Campus Comedy Classics

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Before he became an overrated filmmaker, Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) was a reporter for Rolling Stone who was so youthful looking that he could go undercover for a year at a California high school and write a book about it. He wrote the script for this film, based on that book, and it launched the careers of several young actors, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, and, above all, Sean Penn. The story line is episodic, dealing with the lives of iconic teen types: one of the school's cool kids, a nerd, a teen queen, and, most enjoyably, the class stoner (Penn), who finds himself at odds with a strict history teacher (a wonderfully spiky Ray Walston). This is not a great movie but very entertaining and, for a certain age group, a seminal movie experience. --Marshall Fine

Description

Campus Comedy Classics includes: American Pie (Special Edition) (R-rated version), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Special Edition), and Animal House (Special Edition).

Customer Reviews:

Falls just short of true greatness.......2007-09-08

The first time I remember even hearing about this movie was in 9th grade. My 9th grade religion teacher was on his favorite topic: how awful pre-marital sex was. For one reason or another this is one of those speeches that stuck in my memory, and I think I remember him pretty much verbatim:

"Hollywood movies always portray sex as glamorous. It's not glamorous. The only movie I ever saw that portrayed sex accurately was 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'. And I can't recommend it to you because it's rated R, and it's rated R for some very good reasons. But there's a scene in the movie where a high school girl is on a date, and the guy only has one thing on his mind. And they end up having sex in the baseball bleachers and he's on top of her and she just has this look of horror on her face like 'what have I gotten myself into'."

My second encounter with this movie was back in the early days of the internet. We had a prodigy subscription at our house (remember Prodigy?) and I use to waste a lot of time on their movie review archive reading about movies I hadn't seen yet. (Scary how we never grow out of some of these childhood bad habits, isn't it? I still waste a lot of time reading junk on-line).

The prodigy review compared this movie to all the other teen sex flicks in the late 70s early 80s which featured a group of boys (the reviewer claimed "usually Southern") who went on several amorous adventures and glorious conquests. By contrast "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" provided a much more realistic look by focusing on the unglamorous side of teen sexuality: the disappointing first sexual encounter, the sister's friend walking in on the brother masturbating, and the lady's man who suffers from premature ejaculation. Not to mention the pregnancy and the abortion.

Based on these descriptions I always thought "Fast Times" would be a gritty somber flick. But then I began to notice I would usually hear it referenced alongside all of the other feel-good teen comedies of the 80s.

Over the years I caught bits and pieces of it on TV, but never managed to catch the whole thing straight through. I even sat through a good chunk of a dubbed version on late night Japanese TV, but didn't understand most of it.

And so the other day, when I saw it in my video store, I thought I might as well rent it and watch the whole thing beginning to end to see what this film was all about anyway.

I suspect I was probably the last person on earth who hasn't seen this film, but just in case there is anyone more out of touch than me let me recount the premise.

Journalist and child prodigy Cameron Crowe (whose own autobiographical story is told in the movie "Almost Famous") went back to high school at 22. He pretended to be a high school student and wrote a book about the kids he saw around him. Hollywood bought the rights to the book, and made the movie.

The book apparently takes a few liberties with the truth (composite characters, a few things switched around) and the movie takes a few liberties with the book, so it is a few steps removed from the real thing, but it is usually marketed as an unflinching look at high school reality.

This is a hard movie to classify. Part of it wants to be a serious look at high school problems. Part of it wants to be just another teen comedy. It's a movie that flirts with greatness, but ultimately doesn't really rise to the next level.

The DVD extras and the directors commentary offer some interesting insight into the battle with studio executives that helps to explain this. The studio wanted a nice generic teen comedy, and the director and writer had to battle them on a lot of points. Also it was interesting to hear that the director hated most of the songs on the soundtrack as much as I did. The studio insisted all those cheesy soft rock ballads be used in the movie. (Although there are some cool songs snuck in there as well. Another interesting tidbit from the DVD commentary is that it is virtually impossible to get Led Zeppelin songs for sound tracks, but because of Cameron Crowe's relationship with Zeppelin as a rock journalist, they obliged and gave him "Kashmir").

The film follows several different characters, which helps to keep it interesting, although as a consequence of that none of the plotlines are developed as much as I would have liked. And the Hollywood ending seems a bit tacked on.

The film does show the unglamorous side of teen sexuality, but it does not take a puritanical view, and I imagine there is a lot in here my 9th grade religion teacher would disapprove of. The film makers themselves (again on the DVD commentary) say the only reason the film could get make in the first place is that they got in right before the conservative 80s backlash got up to full strength.

But well the film may ultimately end on an unsatisfying note, it is certainly an entertaining movie to watch. Like a lot of teen movies, it showcases a lot of young future stars before they became famous.

More from the 70's than from the 80's!!.......2007-09-06

There is NO DOUBTH that this movie is from the 80's ! but it was released in 1982 so the kids have the 70's in mind and the "hair metal band" were not THAT famous back then, (they became more famous in 1984).

You hear the kids talking about Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin and Earth Wind & Fire. Not olny that, there is a grafitti in a bridge that say's "disco sucks" and one of the kids was driving a "Firebird" car which was wery popular back in the 70's.

If you are looking for a crazy teen stoner movie of the 80's the this one is not perfect! Try looking for one that was made in the mid or late 80's or maybe if you know about a present teen stoner movie based on the mid 80's then that one would be great.

But don't get me wrong, this movie is great for stoner movies! Try also Dazed and Confused which is the same as this one but based on 1976.

Adios.

its more dirty on tv.......2007-08-16

i lv this movie but they cut all the bad parts out on this disk and did not add them to the bonus features i dont know why they did but tv hey show them im confused

Classic Comedy About High School Life.......2007-08-04

This is a classic to say the least. Very funny, and somewhat emotional at times. If you want to see the only movie Sean Penn was in that's worth watching, then get this one. Nothing else he's ever done other than this movie is worth seeing. Judge Reinhold is excellent also. Phoebe Cates coming out of the pool is worth the price of the movie. Get it and love it without a doubt.

High School Rules.......2007-07-23

This is the epitome of the 80's high school genre. With Sean Penn playing Jeff Spicola, is just down right funny. Watching the going on of teenagers working in the holidays and trying out sex is a great jump into the angst of these exploits that we watch them all go through. Including first time sex, pregnancy, realtionship breakups, or just bumming around in school, this movie offers almost everything you can expect from high school in the 80's. A must have in any dvd collection.

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