Quote:
Originally posted by Shape Shifter
You're fucking kidding me. Sean Penn created a character that a generation defined. He not only became his character, he inhabited his character so well that it became the template upon which other bad movie characters were based. Like Brando in The Wild Ones. Like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Like the mirrored sunglassed cop in Cool Hand Luke. Like Matt McCaughnehey in Dazed and Confused. Like the dude who played The Dude.
Only a truly great actor can take a throwaway role and make it truly memorable. Fast Times had immeasurable appeal. Would it have had such appeal, if, when Judge Reinhold's character (the ever responsible Brad) asked Spicollli after receiving a handful of change, "Why don't you get a job, Spicolli?" Spicolli answers, innocently, without a hint of sarcasm, "What for?"
He's got his toasty buds. His tasty waves. What more does he need? Spicolli isn't going to get caught on the endless cycle of work-produce-consume. He just is. He produces to meet his needs. Because if they weren't good enough, they wouldn't be called minimums.
And isn't that what we're all here for? Maximum $$$ at minimal effort? Sure, we all got duped (except for Sebby, whose life is like this), but isn't Spicolli's self-actulization something we should all aspire to? If you disagree, please indicate by ordering me a pizza during our next conference call. I promise that it will be OUR pizza.
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Spicoli was a beautiful character, and wholly underrated intelligence-wise - not only did he ingeniously solve the problem of wrecking Jefferson's car, he singlehandedly created the motivation for Jefferson (and Ridgemont) to destroy the opposition. All in one fell swoop. Brilliant.
So what Jefferson was saying was "Hey! You know, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too." Yeah?
