JUST rewatched FTARH recently and MAN it is dark (and darkly funny). I'll listen in and chime in with more thoughts but the relationship between Spicoli and Mr. Hand is moving in my old age. I will treat everyone younger than I like Mr. Hand.
You'll probably like what we have to say then! We spent time talking about Mr. Hand. He's my favorite character. I'm probably watching this movie wrong lol
Love this series! And here’s to more audio, And the name of course is golden. Where’s Matt and Ben when
You need them?! Well… I saw this film in my 20s and was impressed by it. Characters weren’t relatable and I didn’t find it funny. However, I will always be a Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh fan but not for this film. I think it’s sorta later Gen X’s version of “Mallrats” and while that film was more accessible and relatable I wasn’t really the target demographic for it either. I will perpetually be uncool. 🤓
Thanks my friend!! It would be super interesting to hear from people who were teens when it came out and could go “Yeah, this tracks.” I’ve said in a few other comments, I think part of what hurts the film is putting it in the same “zany teen sex romp-com” as Porkys or Revenge of the Nerds. I gather the studio wanted to position it that way for bottom line reasons rather than risk placing it in the indie category, which is where I think it belongs. If Sean Penn were to ever host SNL, I’d make him do a Spicoli/Mr. Hand Odd Couple sketch :)
Fast Times was filmed at my local mall -- The Sherman Oaks Galleria. That pizza parlor where Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh worked was real. I ate there. Ditto for the movie theater, although I was too young to see Fast Times there.
Yep. The more I think on it, the more I think it was doing something much smarter and kind of daring than it gets credit for. I think the “teen sex comedy” characterization is way off. I know that some of my initial reactions and thoughts about it were colored by that. It’s much more of an introspective indie kind of film.
That's part of the beauty of digging into these films for me, I think. For a lot of them I was not in a place to appreciate or be interested in them and I've let them slip by. And now I'm discovering things about them that are, to me, pretty awesome. When we Valley Girls we shall compare and contrast. Bring your #2 pencil, Mr. Spicoli.
I remember enjoying Fast Times but felt inferior to the perfect Hollywood breasts of Phoebe Cates. I think she was cast for her chest not her talent. Instead of What happened to Judge, what happened to Sean Penn. He's creepy.
Re: sex, a comparison movie (set in the late 1970s, close enough for FTARH) was Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, which TOTALLY brought me back to my youth. Our parents, from the gen before Boomers, were doing sex as they THOUGHT it had to be done lol...we were not schooled, so we were LOST. Which is the humor, I guess. But it's not laugh-out-loud funny, it's darkly funny. More thoughts on Damone, who is so fucked up he's nearly brilliant...I knew assholes like him, maybe lol I was one. OUCH.
I loved The Ice Storm. I can see how it would hit differently with that age demographic. Parenting in the 70s and 80s was a wild ride, wasn’t it? The more I think of Fast Times the more I feel like it should have been put in a different film genre; I think sticking it in the “raunchy teen sex comedy” camp is a disservice to what it’s exploring.
Yeah it’s in the wrong genre, but I think at the time it was released, had they not “ginned it up” it would never have garnered an audience, unfortunately. So, it’s essentially a “bait and switch.”
JUST rewatched FTARH recently and MAN it is dark (and darkly funny). I'll listen in and chime in with more thoughts but the relationship between Spicoli and Mr. Hand is moving in my old age. I will treat everyone younger than I like Mr. Hand.
You'll probably like what we have to say then! We spent time talking about Mr. Hand. He's my favorite character. I'm probably watching this movie wrong lol
It's ALL our time, so I'm sure you'll not mind sharing your pizza! lol
Love this series! And here’s to more audio, And the name of course is golden. Where’s Matt and Ben when
You need them?! Well… I saw this film in my 20s and was impressed by it. Characters weren’t relatable and I didn’t find it funny. However, I will always be a Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh fan but not for this film. I think it’s sorta later Gen X’s version of “Mallrats” and while that film was more accessible and relatable I wasn’t really the target demographic for it either. I will perpetually be uncool. 🤓
Thanks my friend!! It would be super interesting to hear from people who were teens when it came out and could go “Yeah, this tracks.” I’ve said in a few other comments, I think part of what hurts the film is putting it in the same “zany teen sex romp-com” as Porkys or Revenge of the Nerds. I gather the studio wanted to position it that way for bottom line reasons rather than risk placing it in the indie category, which is where I think it belongs. If Sean Penn were to ever host SNL, I’d make him do a Spicoli/Mr. Hand Odd Couple sketch :)
I played the #@*& out of the FTaRH album which, oddly, did NOT include the Cars song.
What? They got Stones’ licensing but NOT the Cars? That ain’t right. And yeah..that soundtrack absolutely BANGS!
Fast Times was filmed at my local mall -- The Sherman Oaks Galleria. That pizza parlor where Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh worked was real. I ate there. Ditto for the movie theater, although I was too young to see Fast Times there.
Our mall was so crappy..it was one floor and just humiliating, honestly. Any mall that had a movie theatre IN it was the envy of our worlds.
I sorta wondered if you were near the locations. I was in LA in the early 1990s but never got to Sherman Oaks.
I'm an SFV OG. Fast Times is many things, but to people of certain age who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, it's definitely a time capsule.
Yep. The more I think on it, the more I think it was doing something much smarter and kind of daring than it gets credit for. I think the “teen sex comedy” characterization is way off. I know that some of my initial reactions and thoughts about it were colored by that. It’s much more of an introspective indie kind of film.
Give it time. I think I watched it 5 or 6 times when I was a teen, but didn't really start to get it until I was older
That's part of the beauty of digging into these films for me, I think. For a lot of them I was not in a place to appreciate or be interested in them and I've let them slip by. And now I'm discovering things about them that are, to me, pretty awesome. When we Valley Girls we shall compare and contrast. Bring your #2 pencil, Mr. Spicoli.
Slow burn
Glad I came of age during the Eighties Teen Sex Comedy Golden Age.
It was…umm educational, was it not? :)
How many people are gonna read this post and get "Moving In Stereo" stuck in their heads?
At least you and me.
I remember enjoying Fast Times but felt inferior to the perfect Hollywood breasts of Phoebe Cates. I think she was cast for her chest not her talent. Instead of What happened to Judge, what happened to Sean Penn. He's creepy.
Yeah. I bet a lot of young women were immediately intimidated by her non-CGI chest.
Let's make "Old Timers at Ridgemont Mall" happen!
Take my seed money! YES!!! :)
Lol. I'm in the wrong biz!
I wrote about our 1970s mall on WordPress. Enjoy!
https://completelydark.com/2012/07/21/at-the-mall/
Re: sex, a comparison movie (set in the late 1970s, close enough for FTARH) was Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, which TOTALLY brought me back to my youth. Our parents, from the gen before Boomers, were doing sex as they THOUGHT it had to be done lol...we were not schooled, so we were LOST. Which is the humor, I guess. But it's not laugh-out-loud funny, it's darkly funny. More thoughts on Damone, who is so fucked up he's nearly brilliant...I knew assholes like him, maybe lol I was one. OUCH.
I loved The Ice Storm. I can see how it would hit differently with that age demographic. Parenting in the 70s and 80s was a wild ride, wasn’t it? The more I think of Fast Times the more I feel like it should have been put in a different film genre; I think sticking it in the “raunchy teen sex comedy” camp is a disservice to what it’s exploring.
Yeah it’s in the wrong genre, but I think at the time it was released, had they not “ginned it up” it would never have garnered an audience, unfortunately. So, it’s essentially a “bait and switch.”
So Fast Times is a really great mov--AND OMG, HOW HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN IT?!
Our mall wasn't terrible; you could smoke inside and it had a Squire Shop. What more could you want?