DALE HAWES

  Cameron Crow is the author of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982). This movie is one of those classics that had took a cast of unknown actors and flung them all into stardom. A group of never before seen actors like, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Forest Whitaker, Sean Penn, Eric Stoltz, Antony Edwards, Robert Romanus and even Nicolas Cage all became big time stars after this movie premiered. This film is another example of studio executives putting no money into the advertising because they didn't think anyone would want to see the film. See, although raunchy high school comedies are popular today they were almost unheard of before this movie, with the exception of cheap b-movies. The movie's audience found the film by little more than the coming attraction and word of mouth. And yet it became a blockbuster and a cult classic. The story of how the script came to be is fascinating as well.

 

   Cameron Crow as a youth was a child prodigy. He started writing for Rolling Stone Magazine at the age of 13 and he graduated high school at 15. He would later chronicle his first job as a journalist in his film, "Almost Famous" (2000). If you want to learn more about his childhood in his own words, check it out. I understand the band in the film, Stillwater, is fictional but much of the events in the film are based on real life events. But at the age of 22 Mr. Crow got an idea for a book. He would re-enroll in high school under a fake name to go undercover as a high school student and document what he found. He pitched the idea to Simon and Schuster and they gave him a contract to write the book. So he moved back in with his parents and enrolled in Clairemount High School in San Diego, CA, under the name David Crow. Then he had the senior year of high school he never got in real life. He quickly made friends and began to fit in. His original idea was to put himself in the book while documenting what he was doing but he soon came to believe this would jeopardize his the whole plan and fail to truly capture the high school experience. The book, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High; A True Story" was set to come out in 1981 and it focused on six charters; A tough guy, a nerd, a surfer, a sexual sophisticate, and a middle class brother & sister. He chronicled their life in typical teenaged settings, at school, at the beach and at the mall where most of them worked after school. But word of the book got out and the movie was optioned before the book was even released. The film was released in 1982 and as they say, the rest is history. 

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   One little post script here; The roll of the very strict teacher Mr. Hand (Played by Ray Watson from "My Favorite Martian" 1963 - 1966) was to be played by Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster from, "The Munster's" 1964 - 1966) But Mr. Gwynne turned it down because he thought the script was obscene. Ray Watson was the only real 'star' at the time the movie was first released.

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-D. Hawes