Synopsis
The film follows the lives of several students at the fictional Ridgemont High School over the course of one academic year.
Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold) is a senior who appears to have it made. He is looking forward to his last year of school and almost has his car (a 1960 Buick LeSabre, known as the "Cruising Vessel") paid off. He is popular, in large part because of his part-time job at a burger joint where his girlfriend, Lisa (Amanda Wyss), also works. Brad is pondering how to end his relationship with Lisa so he can play the field during his senior year. However, Brad is fired from his job at the burger joint for blowing his cool and threatening an obnoxious customer; and when he tries to tell Lisa how much he needs her at a school rally before a big football game, Lisa tells Brad that she is dumping him to see other guys. Brad quits his next job because of the humiliation of having to wear a pirate costume when delivering food. He gets a third job at a convenience store, where he successfully thwarts an attempted robbery and is promoted to store manager.
Brad's sister, Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is a 15-year-old freshman. She is worried that she's not attractive or experienced enough to meet, let alone have relationships with, any guys. While working at the mall she meets a 26-year-old stereo salesman who asks her out (after she tells him she's 19). She sneaks out to meet him and they have sex at a secluded make-out spot, referred to as "The Point". She reveals the loss of her virginity to her friend, popular senior Linda (Phoebe Cates) who assures her that it will hurt less as she does it more.
Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), who earns money scalping tickets, and as a bookmaker, fancies himself a suave ladies' man. He lets his younger best friend Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) in on his secrets for picking up girls. When he sees that Rat has a big crush on Stacy, Mike coaxes Rat into asking Stacy out on a date (to a formal dinner). Stacy invites Rat into her bedroom after the date, but Rat quickly shies away and leaves when Stacy tries to initiate sex with him.
Later, Damone walks Stacy home after school and asks to come into her house. Stacy then invites Damone for a swim in the backyard pool; but when this leads to sex in the pool house with Stacy, Damone has a premature ejaculation and flees in embarrassment. When Stacy later informs Damone that she is pregnant as a result, he first agrees to pay half the fee for an abortion and to drive her to the abortion clinic, but reneges when he is unable to come up with the money. Desperate, Stacy convinces Brad to drive her to a bowling alley, but after he drops her off, he observes her through his rearview mirror going to an abortion clinic across the street. Brad waits for Stacy to come out and she makes him promise not to tell their parents. When Stacy tells Linda about Damone blowing her off, Linda flies into a rage and spray paints obscenities on Damone's car and school locker. Word quickly gets around school about Damone's impromptu sexual relationship with Stacy, which leads to a confrontation between Damone and Rat in the boys' locker room. At the end of the film, the viewer is informed that Stacy and Rat are having a passionate love affair, but have still not "gone all the way".
Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is a surfer and habitual marijuana user who is in Stacy's American history class. The strict teacher, Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), has no patience with Spicoli's carefree attitude and especially not with Spicoli's wasting of class time. Finally, on the evening of the graduation dance, Mr. Hand shows up at Spicoli's house and informs him that since he has wasted eight hours of class time over the past year, Mr. Hand intends to make up for that time now. They proceed to have a one-on-one tutoring session that lasts until Mr. Hand is satisfied that Spicoli has understood the lesson. Outside of class, Spicoli wrecks a car (a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28) belonging to Ridgemont's star football player Charles Jefferson (Forrest Whitaker). To avoid being beaten up, Spicoli puts the car in Ridgemont's front lawn and paints the car with slurs supposedly written by Ridgemont's rival high school, Lincoln High school, an actual high school in San Diego, California. When Ridgemont plays Lincoln in an upcoming game, Jefferson is so full of rage that Ridgemont wins. An epilogue reveals that Spicoli saves Brooke Shields from drowning and then blows the reward money hiring Van Halen to play at his birthday party. Linda got accepted to UC Riverside and moved in with her abnormal psychology professor. Mr. Hand is left to believe everyone is on dope; and Mr. Vargas switched back to coffee.
Read more about this topic: Fast Times At Ridgemont High