Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jeff Spicoli	Sean Penn
Stacy Hamilton	Jennifer Jason Leigh	½
Brad Hamilton	Judge Reinhold	½
Mike Damone	Robert Romanus	½
Mark Ratner	Brian Backer	½
Linda Barrett	Phoebe Cates	½
Mr. Hand	Ray Waltson	½
Mr. Vargas	Vincent Schiavelli
Charles Jefferson	Forest Whitaker	-
Stoner Bud	Eric Stoltz
Brad's Bud	Nicolas Cage

Review

It's hard for me to be completely objective when revisiting the beautiful stylistic mayhem that was the 1980s, like this film allows us to do. Amy Heckerling directs with ungracious vividness and creates a relentlessly funny and completely unsophisticated film from Cameron Crowe's bubbly script. It captures quite a bit of what being a youngster in the early eighties was about. And even if it does so in an uncomplicated manner, the film cares about its characters and the environments it depicts. It's a movie which feels like it's reporting from the inside – which knows and understands its characters' artless inner workings, youthful desperations and deepest secrets. And which also exposes them with total casualness. A wonderful slice of high school life, and in retrospect also a wonderful time travel. Another treat is the fine assembly of up-and-coming performers, from Jennifer Jason Leigh's alluringly reserved Stacy to Sean Penn's hilarious, over-the-top Spicoli. Great fun.