Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Brad Hamilton is a popular senior at Ridgemont High School, a fictional school in the San Fernando Valley, and looks forward to his final year of school. He has a job at All-American Burger, his 1960 Buick LeSabre is almost paid for, and plans to break up with his girlfriend Lisa so he can be completely eligible during his senior year. His perfect life is threatened after an exchange with an obnoxious customer results in his firing from "All-American Burger". When Brad tries to tell Lisa how much he needs her, she informs him that she wants to break up with him to date other guys. Brad gets a job at "Captain Hook Fish & Chips", but quits in humiliation when a beautiful older woman laughs at him wearing a pirate costume while making a food delivery.

Brad's sister Stacy is a 15-year-old freshman, and a virgin. She works at Perry's Pizza at Ridgemont Mall alongside her outspoken older friend, Linda Barrett. One night at work, Stacy takes an order from 26 year old stereo salesman, Ron Johnson, who asks her out after she tells him she's 19. She later sneaks out of her house for a date with him and loses her virginity that night in the dugout of a baseball field. Stacy later tells Linda about the experience, stating how much it hurt. Linda offers advice to Stacy on the matter, which she often does, as the more worldly and experienced of the two. Ron sends her flowers the next day.

Mike Damone is a smooth-talker who earns money taking sports bets and scalping concert tickets; he fancies himself a worldly ladies' man. His shy but amiable best friend, Mark Ratner, works as an usher at the movie theater across from Perry's Pizza. When Mark develops a crush on Stacy, Damone lets Mark in on his five secrets for picking up girls. Damone later persuades Mark to ask Stacy out on a date to a German restaurant. Afterwards, at her home, Stacy invites Mark into her bedroom, where they look at her photo album together. They begin to kiss, but a nervous Mark abruptly leaves after Stacy attempts to seduce him. She mistakenly interprets his shyness as disinterest. Linda quickly advises her to move on and find another boy. After he drops by her house unannounced, Stacy becomes interested in Damone. She invites him to her pool, which quickly leads to them having sex in the pool house during which he ejaculates very quickly. Her brother Brad, who has become sullen and withdrawn since his breakup with Lisa and the loss of his job at "All-American Burger", is caught masturbating in the bathroom by Linda after he fantasizes about her exposing her breasts to him at the pool.

Stacy later informs Damone that he has gotten her pregnant, and he tells her she wanted sex more than he did, which she denies. She asks for him to cover half the cost of an abortion and provide her with a ride to the clinic, and he agrees. However, unable to come up with his half despite attempts to call in debts owed from his business dealings, Damone abandons Stacy on the day of her appointment. She lies and asks her brother Brad to drive her to a bowling alley to meet friends, but he sees her cross the street to the abortion clinic. Brad waits for Stacy and he confronts her about the abortion. Stacy makes Brad promise not to tell their parents, but does not divulge who got her pregnant. When Stacy tells Linda that Damone abandoned her and did not pay his half, Linda becomes furious. The next day, Damone finds his car spray-painted "Prick" and his school locker painted "little prick" as revenge. Mark confronts Damone about his involvement with Stacy. They almost get into a fight, but their gym teacher breaks it up.

Jeff Spicoli is a carefree stoner and surfer who runs afoul of history teacher Mr. Hand and attending Mr. Vargas' science class. One night, Spicoli wrecks the 1981 Chevrolet Camaro of Ridgemont star football player Charles Jefferson during a joyride with Jefferson's younger brother. Spicoli covers up the damage by making it look like the car was destroyed by fans of Ridgemont's sports rival Lincoln High School. When Ridgemont plays Lincoln, Jefferson, furious about his car, brutally tackles several of Lincoln's players and almost single-handedly wins the game. Spicoli joins the science class of Mr. Vargas on a class trip to the morgue. On the evening of the graduation dance, Mr. Hand visits Spicoli's house and informs him that he must make up the eight hours of class time he has wasted over the school year. They have a history session that lasts until Mr. Hand is satisfied that Spicoli has understood the lesson, and the two show that they respect each other.

Mark and Stacy start dating again, as Mark makes peace with his best friend Damone. Brad takes a job at a convenience store called Mi-T-Mart and foils an armed robbery with some help from an oblivious Spicoli, who stumbles out of the bathroom, distracting the robber.

A postscript states that Brad was promoted to manager of Mi-T-Mart. Damone was busted scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets and was forced to take a job at convenience store rival, 7-Eleven. Mr. Vargas has gone back to caffeinated coffee. Linda attends college in Riverside and moves in with her abnormal-psychology professor. Mark and Stacy are going steady and haven't gone all the way yet. Mr. Hand maintains his belief that everyone is on dope. Spicoli saved Brooke Shields from drowning and blew the reward money hiring rock band Van Halen to play at his birthday party.

As the credits roll, Mi-T-Mart, All American Burger, and Ridgemont Mall close for the night.

The film is adapted from a book Crowe wrote after a year spent at Clairemont High School in San Diego, California. He went undercover to do research for his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, about his observations of the high school and the students he befriended there, including then-student Andy Rathbone, on whom the character Mark "Rat" Ratner was modeled.[6]

Nicolas Cage made his feature-film debut, portraying an unnamed co-worker of Brad's at All-American Burger, credited as "Nicolas Coppola."[7] It was also the film debut for Eric Stoltz and provided early roles for Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker. Crowe's future wife Nancy Wilson of Heart has a cameo as the "Beautiful Girl in Car" who laughs at Brad in his Captain Hook uniform during a traffic-light stop.

Tom Hanks was considered for the role of Brad Hamilton. Justine Bateman was offered the role of Linda Barrett, but she turned it down to star in Family Ties. Matthew Broderick was offered the role of Jeff Spicoli, but turned it down. Jodie Foster was considered for the role of Stacy Hamilton.[8][9]

Universal gave the film a limited theatrical release on August 13, 1982, opening in 498 theaters. It earned $2.5 million in its opening weekend. The release was widened to 713 theaters, earning $3.25 million. The film ranked 29th among U.S. releases in 1982, earning $27.1 million,[16] six times its $4.5 million budget, and later gaining popularity through television and home video releases.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 60 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "While Fast Times at Ridgemont High features Sean Penn's legendary performance, the film endures because it accurately captured the small details of school, work, and teenage life."[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[18]

Roger Ebert called it a "scuz-pit of a movie", but praised the performances by Leigh, Penn, Cates, and Reinhold.[19] Janet Maslin wrote that it was "a jumbled but appealing teen-age comedy with something of a fresh perspective on the subject."[20]

As time went on, however, the film was increasingly seen as a classic. In an essay written for the Criterion Collection edition in 2021, critic Dana Stevens wrote, "Fast Times is the polar opposite of exploitation. Deep in its horny heart, this is the story of one fifteen-year-old girl’s clumsy and sometimes painful introduction to the world of sex, related without judgment or preconception or the least hint of sentimentalization. Heckerling’s film is a raunchy crowd-pleaser replete with stoner humor, a masturbation gag, and a blow-job tutorial that makes use of school-cafeteria carrots. But it is also attuned to the emotional lives of teenagers—girls and boys—in ways that place it far ahead of its time."[21]

Crowe's screenplay was nominated for a WGA Award for best comedy adapted from another medium. The film ranks No. 15 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies"[22] and No. 2 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies".[23]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #87[24]

National Film Preservation Board

• 2005: National Film Registry, Fast Times at Ridgemont High