The Cuckoo Clock Film Blog

The Best of Times (1981) dir. Don Mischer – played Nicholas (credited as Nicolas Coppola)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) dir. Amy Heckerling – played Brad’s Bud (credited as Nicolas Coppola)

Valley Girl (1983) dir. Martha Coolidge – played Randy

I am a list maker. It’s how I juggle a busy job and organise my social and home life. My preparation for the Nicolas Cageathon is no exception – I made a list of every single film he’s acted in from IMDB and that list currently stands at 111 films. I may expire before finishing this task. I’m up for it though and see it as a task comparable in honour and dignity to the Twelve Labours of Hercules (The Wicker Man will be my Augean stables).

Let’s begin with Cage’s acting debut, The Best of Times, a TV pilot following the lives of eight teenage friends. It was never picked up as a series and the only place to watch it is via a sketchy version on YouTube. Cage’s character, Nicholas, has a beautiful head of hair and pumps weights whilst wearing denim shorts. Before you get too excited, he also enthusiastically mimes along to Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 with a petrol hose and star jumps in dungarees and a cravat. Man, I love him.

The episode is moderately good fun, especially when they randomly break out into weird dance numbers. The trouble is it’s too wholesome and Cage’s natural intensity is already evident here. Even though the vibe is very innocent and family friendly, he has air of someone who’s about to lose his shit at any moment. Still, it’s great seeing his breakout role and the pilot also happens to be the debut of Crispin Glover so at just under 50 minutes, it’s value for money. If you’d rather not watch the whole thing just catch this clip of Cage and Glover throwing shapes in a convenience store.

Moving on to a much less chaste portrayal of teenage life, Cage’s next role was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I hadn’t seen this film for a long time and had no recollection of Cage being in it. The reason for this is due to him being credited as Brad’s Bud (Brad being Judge Reinhold) and only appearing twice in the background. I wondered about this – it felt like Cage’s part may have been larger but ended up on the cutting room floor. It turns out that Cage was initially lined up for the part of Brad but being 17, he could only work child hours so the 22-year-old Reinhold got the part and Cage was cast as the unnamed friend. Reinhold gives an interesting oral history on the making of Fast Times which includes his interactions with Cage (quick summary: they drank wine together and Reinhold told Cage “whatever you do, don’t do it halfway”. Cage clearly took his advice).

I won’t say too much about Fast Times here as it should be a blog post in its own right, but it is bloody brilliant. It helped kick off several acting careers including Sean Penn, Phoebe Cates, Forest Whitaker and Eric Stoltz. It tackles subjects which feel genuine to the teenage experience and would have been pretty weighty for its time.

These subjects include female sexual desire, masturbation and abortion, the latter theme being brilliantly brought to life by Jennifer Jason Leigh who plays Stacy, Brad’s sister. She is treated terribly by Mike, the student who impregnates her, but she gets on with it and doesn’t suffer terrible consequences for this show of agency. Stacy also has the full support of Brad who rightly focuses on her wellbeing rather than threatening to beat the offending party into a sticky pulp. This depiction of teenage maturity is delightfully shot to shit when Stacy’s best friend, Linda (Phoebe Cates) writes PRICK on Mike’s car and LITTLE PRICK on his locker. Quite right too.

It’s interesting to ponder what kind of film Fast Times would be if Cage had been offered the Brad role. I have to admit that at times Reinhold was perilously close to channelling Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School (1986) due to how much older he seemed compared to other cast members. That said, the wry observations and laid-back maturity Reinhold brings to Brad probably makes him the right choice. One thing I will always lament though is the world never getting to see Cage dressed as a pirate, angrily throwing fish and chips from a car window.

Eight months after the release of Fast Times, Martha Coolidge’s Valley Girl (1983) hit cinemas and gave the newly named Nicolas Cage his first leading role. In this LA update of Romeo and Juliet, Cage plays punk Randy and Deborah Foreman plays Julie, the titular Valley Girl*. Cage brought method acting to the role from the off: he asked everyone on set to call him Randy, he slept in his car for most of the shoot and wrote Foreman a love poem. For more of a deep-dive on Valley Girl, I recommend The New York Times article ‘When “Valley Girl” (and Nicolas Cage) Shook Up Hollywood’.

Cage’s performance is still intense but feels more controlled and he stands out for all of the right reasons. It’s not just that his general look is at odds with Julie’s preppy scene. Cage’s Randy has a whole other vibe which just exudes a complete lack of giving a shit what other people think. It’s worth mentioning that we’re seeing Cage before Hollywood fame polished him up and gave him the standard set of bleached tombstone teeth – his eyebrows are wild and his front two gnashers have an adorable gap. I have much affection for this pre-groomed version.

Randy and his friend Fred turn up at a Valley party in their black n’ red punk gear and encounter immediate hostility from the pastel drenched crowd. Fred deals with this cheerfully and proceeds to crack on to any girl who makes fleeting eye contact. Randy scoffs a lump of wasabi paste without flinching and is clearly counting the minutes until they can leave. Then he spots Julie, they lock eyes across the room and slowly move in for a conversation.

Julie’s blonde, beige-clad ex Tommy (Michael Bowen) spies this exchange and he does the reasonable thing and punches Randy before throwing him out, Randy shouting “fuck you” the whole time. That might the first ever recorded Cage Rage, baby. Randy sneaks back in via the bathroom window, hides in the shower and peers over the wall until Julie enters. Randy persuades her to meet him and Fred outside, which she does, dragging her whiny best friend Stacey with her.

What follows is a contradiction of sorts, Randy is illuminating Julie’s world by taking her out of her well-lit party and into the darkness of the LA nightlife. The Cinematographer, Frederick Elmes, talked about Randy’s world being dominated by primary colours and during this car ride they are drenched in red. Yes, there’s danger but also excitement and genuine passion. Our star-crossed lovers gaze intently at one another in a sticky-floored rock club as a band plays and share their first kiss. It reminded me of so many of my own teenage hook-ups that I actually felt wistful…

There is the inevitable montage of Julie and Randy’s developing relationship and all the while her weird Jock ex is circling her best friends and whispering in their ears about the evils of Randy. Those evils apparently being making her laugh a lot and cruising some banging LA eateries. Sadly, the peer pressure becomes too much and when Julie is summoned to a diner and presented with an ultimatum, she choses her friends. Like a high school Heidi Fleiss, Stacey has arranged for Tommy to “just be passing” and the two get back together. This scene is pretty horrible. Julie’s thousand-yard stare after they reconcile could rival Ben Affleck at a Batman press conference.

Even worse is her break up with Randy. I’ve seen this three times and I still can’t stand it. Randy’s expression when Julie’s rejection dawns on him is so upsetting. Randy, astutely, realises Julie still loves him and is determined to win her back. The trouble is his plan involves disguising himself and turning up wherever her and Tommy happen to be hanging out. The best one though is one morning when she opens her bedroom blinds, he’s in a sleeping bag on her front lawn. Not in a tent, mind, just a sleeping bag. Young Cage somehow manages to make this look quirky rather than terrifying.

As this is a teen comedy, the rules state that the film must end with a Prom. Julie and Tommy are about to be crowned king and queen but in a hilarious sequence, Randy fights Tommy behind a stage curtain during a speech and no one hears the commotion. Seriously, no one. They are screaming at each other and flailing wildly but those curtains apparently deaden everything. Randy prevails, because he’s Nicolas Cage, and leads Julie away from her pastel hell straight into Tommy’s limo. It’s a beautiful ending and a cracking way to kick off Cage’s career.

As a final point, I have to mention the Prom buffet. I have paused it so many times and the only way to describe the food on offer is: four apples, some weird biscuits, a foil baking tray full of cornflakes and a bowl of the green goo from Troll 2 (1990). The latter is a great plot point as Tommy ends up wearing it on his crappy white suit. I’m assuming it’s meant to be guacamole but who knows…

*I knew nothing of Valley Girl culture or the associated vernacular but this Frank and Moon Zappa song was an education.

Best Cage Quote: After Julie breaks up with him he shouts “Well fuck you, for sure, like totally!”

Best Cage Rage Moment: Randy starts nutting a curtain when he spies Julie getting cheek kiss from Tommy.

View from the Ferris Wheel

I have been epically hammering films over the last couple of weeks so here goes:

Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023) – seen at my beautiful local cinema. Proper gripping court drama with many facets, reminded me a little of Alice Diop’s Saint Omer (2022). Very much recommend seeing both.

Mark L. Lester’s Commando (1985) – seen at home with my buddy, Rosie. Not even sorry, love this film and will never stop quoting “let off some steam, Bennett”

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) – seen at home with my beloved (their first watch). A re-watch for me as gearing up for part 2. Loved it even more on the second viewing.

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023) – seen at the BFI Southbank. Incredible piece of cinema, the sound design and score will haunt you for days.

Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw (2023) – seen at the BFI Southbank. Worth a watch, especially if you know your wrestling history around the Von Erich family. Zac Efron great but the story would be better served as series. This was shot on film though so bonus points for that.

Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction (2023) – seen at the BFI Southbank. Jeffrey Wright is superb and this has a whip-smart script. Really interesting themes and just a generally great film. By complete coincidence I’m reading the book it’s based on and enjoying that very much too (Percival Everett’s Erasure).

Dorothy Arzner’s Working Girls (1931) – seen at the BFI Southbank as part of their Arzner season. I missed this at last year’s Film on Film Festival so grateful to see another 35mm screening. This is sweet, hilarious and more than a bit screwy. I also want to live in a New York boarding house during the 1930s, it always looks such fun.