Judge Reinhold recalls ‘Fast Times,’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ roles

Actor to screen movies at film festival.

In 1982, Judge Reinhold played Brad Hamilton, a key character in the seminal teen comedy “Fast Timesat Ridgemont High.”

But as Reinhold ruefully joked later, the film propel led Sean Penn’s career, not his.

Still, over four decades, the actor has appeared in more than 75 films and TV shows and will be part of the 15th annual Rome International Film Festival in Georgia this weekend. (This is not to be mistaken for the Rome Film Fest in Italy, which concluded Oct. 28.)

At 8:30 p.m. Friday, Reinhold will screen and discuss a 1980 comedy he starred in with Elizabeth Perkins called “Over HerDeadBody,” which he said “got caught in a legal mess and never made it into theaters .” At 7 on Saturday night, the festival will host “Fast Times” with Reinhold taking questions afterward.

Reinhold’s credits include the three “Beverly Hills Cop” films, “Ruthless People,” the “Santa Clause” trilogy and an Emmynominated guest stint on “Seinfeld” as the “close talker.”

Terrell Sandefur, development director, said he brought Burt Reynolds to the festival last year. Festival director Seth Ingram ran into Reinhold at Reynolds’ funeral in September and invite dhim to screen some of his films.

Reinhold’s connections to Reyno ldsgob ack to the 1970s when he worked as an apprentice at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater in Jupiter, Fla. He h elpedbuild the theater and recalled Reynolds at the height of his fame.

“He was really larger than life,” Reinhold said. “He loved getting us together and telling us stories. We were in aw e.…He wa sa Southern movie star. Even though none of us looked like him, we thought, ‘Wow! Burt can be a star. Maybe we can get into movies, too!’”

Reinhold eventually followed that path, which l ed to his big role in Cameron Crowe and Amy Heckerling’s “Fast Times.” The film played far smarter and realisticthan man yteen films of that era. (Crowe wrote the film, which

Heckerling directed.)

“The marriage of Amy and Cameron’s sensibilities were perfect, if not God given,” Reinhold said. “Cameron provided this affectionate authenticity about what it was like to be a teenager. But Amy gave it a feminist spin.”

Reinhold’s most notorious moment in the movie came when Brad imagines his sister’s friend Linda (Phoebe Cates) coming on to him while not being the master of his domain and then (horrors!) getting caught.

He recalls screening the film in 1982 with a theater full of teens and “you could hear a pin drop,” he said. “They were mortified, and although I was in my 20s, I felt mortified as well.” But when adults saw the film, he said, “we got some of the biggest laughs.”

Reinhold said he expects he’ll have to one day explain the scene to his daughter, who is now in elementary school. Brad, at that point in the movie, had lost his girlfriend and his primo job at the local All-American Burger. “This was a guy having the worst year of his life,” he said. “That was the narrative.”

The 36-year-old film, in Reinhold’s mind, “remains a touchstone for people of a certain generation. But college-age and high school kids see it, too. It’s passed down to a new generation as well.”

His next big role came supporting Eddie Murphy in 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop” and its sequels as Detective Billy Rosewood to Murphy’s Axel Foley. Reinhold was actually cast before Murphy when Sylvester Stallone originally wanted the film to be a straight action flick. “I was the rookie cop who would die in the second act,” he said.

But the film became too pricey and Stallone took many of his ideas and turned it into “Cobra.” “Beverly Hills Cop,” in the meantime, became a comedic Murphy vehicle. Director Martin Brest loved Reinhold from his “Fast Times” role and kept him around as Rosewood. This time, he didn’t die.

Reinhold said it was difficult to keep a straight face during Murphy’s oftenimprovised Foley commentary. But he found a way to keep himself from losing it: “When you see me with my hands in my pockets, it’s because I’m pinching myself so I wouldn’t ruin a take. I’d go home and find blood blisters and bruises.”

He said his career trajectory went sideways when he let his ego go to his head after a few films he starred in bombed. The big studios stopped calling, “I was a punk,” he admitted. “I started calling people out when I thought they didn’t care. I really pissed off some people. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

He ended up doing some quality indie films with the likes of Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. “I got to work with some of my heroes and learned some wonderful stuff,” he said.

Reinhold ultimately escaped the Hollywood glare decades ago, residing to this day instead in Santa Fe, N.M.

The good news: He saved his dollars from his big films and manages to live a comfortable life only taking acting gigs when he wants to.

Nowadays, he said, “I want to have a creative life. That’s more important to me than just being in a boffo movie. I have nothing but gratitude that I can make a living doing what I love. I’m proud of the comedies I’ve done and the impact they’ve had on people.”

Reinhold