Fast Times at Ridgemont High/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Dawson Casting: Phoebe Cates was 18 when she appeared in this film, and she was the youngest actor in the main cast.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Good God, so many.
  • I Am Not Spock: Sean Penn would rather not be associated with Spicoli nowadays.
    • Subverted with Ray Walston. For a long time after the film was released, people frequently addressed Ray Walston as Mr. Hand. Walston was very grateful for this because up until that time, he felt that he was too closely associated with his prior role of Uncle Martin in My Favorite Martian (TV).
  • The Red Stapler: Sales of Vans shoes increased following the release of the movie, where Jeff Spicoli wore his Vans black-and-white checkerboard slip-on shoes.
  • Sleeper Hit: Universal originally planned to only release the film in the Western part of the United States for a few weeks before sending it off to cable (regional releases were still common at this time) due to the belief that there was no audience for it. After an excellent response, the film went wide three weeks later with a big opening in the Eastern United States and had a long run in theaters.
  • Technology Marches On: The burglar disables the gas station's security camera by spray-painting the lens as he walks in. In 1982, chances are there wasn't another camera in the store. Now, there'd almost certainly be several.
    • Linda mentions that her neighborhood doesn't even have cable TV yet.
  • Throw It In: The scene where Spicoli is interviewed by Stu Nahan and utters the immortal line, "Hey bud, let's party!" was a last-minute addition to the movie after plans to film Spicoli singing "Highway to Hell" fell through (see What Could Have Been below).
  • Unintentional Period Piece
  • What Could Have Been: The studio originally considered Nicolas Cage for the role of Brad, but after his audition, Amy Heckerling thought his performance was too dark and instead offered the role to Judge Reinhold. Additionally, Cage was 17 at the time, and thus he could not work as many hours as those for actors 18 and over. In addition, Fred Gwynne was originally offered the role of Mr. Hand, but he turned it down because he felt that the sex scenes involving Jennifer Jason Leigh were too objectionable.
    • In the novel, Spicoli dreams he's singing "Highway to Hell" on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson hosting), but Carson refused to do it for the movie, and other talk show hosts (including David Letterman) also turned it down (Letterman apparently was willing to do it, but his agent wouldn't let him appear in a movie where the characters did drugs). In its place was the scene where Spicoli is interviewed by sports announcer Stu Nahan.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Fast_Times_at_Ridgemont_High/Trivia?oldid=1224248"