THE FRANK MOVIES: F

F is a particularly difficult letter to narrow down, but here goes:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Rated R

90 Minutes

Directed by Amy Heckerling (Clueless, 2 episodes of Gossip Girl, and 3 episodes of The Carrie Diaries)

Screenplay by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Singles)

Budget - $4,500,000

Box Office - $27,092,880

Reasons that it's a Frank Movie:

1. Generationally defining.

If you want to know how life was in Richmond, VA in 1982, it was very similar to Cameron Crowe's Van Nuys (nee Ridgemont, CA). Damone's room, and his explanation of "the attitude" explains everything it meant to be a teenage (or in my case, a preteen) guy in 1982. I basically gave this same lecture to all of my brothers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJaXzIweUk

2. The introduction of Phoebe Cates.

Many high school movies have tried to replicate the iconic pool scene, and have failed. It is in a world all its own. What is undersold is the iconic "carrot scene", as well. I imagine that our reaction would have been the same at Godwin, as it was by the table full of boys at RHS. Oh, and we also had our share of Pat Benatar look-alikes at MEG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNrVxbYUX18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IUZkug8qo8

3. The soundtrack.

I guess you should expect this from Heckerling/Crowe, but the songs in this film, for me, are inseparable from the film itself. There's not a time that I here Tom Petty's "American Girl" or Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" that I don't immediately associate it with Fast Times. That's generationally defining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TDdKeb_94Q

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-ajHHYumJhbJmm/fast_times_at_ridgemont_high_1982_first_sex/

p.s. The most popular shoe of my teen years was spawned of this movie.