Hey bud, Let’s Party!
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High” is back in theaters.
The1982 comedy “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” is the prototypical coming-of-age guy flick best knownfor enduring stoner-surfer archetype Jeff Spicoli, played by future Oscar winner Sean Penn, the image of a topless Phoebe Cates and as the introduction to the amiable zen of screenwriter Cameron Crowe, whowould go on to create such bro-riffic tales as “Say Anything,” “Singles,” “JerryMaguire” and “Almost Famous.”
Or maybe “Fast Times atRidgemontHigh” is the prototypical coming-ofage chick flick best known for its deft handling of teenage female angst, memorable performances by Cates and future Oscar nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh and as an introduction to director AmyHeckerling, who established a template for such films as “The Breakfast Club” and influenced a generation of female writers and filmmakers.
On its 35th anniversary, which will prompt retrospective screenings in more than 700 theaters across the country, including 15 in South Florida, “Fast Times” remains one of the rare teen comedies that both genders claim as their own. The film, which follows a group of Southern California kids navigating sex, drugs, high school and fast-food jobs, boasts an impressive cast that also includes Judge Reinhold, RayWalston, Forest Whitaker, Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards and a cameo by Heart’sNancyWilson, Crowe’s future ex-wife.
Paul Castronovo, one of South Florida’s quintessential guy’s guys as the longtime host of his eponymousmorning-drive radio showon Big 105.9-FM, says “Fast Times” was required viewing for his 17-year-old son, A.J., soon to be a senior at Boca Raton High School.
Father and sonwatched it together a couple of weeks ago, and it proved to be a bonding experience as they ridiculed the fashion, appreciated the classicrock soundtrack andwere similarly uneasy during the same scenes. Somehow, Castronovo remembers that Cates’ defining swimsuit moment played out to “Living in Stereo” by the Cars (“the perfect song,” he says).
The suburban California-set film also provided characters familiar to a couple of guys from South Florida.
“The characters are the same. Like Spicoli. Iwent to LakeWorth High School in the ’70s, and that was everybody I knew. Spicoli. I surfed, and I knew these guys. Wearing the vans, and ‘Duuuude,’ ” Castronovo says. “Andmy son says, ‘Oh, my God, I go to school with a bunch of guys just like that.’ ”
“Fast Times” was inducted into the Library of Congress’National Film Registry in 2005, and in Marchwas one of 15 films included by the Library of Congress in a series of screenings celebrating Women’s HistoryMonth.
Christina Lane, chair of theUniversity of Miami’s Department of Cinema and InteractiveMedia, says “Fast Times” is culturally relevant for several reasons, including as an introduction to Crowe and Heckerling, “important voices” thatwould be heard later.
Heckerling, she says, helped usher in a cycle of female filmmakers that instilled confidence in those whowould follow, fromSusan Seidelman (“Desperately Seeking Susan”) to Tina Fey.
“‘Fast Times’was a precursor to [Heckerling’s film] ‘Clueless’ and then other teen films with female leads and strong female voices in them,” Lane says. “Itwas a rightof-passagemovie... Without a smallmovie like that, youwouldn’t have more importantmovies. ‘Breakfast Club’ may not have come about without a film like ‘Fast Times.’ ”
“Fast Times at RidgemontHigh” is scheduled to screen at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday andWednesday, July 30 andAug. 2, in 15 theaters from Royal Palm Beach to SouthMiami. Go to FathomEvents.com.