Fast Times at Ridgemont High Opens in Theaters -- September 7, 1982

The world first observed the art of carrot fellatio, hung ten with Jeff Spicoli, and learned the definitive answer to an eternal question -- “Doesn’t anybody fucking knock anymore?” -- on this date in 1982.

That’s when Fast Times at Ridgemont High hit theaters and forever changed the landscape of teen movies, pop culture as a whole, and the incidents of the phrase “Awesome! Totally awesome!” in day-to-day discourse.
Adapted from a book of investigative journalism by Rolling Stone correspondent Cameron Crowe (who actually went undercover as a high-school student to write it), Fast Times at Ridgemont High was not an immediate hit.

In fact, Fast Times’ slow-building popularity was one of the first incidents of home video breathing second life into a movie, transforming it from cult favorite to mainstream phenomenon as the VCR became a standard household appliance.

In hindsight, the movie itself seemed destined for greatness all along. Fast Times is extraordinarily hilarious and perceptive, and it cuts infinitely deeper than the tits-and-zits farces it preceded, and the sanitized John Hughes takes on puberty.

Sean Penn as Stoned Surfer Supreme Jeff Spicoli, and Phoebe Cates, with a red bikini that rocked the world lead a once-in-a-generation cast including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forrest Whittaker, Judge Rheinhold, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards, Eric Stoltz, Robert Romanus, Ray Walston, Vincent Schiavelli, Pamela Springsteen, and the late Lana Clarkson. Each performer creates a characters that quickly, and indelibly, became an icon.

So hey, bud, let’s party, and watch the movie nude scene to which all other movie nude scenes must answer. It is awesome. Totally awesome.