Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982, Amy Heckerling) (Patreon)

66/100

At least third viewing, last seen 20 years ago for an Entertainment Weekly piece that I can't find on their website (my back issues are in storage) but that must have had something to do with depictions of high-schoolers losing their virginity, since I'd watched Losin' It and The Last American Virgin the day before. (I assume this was pegged to the video release of American Pie, which I watched two days before that. See how useful a film log can be?) Curious about what I wrote then since both of the key sex scenes seem downright schizophrenic to me now—realistically awkward and unromantic save for the recurring non-diegetic presence of "Somebody's Baby," which I guess one could argue is employed ironically (especially given lyrics that equate sexiness with infancy; we're basically hearing "She must be somebody's daughter"), but which really comes across more like someone's effort to ensure that the movie doesn't become too much of a downer. That tonal wavering is evident throughout, and since Spicoli's surfer-dude hilarity made the most lasting impression, it's always bracing to revisit the whole thing and be reminded of how frequently demoralizing it is. Heckerling isn't my idea of a great filmmaker (I've never been as keen on Clueless as most), but Fast Times' deep empathy for Stacy and Linda in particular is unmistakable and—for the era—quite atypical. Even the famous "Moving in Stereo" sequence winds up being about Brad's embarrassment when Linda walks in on him fantasizing about her, not the Porky's-style celebration of voyeurism that was ascendant at the time. (Though of course it's also an excuse to show some boobs. Both ways, always.)

What struck me most this time around—with 1982, a year that I'm old enough to remember well (I started high school that fall), nearly four decades in the rear-view mirror—is how much Fast Times at Ridgemont High now plays like a slightly more populist Dazed and Confused, despite being a present-tense state of the student union address rather than someone's affectionately nostalgic memory of adolescence. Period signifiers are so pervasive that a contemporary production designer who threw them all into an early-'80s-set film would be instructed to tone it the fuck down. You've got multiple Pat Benatar clones (expressly pointed out as such); a bored teacher playing with a Rubik's Cube; two dozen students sniffing freshly mimeographed handouts (which must be nonsensical to young people who watch the film today; FYI, there was no real high involved, it was more like burying your face in sheets right out of the laundry); prominent Tattoo You and Taking Liberties posters; etc. Time turns everything into historical curiosity eventually, but Fast Times looks as if it's positioning itself that way in advance. Also hadn't really noticed before that this film is even more plotless and anecdotal than Linklater's—though that makes sense, since it takes place over a year rather than a single day and was adapted from a nonfiction account. Oh, and of course you've got a similar panoply of future stars showing up in bit parts: Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards (all but unrecognizable), Nicolas Cage (seriously, do not blink or you will miss him), Forest Whitaker, James Russo. (Also Lana Clarkson, who was never really a star but whose presence was discomfiting for me since I'd happened to rewatch Phil Spector the night before.) There can't be any serious debate about which film is better, but merely being compared to Dazed without disparagement is something to be damn proud of, really. Especially since Heckerling and Crowe got there first.

The Mystery That Endures: Is it a goof or a deliberate joke that Damone instructs Rat to play side one of Led Zeppelin IV as makeout music (that's pretty funny in and of itself, honestly), following which there's a smash cut to Rat and Stacy driving around listening to "Kashmir"? [UPDATE: Nick Vass pointed out that Heckerling has weighed in on this. I also just found a thread from this year involving Crowe and Jake Tapper.] Surprised they were able to license any Zep track, to be honest.