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Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and the Birth of Main-Stream Porn


I will never forget sneaking into a showing of the R-rated film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” in 1982 at the age of 13. It wasn’t difficult: just buy a ticket for one film, then, once inside the theater, stroll into another. I mainly went because of the endless trailers and TV commercials promoting the movie which emphasized the dorky and juvenile antics of stoned surfer dude Jeff Spicoli; played by a very young Sean Penn. But, once it started, I was immediately mesmerized by Phoebe Cates. She had just a supporting role, as the best friend of star Jennifer Jason Leigh. While Leigh was mousy and annoying, Cates illuminated the screen with her exotic good looks, dark skin, innocent yet knowing smile, and genuine but vulnerable confidence. She was the sexier and smarter antidote to 80s “it” girl Brooke Shields.
As the story moved along, I focused on Cates. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Leigh’s older brother masturbates in the bathroom, while starring at Cates through a partially open window; Cates is innocently sunbathing poolside in the backyard. The next shot is of Cates, completely wet, emerging from a swimming pool; behind her is a shower of light-reflected water droplets - while a rock soundtrack thumps in the background. Without notice, she opens her bright red bikini top. I was stunned. All I can match that moment to was the jolt at the end of the original “Friday the 13th” when Jason pops out of the lake to grab the lone female survivor. In that vein, I would also compare the Cates topless scene in “Ridgemont High” to the mid-picture murder of Janet Leigh in ‘Psycho.” Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, caused a similar meltdown when she took off her top in “Trading Places.” But, in that movie, Curtis played a smart-mouthed street-prostitute; therefore that nude scene didn’t have the same shock value as the wide-eyed seeming reveal by the teenage Cates; she was only 18 at the time of filming.
Looking back, I think the Cates part in “Ridgemont High” affected me so profoundly and severely because all of my former exposure to pornography had involved the burned-out, over-made-up, and bleached blonde tackiness of the girls in Penthouse and Hustlermagazines. Nevertheless, here was Cates: she was genuinely beautiful, young, natural looking, and devoid of the snarling grimaces that populated the grossly slick faces of the porn centerfolds. She didn’t moan when she came out of the water…she beamed a great big smile, and then pulled open her swimsuit. This was a different form of pornography. It was porn masked as cute naivety. In fact, the scene owed more to Playboy than to its hardcore competitors. Because, in my eyes, when Cates showed her breasts, she became sullied. Like, Hefner, the film exploited the girl-next-door, as Playboy had successfully done just two years before with Dorothy Stratten. The cute girl I saw on the screen, lost her innocence, and, consequently, so did I.   





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