Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Learn it, Know it, Live it
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Evidently, workers at video stores would often say that the rental copies would start flickering during that scene due to having been paused at that topless moment. So many times,
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I love that which I'm sure there are a lot of people nodding in agreement males and females.
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Hello. Hello, there's a song that we're singing.
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Come on, get
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happy. Is what we'll be bringing
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we'll make you happy.
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Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who saved their babysitting money, which was actual money, like dimes and quarters in a ceramic animal shaped piggy bank with a plug in the
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bar. We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear, like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition, and today we're saving the 1982 movie that made us all think differently about eating carrots in the cafeteria Fast Times at Ridgemont High I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists.
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Today, we're taking you all back to the early 80s, a time of big hair, neon colors and a whole lot of attitude. But beneath the surface of this decade of excess, there was a darker undercurrent seeping into our cinemas. We're talking about the teensploitation films of the early 80s, folks, those exploitation movies starring teenagers that promised thrills, chills and a whole lot of boobs, all caps, B, O, O, B, s, that we can make on a calculator,
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8005,
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actually,
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or you did 58008, and turned it upside down. And believe it or not, one of the most iconic films of the era actually managed to subvert the genre while still embracing its spirit.
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Fast Times at Ridgemont High is considered one of three of these types of films that were released in 1982 and we're going to talk about if we think that's a fair inclusion in just a minute. The year started with the wide release of porkies.
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July brought us the last American virgin. Did you guys see that? No, no, I don't remember that either. I read the synopsis, and I was like, yep, yep, sounds about right for 82 and then Fast Times was released in August. Then after 1982 these movies came fast and furiously. Screwballs, losing it, joysticks,
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Porky's too, Revenge of the Nerds and so many more. What do you remember about these types of movies becoming a thing? I was, I was scared of these movies,
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and I did not ask to see them. I was, I was absolutely not attracted to them. The Stein girls told me all about them, so I knew the plots of all of them. I knew all about them, but I never wanted to go see them. I still haven't seen Porky's. I still haven't seen Regent Benj of the nerds. I didn't see that one you just mentioned. I think they just weren't my kind of shenanigans. We should have had the Stein girls on a special guest of this I know we really would have been perfect. Well, I remember seeing porkies, and definitely saw Fast Times Ridgemont High in the movie theater. Double date, I probably saw it more than once, I'm guessing. Yeah, I know.
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Remember, I am older than you guys. I'm the oldest and of Gen X. And so I was going into my senior year of high school. This was the summer before my senior year. So basically what I'm seeing on this screen is reflecting exactly the point I am in in life. And so definitely saw Fast Times double date. And then the other movies you mentioned, I think no, and what you said Kristen, is exactly what the first thing that came to my mind is that I was terrified of these movies. Don't forget, I'm just turning 13 in 1982 I was too young for all that flesh and all those situations, but I saw several of them, and so I'm wondering where was my mother? How was I allowed to watch these? And I think it was at sleepovers and things like that. But because watching porkies multiple times scarred me so.
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Badly as a young, 13 year old, as you guys know, I have requested we never devote an episode to it here. I don't need to see that movie ever again, am I? Clearly, I don't care, and I'm not going to are burned on the back of my eyelids, and like I can't get them out of my head.
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But fast times I loved and I do remember being shocked and scared by most of it, and I do think that's because I was just 13 years old, which is the same age I find out Linda Phoebe Cates was when she lost her virginity. She tells us to be right, but also it amplified my insecurities at that age about boys and all the things I thought I was supposed to do, yeah, when I got to high school, and we were watching it last week in preparation for this episode. And it's one of my husband's favorite movies. He can quote, like the whole thing, and I asked I was saying that out loud to him, like, God, this scared me. Like I felt even more insecure watching it, and he's like, Oh, same, but at the same time, I loved it. I looked up to those girls. I looked up to Stacy and Linda. I thought it was hilarious. And even at 13, I got that it was heartbreaking. I did not feel the same about the Porky's movies as I did about fast times. I loved it, and I was not afraid of fast times, because, for some reason, I did not clue into the fact that Stacy was my age. I thought these people were all so far ahead of me that that part didn't really scare me. I didn't think it applied to me yet. And also, a lot of it just went right over my head, because this was my 15th birthday party. Oh my goodness, great. 15th birthday party, actually, well, if you got to see it, because I bring my whole birthday party to the village for theater in Coon, Rapids, Minnesota, and we're standing in line, and suddenly, for the first time, Gordie and Linda figure out that this is a rated R movie, and they refused to buy the tickets. They refused to buy the tickets. I'm like, It's my birthday, and we're all here. We're in line, and I still don't know. I have been racking my brain. I have done gone down so many rabbit holes, trying to figure out what we saw. Instead, I have no memory of it. The only memory that I have is of them saying, No, we this is rated R we cannot watch it. So that's very tragic. On the other hand, think about if they had said, Yes, I would have seen fast times with my parents. Yeah, no, yeah, survivable. No, that's not survivable. And my parents would have been, well, they probably would have taken you out, girls would have come out and they would You're right. That's like Carolyn having to see little darlings with her mom. And yeah, I'm sure I saw it a few days later with the Stein girls, or something. Well, here's something wonderfully interesting, and most likely the reason I loved fast times, but had that weird bug to the light thing with porkies, in stark contrast to the porkies types of movies that really are all about the male characters, with the females being weak, sexual objects, Fast Times is told through the eyes of females, and it's the females who get retribution that's so far different than a Porky's type movie. So to ask you guys the question I brought up earlier, do you think it's fair to include fast times in these lists of teensploitation movies, or is fast time simply a coming of age movie? I feel so strongly about this. This is not a teensploitation flick. This is the coming of age. Yes, I have never put this in the same category as Porky's, and I think you nailed it with the reason why those movies were so male focused, that's why they were so dumb, right? That's why they were so prank oriented. This was not a prank oriented movie, and we have the point of view of Linda and Stacy. It was less exploitation slash sensationalized teen shenanigans and more, an unveiling of teen life for sure, very memorable comedic lines and with very real feelings, with very real feelings and very real scenarios and consequences, right? But it is a coming of age story for every single character. Stacey rat, Brad Damone, even Linda has a moment of growth. Even Spicoli has a moment of growth at the end of the film. This is 100% a coming of age movie. I totally agree. It's not, you know, the two words that immediately come to mind with those other types of movies are crude, yeah, gratuitous, yes. And I don't feel like I said earlier, I think, you know, it might share some characteristics, just like there's boobs, there's, you know, sex, but it's not crude or gratuitous, right? It managed to capture, I feel like, Fast Times managed to capture the teenage experience with honesty that let's think about it was pretty great.
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BREAKING at the time of when all these movies were out there, right, right? And I understand why people liked them. I totally get that, particularly if you're a boy between the ages of 12 and 18, I understand why you liked it, but it is different. Oh, there's a place for them in cinematic history, right? Because it's very a reflection of the types of movies they were cranking out and that were making money well, the female lens and the fun retribution. So fun of fast times,
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it's almost certainly thanks to its director, and that was Amy Heckerling. That's a name definitely familiar to Gen Xers. While Fast Times was her directorial debut, she went on to direct such Gen X notables like Johnny dangerously, you guys, I forgot about that movie and that cast, Michael Keaton, Joe Piscopo, Marilu Henner, among a list of others. Look who's talking. Look who's talking to think what you will about them, but they were,
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I know I did too. Okay, I'm glad you said that, because I did too.
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And clueless, oh my gosh, iconic, right? And her TV, where her Angel singer,
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includes the very short lived fast time series as well. I didn't know about this the more you know, as well as episodes of The Office Gossip Girl, the Carrie Diaries and a cute Amazon Prime series I loved that was called red oaks that makes I did not know that was her and that not that is on brand, that is on brand. And did you guys know that this movie was based on a book? Not until last week.
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Me too. Not until last week. True Story at just 24 years old, after almost a decade of famously writing for Rolling Stone magazine, which we all learned, we all learned about from his quasi autobiographical movie, almost famous. Cameron Crowe published his first and only novel called Fast Times at Ridgemont High a true story. So why is a true story included in the title? Because in 1979 a 22 year old Cameron Crowe went undercover posing as a high school senior at Claremont High School in San Diego, California, in order to write an expose on teen life. This is what you just said, Michelle. He wanted to do this because he was frustrated with the way the media portrayed teens as sort of like this nameless, faceless mob without ever giving them a chance to speak for themselves. In other words, he felt like, well, parents just don't understand, and that's what you just said, Michelle. Like this was showing teenagers as they really are in the wild. So he claims that these characters and Fast Times actually existed, although he changed all of their names. I got goosebumps, I know, and that all of these things actually happened, some, well, a lot actually, sources dispute that, but and that, and the book was never marketed as nonfiction. It was always marketed as a novel, but it says a true story right in the title. But still, I am going with the idea that someone out there today is Stacy. Stacy's out there, and she knows it. And I read that the character mark Rat. Rat grew up to be kind of a computer guru, so he kind of stayed kind of stereotypical, and he wrote a lot of the for Dummies books that had to do with, that had to do with, like, Microsoft stuff and computer stuff.
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Once again, Carolyn Cochrane with the greatest
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fact. So before the book was even before the book was published, before it was released, he had already sold the film rights. The book was published in september of 1981 they started filming the movie just two months later, with 24 year old Cameron Crowe as its screenwriter and right hand man to Amy Heckerling, and the movie was released just 11 months after the book. Wow, but let's not lose sight of the fact that he was 22 when he did that. 20 what did we say when he wrote the book like 24 when the work was released, right? So we're talking 2425
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when they're doing this movie. Amy was, what was she? She was just 2626
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years old. I mean, children, our kids, I know that it to me that, in and of itself, is pretty wild and crazy that they're they're not much older than these people they're directing. Yeah, that's true. They're kind of all kids, but they're all helped. They weren't that far out of these scenarios of they're handling years away right from what teenagers are actually feeling. There is no way that that didn't affect the authenticity of this film, and that's why we all attach to it so hard, is because of its authenticity, exactly, exactly, and I think that's what the cast brings to it as well. So let's chat a little bit about the cast. Why don't we? Because it's a pretty iconic cast, but it's interesting that there's really not a brat Packer in the bunch. It's like it was right on the cusp.
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Of the Brat Pack era. It was when it was when the Brat Pack was being seeded with the outsiders. We didn't have a name for them yet, but all of these movies were seeding these individuals, right? Well, that's an interesting take, although I would say that it's totally it's a different
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animal. The the people that are cast in this movie, they're not pretty, like I would say, a lot of the real people are pretty. Yes, they're super relatable. Well, other than Phoebe Cates, you're completely right. She had to be that way. Yeah, Phoebe case had to be the one beautiful person. You couldn't have more than one beautiful everybody was attainable. You knew those people that were in the movie, but in terms of their characters, and so I think it was cast perfectly, and Brad packers would have made it. It wouldn't have seemed as real as it did to all of us. Had it been, you know, Rob Lowe being, what was he going to be, Brad? Or something a break that was not going to work. So let's start with Sean Penn. Okay, he had been known for taps, which was a year earlier, and that's wake I mean, can you imagine that's a very different that's a swing tap stuff. This laid back surfer dude, yeah. What's his name? Everybody? Jeff Spicoli. I mean, is he I? I'm gonna throw this word around a couple of times in this hour. Jeff spicle is an icon. Oh, yes. Oh, for 100%
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an icon, I would venture to say that's what put it on the map. In terms of, we started to use those terms the dude and the bogus and totally awesome that wasn't on our radar at all before. I mean, he kind of introduced, or this character did a whole a lexicon. Yeah, that totally word from Kristen, really, 100% dedicated himself to this role, okay? He
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approached it with a method acting approach. He was Jeff spiccoli The entire time of filming. He even let him call he did not let them call him Sean, even when they weren't rolling like, you know, filming or whatever. He dressed like him. He talked like him. He 24/7 was Jeff Spicoli. I just thought that was, that was real dedication. And it's not like he had done a lot of movies prior or anything. I mean, this is like dedication from a young actor. And so speaking of dedication in terms of what they brought to the role, we're going to talk about Jennifer Jason Lee for a minute. So that was everybody who was that Stacy. Stacy breakout role for Jennifer Jason Lee and really launched her career and to truly understand the character, she actually worked at a local pizza place for a while and immersed herself in the world of being a teenage employee, which, by the way, let's just take a little moment to say that was a whole thing in the 80s, being a fast food employee. Now, I don't know. I can't remember. I don't think either of you two can relate to being in a polyester Burger King outfit trying to hold the pickle and the lettuce while they're yelling it out to you. But yeah, that was a whole thing, and a whole like subculture, like you could have a whole life at your fast food restaurant job and the people and you go to your high school, and it's a whole different thing. I was obsessed with those Perry's pizza uniforms. Oh yeah, I love that they got to wear those because it's like it looked almost like they worked at Disney. Worked at Disneyland. Yeah, they had, like, healthy sleeves, yeah, they all had white tights. But I loved the pink, little pink dress, yeah, because the Burger King outfit, right? It was kind of bell bottom polyester, and it was brown
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with the poor Hot Dog on a Stick. People had to wear those giant hats. It was very special. Remember
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how tall those hats were? They were striped, and they were like mustard yellow and like red, humiliating. They had the giant his hats on. It's food court culture, right? It's like the food court was, that's fast food culture, yes, but I thought Jennifer Jason Lee was very believable in her character. What about so she was very naive and very but very like eyes wide open and wanting to take all these risks, but at the same time she played that, that younger, almost younger sister. Well, she was younger sister, but younger sister almost to Linda, very well, like, like, clamoring, yes, but what she didn't do was show the other side of the vulnerability of it. So to me, she was, I've from the first time I saw it, I found her an unlikable character. I've always been ambivalent about that character. And you know that she's stepping in it. You know that she's making big mistakes. You know that she's doing it with a sense of naivete. You know that she's doing it to keep up with Linda, and yet you never see the vulnerability. You only see her like plowing forward as if she knows exactly what she's doing,
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she'd be big to differ a little bit.
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Yes, okay, especially when she is a younger sister, like her relationship with her brother, that felt super
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like she was vulnerable and she was young at that point, she was like, not that, want to know everything. Be like Linda girl. So I felt like we did see a little bit of that in that scene, and also, sadly, in, and this was probably as an adult now watching it again, but the see the scene where she is having sex for the first time with the audio guy, or whatever audio salesman, yeah, the audio
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that is where she almost looks like she disassociates from Totally. Yeah. That seemed very real as well.
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As an adult, was hard, and at the end, we're going to talk about that. How, how did you see this differently? Now, because Kristen, how you said you didn't, she wasn't as likable to you.
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I have there's one particular scene I want to talk about in a little bit, but I do agree that I feel differently towards Stacy as an adult. Yeah, as I did as a kid. You know that this movie didn't get the greatest reviews. Roger Ebert didn't really like the movie, but he loved Jennifer, Jason Lee. He basically was like, she's gonna like, keep your eye on this one type of thing, wow, I can tell you one person I was not irritated by, and this would be Judge Reinhold.
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Judge played Brad, okay, and this was his first major role, okay? And thank God is all I have to say, ladies and gentlemen, because I loved Judge Reinhold in this movie, and realize right now, as I was watching it again, that there was a little foreshadowing going on here, because my husband has been repeatedly told that he looks like Judge Reinhold. Oh, I can see it, yeah. And so I think there was this attraction from the first time I saw him on the screen where I was kind of drawn to Judge Reinhold, and now it makes perfect sense, yeah, and I he was awesome at this in this role. And you know what good he The reason he was asked to play Brad, he was Amy Heckerling, upstairs neighbor in Los Angeles. I guess, you know, he fit what she thought this character would look like and be like. And lo and behold, he got cast. So if he had not lived in that apartment above her, who was those? Was he an actor and lived above her? Okay, so he was at least an actor. Yes, he is so beloved. He is Stacy's older brother. He's sort of the older brother to the whole movie. And I only ever, no matter what movie or show he is in for the rest of my life. I only ever see him in a pirate hat. No matter what role he plays. I see him playing it in a pirate hat. Yeah. And then when I was watching it and telling grace I was gonna watch it, she said, is that where the guy from Santa Claus that plays the stepdad? I mean, like our kids know who Judge Reinhold is from the Disney movie. The original Santa Claus is, like, one of our family favorites. We watch it every year, and yeah, Judge plays Neil, and he's the one who has always wanted a weenie whistle for Christmas. Remember, he evolved really well in his career. And then another, you know, iconic Gen X movie being Beverly Hills Cop,
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a lot of people fell in love with him again, so, but I was an OG and then I married his doppelganger. There we go.
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Okay, then we have our favorite Martian Ray Walston as the iconic Mr. Hand. I say the word iconic, but there's a lot of iconic things. You deserve. Yeah, really is
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I love Mr. Hand? Well, I hated him, but I loved him well. He played him so well. He did so well, yeah, and I would say he, I would say Mr. Hand is as important a role for his career as my Favorite Martian in terms of, how do I identify him, right? Mr. Hand is as iconic as my Favorite Martian Spicoli needed a foil, and Mr. Hand was the perfect yin to his Yang. They were such a great couple. Yeah, yes. And didn't we all have a high school teacher like that, like the old school, you know, just this, these are the rules, and yeah, everything's black and white. The door gets locked. And so again, we could relate to that stereotypical High School, old fashioned old school, kind of like you said at the beginning, again, when we're talking coming of age, Mr. Hand as well. Yeah, it kind of evolves in his character and grows, I would say, and you appreciate him, and you see in his odd, like, uh,
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odd curmudgeonly way, there's a there's a kindness that he does by the end of the movie. And you're like, Oh, I didn't know he had that in him. No idea. Yeah.
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Yeah, no, another great character. So what actress to you? And character is the most memorable when it comes to Fast Times at Ridgemont High Phoebe Cates. Phoebe Cates, yeah. Phoebe Cates, my and I'm gonna go ahead and speak for my husband and so yeah, Phoebe KB,
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gay, straight by it doesn't, doesn't matter. Phoebe Kate and I will tell you that my husband, until last night, had not never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont. What I know? Can you believe it? Wow, but he could his favorite movie now, well, he knew that scene, like that scene from the movie itself. He's like Phoebe Cates topless.
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We're going to talk about this scene several times throughout this discussion, and so we'll just lay it out for you right now this it is the most iconic scene in this movie, and it is one of the most iconic scenes in film, because, to your point, Andy knows this scene, even though he's never seen the movie. And that is Brad's masturbatory fantasy of Phoebe Cates getting out.
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Also, can I just say she great boobs? She had a great boobs. Lovely. But let's go back to, can we just go back to a second to the teen's flotation, that this one's real, even that scene, which I think if we're gonna put one scene in particular
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that maybe straddles the line between come Is it coming of age or is it teensploitation, I still am gonna bump it into coming of age, because it was done so well. It was so real, it was and it was a fantasy scene. This was not really happening. This is what was happening in Brad's head. But that's so real. Exact senior in high school. His sister's best friend happens to be Phoebe Cates, right? Which, why? Is why? I don't think it's any kind of it was an exploitation of her. Yeah, it was brilliance, right? That's the dividing line, right? Now, if that had been a real scene in the movie, we would not be talking about it in the same way. What makes it authentic is that this is only happening in Brad's head, which is so authentic, it's so
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yeah, when I was recently visiting Michelle, we happened to call up a video on YouTube of Phoebe Cates being interviewed by David Letterman, and we're gonna put that in our Weekly Reader you guys, because let's just say it's kind of painful. We felt really bad for David Letterman. She's a terrible interview. Yeah, yeah. She's not a natural industry person. No, not at all. So that, after watching that interview and then watching the movie. Again, I actually looked at her a little differently after that interview, but one of the things I read that I thought was super interesting was as much as she agreed to do the scene, she was 19 when she did this movie, so she had say, and she actually talked to her parents. They didn't, they couldn't say, Don't do it, but she agreed to do it. But you know, there was some trepidation about the nude scene, and Amy Heckerling assured her that the shot of her top list would only last a few seconds, and that after the people saw it on there, it's done, it's gone. But of course, we didn't think about VHS and how things would list forever. And evidently, workers at video stores would often say that the rental copies would start flickering during that scene due to having been paused at that topless moment. So many times,
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I love that, which I'm sure there are a lot of people nodding in agreement, yes, males and females. She does say that David also, let's give her, you know, we're, we were giving a hard time, like, Oh, this is so awkward. She's but she was only 19, and probably, she's probably one of her first press can be a little intimidating, for sure. She's totally a did you guys have to watch this in the Weekly Reader, she has Carolyn and I are like, did she lose an earring? Oh, no. She's just wearing one giant earring, yeah. And there's no stuff in the other ear, because it's 1982 Yeah. But he's, he's like, joking, kind of about the the topless part, which I was getting a little creeped
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out by. But she's like, I loved it. It was great. She's like, and she said, kind of what the three of us just said, because she said it worked so well in that scene, it worked so well. Okay, I want to share a fun list of facts with you about the casting. Okay, so Nicolas Cage, who we all know, he actually auditioned for the role of Brad Hamilton. Thank you casting gods, but that did not happen.
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But he wasn't cast in that role due to his age, so he was the only, like, probably true high schooler age cast member, because he's in some scenes. But here is what's interesting about him. In the movie, he's credited as Nicholas Coppola, so we know that he is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, and he wanted everybody on set to know that. And evidently he brought it up a lot, a lot.
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A lot, a lot that he was really annoying, and so the cast started to haze him a little bit. And Francis Ford Coppola, for those of you who might not remember, directed the movie Apocalypse Now. And there's a famous line in there that Robert Duvall says, I love the smell of napalm in the morning. And to kind of get back at Nicholas, they would say to him, I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning instead. And they would go around and taunt him with this quote. And the hazing worked because, and as we know, Nicolas Coppola is now Nicolas Cage, and that is why he changed his name, because of the hazing he received on the set of Fast Times original. So here he was trying to ride the coattails, and that totally backfired on him. Another fun fact, this was the film debut for Eric Stoltz and an early role for Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker. Now Anthony and Eric were best friends growing up in Santa Barbara, so it was kind of cool. They were in this I know. I didn't know it either till I watched a cute little video on YouTube where Anthony Edwards is interviewed, and he shares that, and he also shares how it is not lost on him and many fans that, of course, we when we first meet him on the set of when we first see him in the movie, Fast Times Ridgemont High, iconic scene, and He's removing his shirt, so we see him shirtless in the movie. Then fast forward to his next, probably iconic role for many of us, is goose, and he's goose
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and Top Gun, and he is the only character in the beach volleyball scene that is wearing a shirt. Oh,
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and I don't know I would, I would wonder, was that on purpose, another casting that would have totally ruined the movie, I think, is originally Fred Wynn, Herman Munster was offered the role of Mr. Hand. Okay, what was that about people? That works, but it's a different role. It is. And I see it. You guys,
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yeah, I guess, because when I see Fred Quinn, I see Herman Munster, so I it was a hard switch. I mean, I probably could if I was just looking at regular Fred Wynn. Here's a few more. These are, I love, almost cast stories. And this is gonna start to sound like a who's who of 1981 for you guys, I'm gonna go down these pretty quickly. Tom Hanks was considered for the role of Brad Hamilton. I like it, but think back. I'm agreeing too. I could you guys remember that young Korean hair? Yeah, hair, Tom Hanks. He could have done a good job. Can't you say I'm taking off that pirate hat and just throwing it on the ground? You know, we love Judge Reinhold in the role, but we would have loved Tom, a young Tom Hanks in that role as well. I like this one too. Justine Bateman, who you guys know I looked up to like she was my fashion icon. We talked about that before. Was offered the Phoebe Kate's role of Linda, but she turned it down to star and family ties. Talk about a win, win for both of them. Totally Yes, and I think that would have worked. It's not the same iconic thing. It's but it would have worked. Well, I haven't seen her boobs yet, so I can't tell you, but I think, no, here's one. I can't see. Matthew Broderick was offered the role of Jeff Spicoli, and he turned it down. I don't see that absolutely not. No, no. Jodie Foster is said to have been considered for the role of Stacey. At first I went, No, but then I was like, well, maybe it would have been better. Maybe she would have been able to give me what I didn't like in Jennifer, Jason Lee and then three others who auditioned but were not cast, Ali sheety, Meg Tilley and Ralph Macchio. And I actually see that there's a rule for all three of these people in that movie, a young about Ralph Macchio, I think he could have been rat. I really could have been rat. Yeah, right. And I love and I love rat, but Ralph Macchio would have been perfect also. And I think Ali sheety would have been a great Stacy. Yes. Oh, that's perfect. And again, I would have gotten that more sympathetic character that I was looking for with Ali sheety And Meg Tilley as well. Yeah, I agree. So we know that you all listening know this movie like the back of your hand,
Unknown Speaker 34:18
your hand. So we know it's not necessary to walk you through the story, but we also know this movie is full of scenes that have lived in your brain, like we always say, rent free for 42 years, because you can't talk about this movie without remembering these iconic scenes. So we wanted to know what this memorable scenes to you all listening were. So like any good investigators? Of course, we took to the social medias and asked you, our listeners and followers, what one one scene you will always think of when you think of fast times. But first Kristen, what one scene will you always think of like right away? The first one, I thought there was only one scene.
Unknown Speaker 35:00
In this movie,
Unknown Speaker 35:03
Andy did boobs, that was the movie. And so when we asked people on social media, I was like, why are we even asking? Because they're only going to have one answer. I couldn't. I was so surprised. I couldn't believe how diverse the answers were. Of course, I'm talking about Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool. It like I was like, what scenes? What other scenes? And it's just burned on my retinas. It's burned on my retinas. And of course, again, we're talking about bread's masturbatory fantasy of SUV Kate's getting out of the pool in her red bikini, taking off her red bikini top. Is it exploitive? Yes, that is a lot of boob. But like you said, it's perfect boob, but it's so perfectly crafted that you can't look away and you're changed forever after. It's like, it's like Farrah Fawcett, male, female alike, gay, straight or bi. You can't look away. And it has its own soundtrack, which we are going to talk about a little bit later. That soundtrack of the scene elevates the movie and makes it oh so cinematic, which again, cements it in your brain. And hello, I'm 14 years old, which we all know is the age at which music and feelings go together to stay with you forever and ever. And then that beautiful cinematic moment collapses spectacularly when real life intrudes on the fantasy and Phoebe Cates as Linda walks in on Brad pleasuring himself to fantasies of her, it's so full circle. What about you, Carolyn? Is that you're saying, How can we not say that scene? I mean, I have a different one. I haven't. Oh, okay. I mean, I would maybe say a different one now, after watching it as an adult, but before, it would have been that scene, but even a narrower part of it, I just remember specifically him looking out the window, not even as much her boob, like I know what she's looking at, but his his little face, and he's got that little sliding glass window in the I'm guessing, the bathroom open, and he's just looking. Then he slowly, I
Unknown Speaker 37:07
remember that. And you know why? I think I'm not excited to say this. I'm not exactly sure. The first time I saw the movie that I quite understood what was happening in the bathroom,
Unknown Speaker 37:19
no, for me, yeah, but yeah, it was him looking out that sliding little window. I knew he was doing something like sexual. I had no idea what it was, but again, like I said about like earlier, my number one scene will always be the cafeteria and the carrots. And because I did not it was just it stayed with me because I sort of felt embarrassed that I didn't know what they were doing and and what's happening. And then that's where I found out that she says she was 13 the first time she did it, and I'm like, all full of angst at that scene, and then when I find out what they're doing probably the next year, when friends tell me, I'm like, mortified that that's something that people do, yes. So for me, though, yeah, that that was when I learned what a BJ was. And another reason made me petrified till I grow up well, and I can remember, and this has to have been one of the first times I saw it, when she says, don't use your teeth. And I can remember thinking, well, like, how are you going to eat the carrot? Like,
Unknown Speaker 38:19
what? Don't use your teeth. That doesn't make any sense. Hey, you know, maybe, if it's a banana,
Unknown Speaker 38:26
you kind of are necessary for a carrot. Carrot. Oh, gosh.
Unknown Speaker 38:33
So after our very scientific poll on social media, here are some of the scenes our listeners will never forget. And it was surprising, because, again, we thought it would just be one scene that people would say. So 70s podcast says easy exclamation point. Is there a better scene than moving in stereo by the cars, playing with Brad, quote, unquote, watching Linda exit the pool? So at least, at least right? The first comment is right on brand with what the rest of us are saying.
Unknown Speaker 39:05
Wendy Aarons says, Brad in the car wearing the pirate hat, same,
Unknown Speaker 39:14
you guys, and he's like, so cocky.
Unknown Speaker 39:18
So la, la fala, I don't know how to say that. She says, When Jennifer, Jason Lee, with her strangely frizzy hair and knowing slash awkward smirk, is in science class, and the monkey in a cage grabs her finger, I thought that might happen to me someday. Why? And
Unknown Speaker 39:36
then she goes on to say, Why, I
Unknown Speaker 39:41
why,
Unknown Speaker 39:43
but I did love speaking of hair, though, that brought me back to the 80s. Was the little like half French braids. There were a lot of French braids in this movie with like a little ribbon intertwined in it, and so many roach clips
Unknown Speaker 39:58
in the hair. Yeah, you guys. I.
Unknown Speaker 40:00
Used to wear those. You could buy them at, like, the mall, right? And, like, the type of, I don't know if it was Spencers, but it was Spencer's or whatever, but we would all put them in our hair. And I probably weren't for a whole year before, like my stepfather, someone was like, Why do you have a roach clip in your hair? And I was like, What's a roach clip?
Unknown Speaker 40:15
20? What it was, you know, I was probably 12. I was horrified. Does that mean everybody thinks that's for my my weed, my marijuana,
Unknown Speaker 40:28
your grand, my joint,
Unknown Speaker 40:31
my doobie, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 40:35
but when I just said my grass, I remember my sister and her friend, they were like in elementary school. They once the paper towel, and they went out the backyard and they got a bunch of grass and they rolled it in the paper towel.
Unknown Speaker 40:47
They were young enough to think this was a thing, and then it just like caught on fire. That's how you smell grass, or burn your house or burn your backyard, right? Burn your bangs. Valerie, RP, 71 says, has to be, this is such a Gen X moment, you guys, has to be when Mr. Hand passes out test papers to the class, and they all smell it.
Unknown Speaker 41:10
They all take the mimeograph cheese. They go
Unknown Speaker 41:14
smell it right now. And it's kind of a damp Yeah, especially if it was, you know, just done, yeah? Like a lot of my teachers were running in from the teachers work totally like they're almost late and they're running into papers,
Unknown Speaker 41:27
and the ink is almost like kind of purple. And I remember taking it like, kind of waving it. They're kind of cold and damp, and you like, wave it a little bit. Smells so good. Green sweater. 27 says the scene where Brad covers for his friend who has to use the bathroom, then has the altercation with the customer and then gets fired as he's leaving. This is so funny. As he's leaving, he bangs on the restroom door and yells, I hope you had a hell of a piss Arnold, you
Unknown Speaker 41:58
can just hear him saying it, right.
Unknown Speaker 42:01
I mean huge props, and that's such a weird thing. My girls aren't listening to this, but they would die that I said props. But to Cameron Crowe for the writing of this movie, am I so well and hysterically written that scene in particular, the whole the breakfast, wanting to return the breakfast he's pointing to the sign. It's just, it's so good. I was so good. It is comedy like 100% of your ass.
Unknown Speaker 42:28
And that's like art. That's Gen X comedy to all of us. I'm speaking for all of us. I know we are. That is our kind of comedy that we still love to this day. Yeah, think about it. It's, it's not profane, it's, it's what a teenager would actually say. It's just a little more clever and more comedic, but it is what we're thinking, and we need somebody to say it better for us. And Cameron Crowe, that was his gift. So good. So Jude JASP says, Brad throwing, I'm gonna laugh at each one of these. Brad throwing the pot of coffee on the guy, robbing the Mini Mart and getting major props from Macaulay, awesome, totally awesome way to go, Hamilton,
Unknown Speaker 43:10
I think that was another yes part of the lexicon that came out of this that we started to use, like, awesome, totally awesome, Totally awesome. And now it stayed so hard that sometimes I have difficulty finding a different word to use besides awesome. This is 40 years later. I still, we're still saying awesome, and I think you're right before Spicoli. Yes, it may have been out there, but it wasn't part of the everyday lexicon. Totally awesome stayed, and it's gonna be and we're gonna say it on our deathbed, so we're gonna be like this life was totally
Unknown Speaker 43:48
Thanks. That's what collies
Unknown Speaker 43:50
gravestone should say. This life was awesome. Yeah, totally awesome. Totally awesome. Way to go, Hamilton. So skulls and swords says the scene with Demone teaching rat the rules of dating, for sure, I use demone's Five point plan on dozens of dates throughout my teenage years because of that scene. Really
Unknown Speaker 44:13
you thought that was a good idea. Is that successful?
Unknown Speaker 44:17
Remind everyone real quickly,
Unknown Speaker 44:20
the five point plan is, one, never let on how much you like a girl. Two, always call the shots. Three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to be. Four, when ordering food, you find out what she wants, then order for the both of you. It's a classy move. And five, now this is the most important rat when it comes down to making out whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin four.
Unknown Speaker 44:47
You know that skulls and swords was not the only one to do that. They took that seriously, and they're like, Okay, I gotta go find that eight track of Led Zeppelin, and then our friend Shane, who is 87 ragged Tiger. I.
Unknown Speaker 45:00
I kind of think he wins. He said, um, well, erm, as a 13 year old with a crush on Judge Reinhold, you do the math.
Unknown Speaker 45:11
I'm gonna have to arm wrestle you for him. Okay?
Unknown Speaker 45:15
Besides favorite scenes, you guys, most of the responses, a lot of them, included quotes from the movie. Maybe because, like many of our favorite iconic 80s movies, Fast Times is chock full, and I mean full of lines that we cannot forget. And when we think of memorable scenes, we just automatically know the quotes in them. It's like you can't separate them. Okay, so what do you think made the quote so memorable? Well, I think he Cameron Crowe was able to do dialog like nobody else, and remember, he spent a year embedded in a high school just writing down everything that everybody said. And so he was able to take those things that are very real, but he's a writer, so now he's gonna, now he's gonna punch it up and he's gonna make it clever so they they weren't outrageous, and, like I said, they weren't profane. They just say what we want to say, but funnier, right? And isn't that what like
Unknown Speaker 46:11
movies are about? It's those great lines, but by themselves, they're great and kind of funny, if you're reading his book, but when you pair that with the actor, who can put the facial expressions with it, or the accent, or whatever it just it's like this magical chemistry that happens, and it's bingo. And I think that's often what we see on the screen in really well done films. And we can say that, okay, well, I know we all have them. What are the quotes that have stuck in your brains, and you still remember today. This is one that has stuck in my head for 42 years. I didn't even know it was from this movie until I watched it this week. It was just always with me. And then when I rewatched it, I realized the reason that it stuck with me is because it contrasts two very awkward scenes. So mine is from demones Five point plan that you just laid out for us for picking up girls. And he's trying to be all cool, and he's trying to teach his nerdy friend rat how to score with the ladies. So he's Demone is the Linda in the relationship with rat, right? That's who Damone is. And he tells rat, like you just said, in a restaurant, you should always find out what the girl wants and then do the ordering for the both of them, and he models it for him. And this is what has been in my head for 42 years. The lady will have linguini with clam sauce and a coke with no ice.
Unknown Speaker 47:34
Why? Why? But then you fast forward, and RAD is on his real date with Stacy, and they're at this very fancy restaurant with and they're sitting in these giant chairs that make them look like little children. And that waitress, it looks so giant,
Unknown Speaker 47:51
she's the grown up that are done so intentionally, so intentionally to make them look like they are no business being there doing these grown up things. And rat says she'll have the knock worst.
Unknown Speaker 48:03
It's just not sexy, it's not cool. It's so perfect, yeah. Well, similarly to you, Kristen, when I heard the line, it's a line I've been using a lot, probably ever since the movie came up. But I at some point forgotten that this is from the movie. And when I saw it, I was like, well, now it all makes sense, because it's one of the first
Unknown Speaker 48:27
it's one I think we first see Judge Reinhold on the screen, and he's in work at the All American burger and he takes the big fryer and he dumps the french fries in the garbage can, and he says, I shall serve no fries before their time. And I will say that not always with fries. Be like, I'll serve no noodles before they're throwing things into the trash. And when he said it, it's like, Well, no wonder. It's judge. It's my future husband saying something funny and dumping these fries in and and then when I heard it on there and saw him saying it, oh my gosh, that's where it's from, it's like, your whole life makes sense now, yes, exactly, yes, exactly, exactly. And so our listeners had some some fun quotes to share for it's me Regina D. It's when Brad says, learn it, know it, live it.
Unknown Speaker 49:15
She says she's been saying that line for years. It's one of the first things you hear in the movie, and it's our introduction to Brad. Brad. He is the he's the big brother of the whole movie, and it gives us the perfect sound bite to sum him up as the responsible older brother, right? And that's coming right after the no shirt, no shoes, no he's like, What does it say? Like, my shoot, no shoes, no dice. And he's like, learn it. No
Unknown Speaker 49:41
my foothills fixer coming in with perhaps one of the most favorite that we got. All I need is some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.
Unknown Speaker 49:56
What about basically every scene with Mr. Hand? Right?
Unknown Speaker 50:00
Uh huh, right in the past almost four years, almost four years, it's crazy. We've been doing this podcast. We've rewatched many movies that we loved when they first came out, and while many of them are just as good as we remember, I'd say more than several
Unknown Speaker 50:17
of them either don't hold up in today's world, or we see them very differently through our 50 something year old eyes. So what did you guys think of fast times after watching it this past week? Did it hold up? Did you see it differently, both and yes? Yes, it definitely holds up, as long as you're ready to examine or accept how we viewed pregnancy and abortion as children, right? I would, I would argue that that they're pretty cavalier about the whole thing juvenile. They're quite juvenile because they are children. They're children. You see Demone trying to be responsible and trying to get the money for Stacy's abortion, but when he can, he just ghosts her, right? But that's because he's a kid. He doesn't have the capacity to process this with any kind of integrity, because he's a kid. And also, we had no information in 1982 we didn't talk about these things. We took things like this very cavalierly. But I don't know, but I feel like our kids have so much more information that they wouldn't be so cavalier that they would take it more seriously. I don't know. Is that a pipe dream?
Unknown Speaker 51:24
No, I don't think so. I think it's true. I think we've come a long way in education and just, you know, I would hope and just like the acceptance of talking about it, I actually can tell you answer my question right there and say, No, I know we haven't come very far at all, but there's no birth control anywhere, right? And that would be different today. There's zero point, yeah. And I think because these movies started to have these topics as subject matter, we started talking about it more amongst ourselves, and that we maybe grew up to become parents who were maybe a little more open with our children than our parents would have been with us. And so depending on how you parented, I think could the situation could be very different now, because you would have maybe discussed these things with your kids and saying, What if you know you're ever in a situation, no matter what you can come to me, I won't judge, at least that's kind of how I did it. So I'd like to think that my kids would have approached this a little differently than it happened in the movie, but I think maybe it's because we were the first generation of real parents that maybe addressed this a little more openly with her, and maybe because Amy hackerling made movies like Exactly, exactly, because if you I think our kids would be horrified that these kids are just having sex without any thought to birth control. I think that's an unheard of thing in today. And again, I hope I'm right. I hope I'm not just fantasizing about that. Yeah, who knows? Yeah, no. And I back before I was thinking of more of the situation they were in. But you're right, because the situation can still happen with birth control. Sure, but I agree with you. I thought, I thought, I think it holds up. I will tell you that watching it at age 55 versus age 13, my differences were like when I was young and watched this, I liked Stacy until she is in the pool house and she's basically like, we're doing this. Because he always, to me, sort of felt like hesitant, like Damone. She's Yeah, with Damone, always felt a little hesitant in it, sort of like, Now, listen, let's be real. He definitely, he makes the choice to do it, but I kind of stopped liking her in, you know, 8283 84 whenever I would watch it, like, Oh, you're fast, you know, like,
Unknown Speaker 53:46
rat fight for rat. Oh, so bad, yes, so bad Yes, she was like, she wasn't his girlfriend. But at the same time, that's just so I didn't like her. Then right now, watching it now, there was still definitely the element of, what are you doing? That's rats best friend. But I also having now gone through all the teen years, the 20 years, and everything I went through with my own kind of, like sexual growth, I could see her as that was kind of her Hail Mary, like she's talked with Linda, who she admires, 13 years old shit. I'm way behind. I just need to do this and get it over with. I'm gonna try with this nice boy rat. He's not interested. Who else is here? Oh, him. He looks cute. And I could feel more like sympathy or empathy for her at just like I need to do this and get it out of the way. She's trying so hard to keep up. She's trying to keep up. And that's I agree with you, with my my adult eyes, I recognized her in that way where I didn't see her that way when I was a kid. She's trying so hard to keep up when she doesn't have to, and it's because of Linda painting this picture for her of what you're supposed to do when you're a teenager. But Linda's picture.
Unknown Speaker 55:00
Not accurate. Stacy doesn't know that the picture exactly. Oh, then you feel then you feel bad for Stacey that she's trying so hard to keep up like honey, you don't have to do that, right? It's a companion conversation to our carnival Sandy cardigan. Sandy, is her expressing her sexuality, or is it her feeling pressure to keep up? Well? And we find out at the end of the movie that's not her natural. She's not embracing her sexuality. She's just trying to keep up, no, because you see that like when in the little postscript that they've been dating for a year and they still haven't had sex, yeah? So she just was looking for love, and she was misguided a little bit by Stacy, that this is all the things I'm supposed Yeah, by Linda, sorry, yeah. And so I feel like I got that more as an adult than I did as a kid. Yeah, for sure. Well, I can say that. I think I got that to some extent. While I was watching the movie, I feel like I was experiencing a lot of those things that those characters were feeling. And so when I watched this again, there was a lot of melancholy that I was kind of feeling because I remembered those feelings that they were having very specifically, and I remember having those when I saw the movie, in a way, it was just kind of mirroring my very own experiences at the time and watching it again, like that's not something I really revisit. You know, it's not like I would have any opportunity to really go back to that, but when I watching someone else experience that, and I remember watching the first time I saw that person experiencing that, if that makes sense, and how the Carolyn then was feeling, those kind of feelings came back up, that was surprising to me, like I saw the movie A little differently than just for the plot and the scenes. I remember it was too personal. It was, it really was. And it did take me till this age to kind of realize with clearer vision that I was kind of watching myself in some ways, and that, you know, that can have its its moments, and makes you take pause. And that really did, that's really interesting. So that's the story that Amy Heckerling was really telling, but I didn't really get that at the time, but that is, truthfully, the story she was telling, your story, yours, yeah, and so many people's story. And that's also what makes movies and these experiences so validating is that, oh, I wasn't the only one. Like, they made a whole movie about this, and this is one of the plot lines, so I'm not crazy. It's not just you, Carolyn, all by yourself in this world, like this is a thing, yeah, which makes you feel a little bit less alone.
Unknown Speaker 57:40
Is
Unknown Speaker 57:50
So I mean, although so we can look back at this film and we can see so many different things. We can see where it is not congruent to 2024 but how it really does show us a picture of what 1982 was like. Accurately, we can rest assured that it was a truer depiction of 1980s teen life than a lot of the other teensploitation films of the time. So when 22 year old Cameron Crowe set out to write a book to give kids like as a voice, he most certainly succeeded, and Amy Heckerling brought it to the screen with such care and authenticity that together they created a classic. She would go on to create clueless, the classic for the next generation of teens. And Cameron Crowe did not go on to be a novelist. Instead, he went on to be a filmmaker. And those Rolling Stone roots, those music roots, would follow him into music heavy films like almost famous and singles, but it all started with fast times. It's full of all kinds of music references you'd hear from teenagers and the music that we were listening to in 1982 and that is what we will be talking about next week. So stay tuned for an even deeper dive on how the music in this 1980s film cemented it as a teen classic. Thank you for listening, and we will see you next
Unknown Speaker 59:03
time I totally Today's episode was brought to you by our wonderful Patreon members who take their support of this podcast to the next level and get fun and exclusive bonus content as a thank you. We honestly could not do this without them, and today we are giving a special shout out to Natalie, Aggie, Sherry, Darcy, Annalisa, Elizabeth, Nina Lynn, Valerie, Patty, Stephanie, Rochelle and Mindy.
Unknown Speaker 59:35
Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much. And if you would like to learn more about becoming a patron of the pop culture Preservation Society, just go to patreon.com and search for us or click the link in our show notes, and now let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of the show, Carolyn wasn't allowed to watch Three's Company. Two good times, two Happy Days, two little house on the.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:00
Mary cheers, the information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we're always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, Nanu. Nanu, keep on truckin, and May the Force Be With You. You.