Fast Times at Ridgemont High

“Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cameron Crowe, Amy Heckerling. I feel like everything I’ve ever done is deeply influenced by this movie, because it was really funny and very real and stands the test of time. Judge Reinhold forever.”

“I mean, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, probably the best teen high school movie ever made. Big influence on Dazed and Confused. Incredible performances. I mean, chief among them, Sean Penn as Spicoli. You know, like, “Once I cruise history, I’m not coming to your side of the building.” “Mr. Hand.” Like… “Get out of here, Curtis, I don’t hear you unless you knock.”...”

“This one is just staring at me. Right when I walked in I saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and… I saw this way too young. And I’m probably going to push it on my son way too young. But this… Spicoli is as good as it gets, man.”

“How can we forget Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Had a little something to do with that. I was lucky enough to have my screenplay filmed by Amy, who really wanted to protect the authenticity of the high school experience. Not a fantasized version of it, but you know, an often raw and realistic aching version of what it is to be young in the early '80s. Thank you, Amy. I'll take this with me.”

“But on a on a brighter note, Fast Times, Sean Penn as Spicoli, one of the best characters ever. Yeah, ever. It's so cool that you guys have this one.”

“Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Amy Heckerling, who I adore and made the movie Clueless, also made this. I can't think of another person who has their finger on the pulse of what kids are going through and what they're saying. You have a scene where Sean Penn is ordering a pizza to class, which is like a big funny sequence, and then you also have a young girl in high school getting an abortion and this exists in the same movie. And it does so with care and dexterity and elegance.”