 hours ago, Strider said:

The great American Highschool Trilogy:

American Graffiti: The pre-Beatles 1960s

Dazed & Confused: 1976

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: 1981-82

my favorite was american graffiti with Richie Cunningham, any room for porky ? even believe Plant sang a song in one of them, the penis lineup with they gym teacher was a classic

[kipper]

11 hours ago, redrum said:

Stacy Hamilton: When a guy has an orgasm, how much comes out?

Linda Barrett: A quart or so.

10cc 

[kipper]

11 hours ago, Strider said:

The great American Highschool Trilogy:

American Graffiti: The pre-Beatles 1960s

Dazed & Confused: 1976

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: 1981-82

I think that a good case for these three could also be made;

American Graffiti

Diner

Almost Famous

Maybe not specifically high school,  but the coming of age just after high school.

 

Then many more films in a similar genre:

16 Candles

Superbad

 Saint Elmo's Fire

The Breakfast Club

Stand By Me

The Outsiders

Summer of '42

Ferris Beuller's Day Off

Pretty In Pink

The Lords of Flatbush

Dirty Dancing

[kipper]

11 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

This film really has become a time capsule of early 1980s America...the mall, the fast food restaurants, the way concert tickets were sold, no computers in the classroom...

And even more specifically Southern California due to Spicoli and his surfer friends, and also a touch of that "Valley" (San Fernando Valley) thing too.

Sean Penn grew up here and was very much aware of the way surfer's acted when he did his role in the film. So common was a Jeff Spicoli type, that almost everyone from here probably knew a Spicoli in high school.  I think the scene where Spicoli and his friends went into the All American Burger and took their shirts off when walking in was something you don't see in too many other places unless actually at a beach town here.  No shirt and no shoes was very common here, especially in the summer.  Today kids are so damn fat that most would not dare go without a shirt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[redrum]

The other Breakfast Club.

[hummingbird69]

Best scene from the Breakfast club

 

 

[Strider]

1 hour ago, kipper said:

I think that a good case for these three could also be made;

American Graffiti

Diner

Almost Famous

Maybe not specifically high school,  but the coming of age just after high school.

 

Did I not mention "American Graffiti" in my post?

[Strider]

5 hours ago, custard pie man said:

my favorite was american graffiti with Richie Cunningham, any room for porky ? even believe Plant sang a song in one of them, the penis lineup with they gym teacher was a classic

Ugh. God no. Porky's is an abomination...lowest-common-denominator redneck humour with 40-year olds playing high school kids, terrible acting, and no relatable situations or verisimilitude. It was reminiscent of those cheesy AIP teen comedies of the 1970s..."Pom-Pom Girls", "H.O.T.S.", "Swinging Cheerleaders".

I did not just pick my three movies in my original post at random. A common thread running through "American Graffiti", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", and "Dazed and Confused" besides the perceptive writing and directing, is that all three movies proved to be a spawning ground for a wealth of acting talent that went on to greater glory and fame.

NOBODY from "Porky's" is in that class...with maybe the exception of Kim Catrall. And it took her nearly 40 years before her role on "Sex and the City" made her more than just a footnote.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Strider

[kipper]

8 minutes ago, Strider said:

Did I not mention "American Graffiti" in my post?

LOL!  Yeah you did, but my old brain saw Beatles and then processed your post wrong. My bad.

American Graffiti a really great film which the studios had no interest in getting behind until Francis Ford Coppolla put his weight behind it and Lucus.

It is so funny how studio bosses are often clueless to creative brilliance of many directors. I mention Diner and it was the same with that film. The studio just thought so little of the project that they didn't stick their noses in too much, and that left the director to really do what he wanted.

[kipper]

22 minutes ago, hummingbird69 said:

Best scene from the Breakfast club

 

 

My favorite scene is when the teacher is asking John Bender what he would do if his house was on fire and his dope was burning. 

Richard Vernon : What if your home... what if your family... what if your *dope* was on fire?

John Bender : [truthfully]  Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear.

 

It actually was in Johnson's underwear at that moment.

 

Also the line where Bender asks Vernon: "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe"?

[luvlz2]

The 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High' Cast: 40 Years Later - https://ultimateclassicrock.com/fast-times-at-ridgemont-high-cast-now/

[shnflacwav]

I was in HS when that movie came out. Phoebe Cates changed my life. 😄 The movie Paradise she was in was even better if you know what I mean.