Genre Grandeur – Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) – MovieRob

For this month’s next entry for Genre Grandeur February – Coming of Age movie’s, here’s a review of Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) by me.

Thanks again to Justine of Justine’s movie blog for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre, chosen by  Anna of Film Grimoire will be Latin Director movies. To participate, send me your review to latin@movierob.net by 25th Mar.  Thanks to Anna for a great and diverse choice.

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:
“All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine. ” – Jeff Spicoli

Number of Times Seen –  No clue (numerous times on cable, video, DVD and 12 Feb 2015)

Brief Synopsis – The goings on at a typical high school in Southern California during the early 80’s.

My Take on it – Cameron Crowe did an amazing job creating this story, its characters and the whole high school atmosphere in this movie.

At a bit over 90 minutes, he was able to place so many interesting high school issues in the plot while at the same time not give off the feeling that the story seems too overcrowded.

He also gave a comedic spin to it all despite some of the very heavy issues being dealt with.

The cast is superb with Judge Reinhold, Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, and Ray Walston as Mr. Hand. There are even a few scenes with small parts with Anthony Edwards and Eric Stoltz.

This movie has so many iconic scenes that I can’t even begin to name them.

Besides, what kid of the 80’s didn’t dream of Pheobe Cates after that swimming pool scene.. 😉

Bottom Line – Amazing look at high school life in the 80’s. There ae so many messages layered beneath the comedic exterior of it all. Tackles so many poignant issues so well in such a short running time. Amazing cast of future greats. Highly recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – During shooting of the film, Sean Penn got so into character that he only answered as Spicoli. In fact, the door on his dressing room was labeled “Spicoli” instead of “Sean Penn”. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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