All The World’s A Cage: Fast Times At Ridgemont High. By Rufus Black.

Welcome, one and all, to the first instalment of ‘All the World’s a Cage’, or alternatively, the ‘Cage of the Month Club’. Here, once per month and in roughly chronological order, we will work our way through the storied filmography of Nicolas Cage – the greatest actor to have ever lived. Some people may claim that awarding that title to this man requires justification, and as such those people are ridiculous, their views an outrage and their existence utterly absurd. In terms of sheer acting talent, whilst he may be brilliant in the utmost, there are many champions who may always compete for the top of the podium. And yet, there are a variety of factors to an actor’s career beyond that, and it takes a Cage to juggle them perfectly. A component in which he truly excels is in the diverse variety of roles he takes, and the absolute commitment with which he attacks them all. You would never see Daniel Day Lewis in Mandy, for example; Olivier would have shied from Deadfall.

Thankfully, there is already sufficient Cage that at a rate of one a month it will still last until we’re all dead, even if for some unspeakable reason he were to stop making new movies today. And so, what format shall this feature take? We’ll begin with a review of each film based on its own merits, keeping an eye out for our intrepid hero, before rounding off with a separate assessment of it as a Cage film. We’ll lay down some criteria in this first instalment which may evolve in the future.

Without further ado, we kick off this month with Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), marking his cinematic debut. Here, Nicolas Cage (credited as Nicolas Coppola at this point) plays Brad’s Bud, a true character for the ages.

Review

Fast Times At Ridgemont High was released in 1982, based on Cameron Crowe’s 1981 book of the same name (he would also pen the screenplay), and marks the directorial debut of Amy Heckerling. A comedic yet honest story which follows a snapshot of the lives of several Ridgemont High students before they graduate, the film is steeped in a nostalgia for the seminal point of adolescence. It’s also something of a time capsule simply due to the period in which it was made, as there isn’t a frame that doesn’t betray exactly when that was. The opening montage familiarises us with the characters quickly and adeptly, though admittedly I was distracted by the shopping mall it takes place in. It wouldn’t be a big deal, but the many establishing shots therein made me feel like I’d been there before… and I quickly realised that the layout was almost identical to the one featured in Chopping Mall (1986). Indeed, as it happens, it was the exactly the same mall – Sherman Oaks Galleria in L.A. If that name rings a bell, it’s likely because you know it from Terminator 2 and Commando, and we can assume as such it was quite a popular filming spot in the 80s. Chopping Mall darts around that place so much that by the end, the viewer knows it inside and out unmistakably. So there you go – didn’t take long for us to run into some movie history. We’ll be back at Sherman Oaks Galleria for Valley Girl in this very feature.

The soundtrack punches in for the opening with We Got the Beat by the Go-Go’s, and there’s a rich range of 80s rock that escorts us through the whole movie. It’s a nice touch, and really adds to the timely teen nostalgia, though I can’t recall if there was actually an original score. The downside is that at times, due to the soundtrack being used for transitions so freely, it starts to feel a bit like a sitcom. This could be accentuated by the fact that there are so many stationary scenes, but Matthew F. Leonetti is such a competent cinematographer that it never feels like it visually loses the pace.

The cast really hold the whole thing together tightly. With a film so focused on its characters’ interactions, good casting is essential and in this case was executed perfectly. Sean Penn is intrinsically tied to this movie for a lot of people, and with good reason. As the perpetually stoned Spicoli, he is also most at risk of veering from reality and becoming a cartoon. Penn rather masterfully stays on the brink of it but never quite tipping over, mostly due to a sadness that creeps in whenever his easygoing nature is challenged. When Judge Reinhold is on screen as Brad he dominates it, and makes it impossible not to watch him. His physicality shows so much conviction in his character with his confident swagger, that either Reinhold is always that guy or he lived it for a while in preparation for the role. I would assume the latter based on the scenes where he’s flipping burgers completely naturally, even occasionally going for a few trick flips. The more conventional leads are Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brian Backer, who I found alright, although I’ll admit to not really noticing them amidst the other cast.

Certainly hitting all the required beats, and Leigh carries the more complicated intimate scenes with commitment. Robert Romanus is excellent as Mike Damone, somewhere between a guy you know and a guy you wished you knew (at least until he turns out a bit of a scuzzball). It really feels like you’re hanging out with a friend when he’s on, due to his relaxed and unbothered nature. Phoebe Cates is cut from a similar cloth as Linda, Leigh’s more experienced friend, who also steals the audience’s attention with her full embodiment of the character. Yet more genius casting in Ray Walston as Mr. Hand: Spicoli’s nemesis as the strict history teacher. Similar to Spicoli, he initially comes off as something of an exaggerated archetype, but the more time we spend with him his humanity comes out as a teacher who genuinely wants his students to do well.

In smaller roles there are faces that would go on to be familiar – Amanda Wyss is in there and would go on to Nightmare On Elm Street, Forest Whitaker bringing some real intensity and gravitas in his little screen time, and of course, Cage himself. His role as Brad’s Bud amounts to maybe a cumulative minute of screen time, and I didn’t hear any dialogue from him though there may have been some in the crowd. This is very much what would now be called a featured role in background acting (extra) lingo, save for the fact that he does make the credits at the end. He’s most notable near the beginning, where he slaps an “I am a homo” sign on some nerd’s back. We see him again getting out of Brad’s car, watching in dismay as Brad is fired, and dancing at the prom. Utterly amazing.

All in all, this is a solid picture with no major flaws to report. I believe most negative reception at the time was aimed at its perceived vulgarity and sexuality, seen as something of an exploitation flick. In truth the handling of teen sexuality comes off as very honest rather than crass, and grounded in believable characters. In fact, the sex scene between Romanus and Leigh was cut in order to be screened and placate the censors, which had the effect of making it actually seem more exploitative. It still has that awkward, not-sexy, hesitant feel, but by all accounts was even more so prior to being recut. The sexuality serves more as a means to an end rather than a thinly-veiled purpose, with the notable exception of Brad’s brief fantasy of Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool topless, but since that was both incredibly hot and awesome I don’t care.

Also worth noting before signing off is the impressive stunt work in both the football scene and the car crash, coordinated by John Moio. The ending is lovely and clicks like Lego, winding down with Leigh and Backer, at which point I was slightly concerned that the other characters were going to be forgotten, but almost everyone gets a nice farewell, especially Brad and Spicoli. Overall, even if the teen sex comedy is not a genre you’re particularly interested in, this slick movie will still keep you invested, chuckling and feeling like a kid again.

8/10

Some Notes on Cage

Here is where I’ll try and dig up a few Behind-The-Scenes factoids about Saint Nic’s involvement in a given project, though they’re a little thin in this case. As previously divulged, this is his feature film debut – not his film debut, as he had previously starred in The Best of Times a year prior, the pilot of an intended variety show that simply never happened. As such, that’s floating around as a tv movie. I probably should have started with that but it’s difficult to source, so it may pop up as next month’s or later.

Cage actually auditioned for Brad in Ridgemont, by his telling “10 or 11 times”, though since he was a minor at the time he couldn’t legally shoot for as long as was necessary, once again proving that the law sucks. Whilst he almost certainly would have brought something to Brad, there’s no denying what a great fit Reinhold is, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone else. This is the last time he’d be credited under the Coppola name until 2022’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, due to accusations of nepotism on Ridgemont – ever the professional, he won’t name names, but he’s often mentioned how other cast members would keep bringing up the Coppola name and his uncle Francis in relation to his own presence in show business. He would adopt ‘Cage’ shortly thereafter in reference to Luke Cage, Hero For Hire.

As A Cage Film

Here’s where we’ll have a look at the picture from the perspective of a Cage movie, how it fits into the canon of Cage filmography, as well his role, through the medium of some key questions every Cage fanatic has in relation to each of his films and characters. Expect this section to alter and evolve in further instalments, and do leave comments and notes for suggestions.

How much of the motion picture is he in?

Here we’ll distinguish movies led by Nic, or where he’s a main character, side character, cameo, etc. However, duration is not the only metric here, as a perfectly utilised small role could be optimal Cage usage for the right film.

In this case of course, he’s barely in it – the brief moment of “Oh, look, it’s Nic Cage” is obviously preferable to a random extra of course, so that’s something. A line or two wouldn’t have hurt…

1/10

Could anyone else have played this role?

An assessment of whether he was well cast for the part. Being the wild card he is, a good casting director doesn’t just stick Nic in anywhere. Cage’s job is obviously to make it fit wherever he’s put, but here we’re assessing the casting.

In this film, pretty much anyone could have done this part. When he smacks the sign on the nerd, he makes sure to pull that little background actor trick of ‘looking over his shoulder’ to ensure that his face ends up on camera. But that’s really some of the most character he gets to inject here.

0/5

Does he get Uncaged?

You can often tell his favourite scenes to shoot. When he’s really feeling it, he screams, shouts, breaks stuff, laughs maniacally… being the modern expressionist, it’s worth assessing to what degree he goes into an expressionist furor or hysteria – to what degree he gets Uncaged.

In Ridgemont, that’s not at all.

0/5

Would it suck without him?

I’ve sat through some right shit just because it’s a Nic Cage movie. And I’m sure I haven’t even seen the worst of it yet. So far the only one I’ve actually given up on and not watched all the way through is Jiu Jitsu, though of course I’ll try again. Naturally, he’s brilliant even when the film is awful, but it is still a factor of a good Nic Cage movie that it is actually a good movie, not just resting on him.

Since he’s a little inconsequential in Fast Times, that’s basically a question of how good it is anyway. I don’t really know from this genre so it’s a little difficult to gauge how innovative/derivative it is. And in fact, this might even be the most subjective criteria here. Whatever, I thoroughly enjoyed it, without it revolutionising my perception of cinema.

8/10

Cage Fight – Could [this role] beat [title holder] in a fight?

It hardly needs stating that it would be awesome to watch every Nic Cage character have a massive fight until only one remains. Is this anything to do with how good a Nic Cage movie is? Probably not, but we’ll do it anyway. The ‘title holder’ in question is the victor of the previous Cage Match. Assessed out of 3, where 3 is a victory, 0 is a landslide loss, and 1 and 2 are losses gauged by how close the fight is. I wholly expect that when we get to Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider will probably win in perpetuity, but I could be wrong.

Since this is the inaugural All the World’s a Cage, there is no fight to be had. Brad’s Bud is hereby our Cage match champion and will go on to fight next month.

3/3

Cage Score

The final assignation of how good the motion picture is as a Nic Cage movie. All categories are given equal weight to calculate the final percentage.

38%

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