Fast Times at Ridgemont High Trivia
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45 free Fast Times at Ridgemont High trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High began as a stunt: a 22-year-old Rolling Stone writer enrolled at a San Diego high school under a fake name and spent a year taking notes. The 1982 film that came out of it launched Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold, gave Nicolas Cage and Eric Stoltz their first screen credits, and put 'dude' into the language. This quiz covers the whole picture: the characters and who played them, the mall jobs and the pirate uniform, Spicoli's running war with Mr. Hand, the pool scene that nearly earned an X rating, the soundtrack fights between the director and the producers, the box office, and what became of everyone in the closing captions. There are a few questions on Cameron Crowe's undercover year and Amy Heckerling's later career, too. Difficulty ranges from things any fan remembers to details only the DVD commentary crowd will know. Every answer was checked against the Wikipedia articles on the film, its writer, its director and its star, and each question shows its source.
30 of 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in her feature-film debut?
Amy Heckerling
Amy Heckerling made her feature debut with Fast Times and went on to direct Look Who's Talking (1989) and Clueless (1995).
Q 02Who wrote the Fast Times at Ridgemont High screenplay, based on his own book about going undercover at a high school?
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe adapted his own 1981 book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, and later wrote and directed Say Anything..., Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous.
Q 03In which year was the film released?
1982
Fast Times opened on August 13, 1982 in just 498 theaters and expanded only after word of mouth took off.
Q 04Who plays the perpetually stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli?
Sean Penn
Sean Penn plays Spicoli, his second film role after his 1981 debut in the military-school drama Taps.
Q 05What subject does Mr. Hand, Spicoli's nemesis, teach?
History
History is Mr. Hand's subject, and he gets his revenge on the night of the last dance by turning up at Spicoli's house to deliver a lengthy private lecture.
Q 06Who plays Mr. Hand?
Ray Walston
Ray Walston plays Mr. Hand; a Tony winner for Damn Yankees on Broadway, he was best known for TV's My Favorite Martian.
Q 07Who plays 15-year-old Stacy Hamilton?
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh, then 19, plays Stacy; she later earned an Oscar nomination for The Hateful Eight (2015).
Q 08Which actress plays Linda Barrett, Stacy's worldly best friend?
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates plays Linda Barrett in her second film, after the 1982 romance Paradise.
Q 09Who plays Brad Hamilton, Stacy's older brother?
Judge Reinhold
Judge Reinhold plays Brad; Nicolas Cage auditioned for the role but, at 17, was judged too young and got a bit part instead.
Q 10Who plays the smooth-talking ticket scalper Mike Damone?
Robert Romanus
Robert Romanus plays Damone, the scalper whose 'attitude' lessons to Rat end with him ditching Stacy after their encounter in the pool house.
Q 11Who plays Mark 'Rat' Ratner, the shy usher who falls for Stacy?
Brian Backer
Brian Backer plays Rat; the character was modelled on Andy Rathbone, a student Crowe befriended undercover who later wrote Windows For Dummies.
Q 12Where does Stacy work at the mall?
Perry's Pizza
Stacy works at Perry's Pizza in the Ridgemont Mall, across from the cinema where Rat ushers, which is how he keeps running into her.
Q 13Where is Brad working at the start of the film?
All-American Burger
Brad starts the film as a senior fry cook at All-American Burger, until a shouting match with a customer demanding a refund gets him fired.
Q 21Who is the 26-year-old stereo salesman Stacy lies about her age to date?
Ron Johnson
Ron Johnson, a 26-year-old stereo salesman, takes 15-year-old Stacy to 'the Point' after she claims to be 19, then sends flowers and vanishes.
Q 22Where does Stacy lose her virginity to the stereo salesman?
A baseball dugout
Stacy loses her virginity to Ron in a baseball dugout at 'the Point', shot from her uneasy point of view; the pool house comes later, with Damone.
Q 23What word does Linda spray-paint on Damone's car and locker after learning how he treated Stacy?
Prick
Linda sprays 'Prick' across Damone's car and locker after he fails to pay his share for Stacy's clinic visit; Rat then confronts him in the locker room.
Q 14What is Brad dressed as at the job he quits over mockery of his uniform?
A pirate
A pirate, for Captain Hook Fish & Chips; Cameron Crowe's future wife Nancy Wilson has a cameo as the girl in a car who laughs at it.
Q 15Which real band did Nancy Wilson, who cameos as the 'Beautiful Girl in Car', belong to?
Heart
Nancy Wilson was Heart's guitarist alongside her sister Ann; she married Cameron Crowe in 1986 and later scored his films Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous.
Q 16Under what name was the future Leaving Las Vegas star credited in his feature debut as Brad's co-worker?
Nicolas Coppola
Nicolas Cage was billed as Nicolas Coppola, his birth name, and changed it soon after to escape comparisons with his uncle Francis Ford Coppola.
Q 17Which future Oscar winner plays star football player Charles Jefferson?
Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker plays Charles Jefferson; he won the Best Actor Oscar for The Last King of Scotland (2006).
Q 18What kind of car belonging to Charles Jefferson does Spicoli wreck?
A Camaro
Spicoli totals Jefferson's Camaro Z28 while joyriding with Jefferson's younger brother, then sprays it with rival-school graffiti to shift the blame.
Q 19Which rival school does Ridgemont rout after Spicoli pins the car wreck on its fans?
Lincoln High
Lincoln High is the rival; Spicoli's graffiti on the wrecked Camaro blames Lincoln fans, and a furious Jefferson takes it out on them on the field.
Q 20What is the name of the science teacher, played by Vincent Schiavelli, who swears off coffee?
Mr. Vargas
Mr. Vargas is the biology teacher; the closing captions say he switched back to coffee, and Schiavelli reprised the role in the 1986 TV series.
Q 24Brad's final job, where he foils an armed robbery, is at which store?
Mi-T-Mart
Brad's third job is at the Mi-T-Mart, where he scalds a robber with hot coffee after Spicoli wanders in as a distraction; the postscript makes him manager.
Q 25According to the closing captions, whose concert tickets got Damone busted for scalping?
Ozzy Osbourne
The closing caption says Damone was arrested for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets and ended up working at a 7-Eleven.
Q 26The postscript says Spicoli blows a reward on hiring which band to play his birthday party?
Van Halen
The postscript says Spicoli spent his reward money hiring Van Halen to play his birthday party.
Q 27Which celebrity does the postscript say Spicoli rescued from drowning?
Brooke Shields
The closing captions say Spicoli saved Brooke Shields from drowning and earned a reward, which he promptly blew on a party band.
Q 28Which Cars song plays over the famous pool fantasy scene despite being left off the soundtrack album?
Moving in Stereo
'Moving in Stereo', from The Cars' 1978 debut album, scores Brad's fantasy of Linda leaving the pool but was left off the soundtrack LP.
Q 29Which Go-Go's song is the film's opening theme?
We Got the Beat
The Go-Go's 'We Got the Beat' plays over the opening mall montage; the band's biggest US hit, it was left off the soundtrack album.
Q 30Which Jackson Browne single from the soundtrack reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Somebody's Baby
Jackson Browne's 'Somebody's Baby', written with Danny Kortchmar, peaked at No. 7 in 1982 and was the soundtrack's biggest hit.