Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

I am in love with film. It inspires me every single day. And so does rock and roll. I have a few rock and roll rules that rule my life and I'll share one with you: if you don't like The Ramones, I really don't trust you.Sure, you can tell me every Ramones song sounds the same. And I'll tell you that you're an asshole - Bonzo Goes to Bitburg sounds nothing like Pet Sematary and those two songs sound nothing like Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. The Ramones got me through my first year of advertising, keeping my sanity as I worked eighty hours a week and I will forever be in their debt.This movie makes me insanely happy because it posits a world where The Ramones are the biggest band in the world, big enough to cause a major stir when they come to town. Roger Corman originally wanted Cheap Trick or Todd Rundgren for this, but come on. Only one band could make this work.The students of Vince Lombardi High School are as good at driving educators insane as they are bad at actually learning. Foremost among their number is rock and roller Riff Randell (has P.J Soles ever been lovelier?) who dreams of writing songs for the Ramones and meeting Joey Ramone.When new Principal Togar (has Mary Woronov ever not been great in a film?) takes her ticket to the concert away from her, she and her best friend Kate have to figure out how they'll get to meet their heroes, win true love and escape the drudgery of high school.There's a moment here where Riff imagines Joey in her bedroom singing "I Want You Around" to her. It breaks my heart in the best of ways - pure teen worry and angst and then there's Joey - geeky, gangly, goofball Joey - the hero who comes to her room and there's this pure puppy love bliss. No other band could have been in this film and communicated punk rock swagger and danger while still having this tender sweetness.I love PJ's clothes in this film. That may be because the low budget of the film meant that they couldn't afford decent clothes for her, so she spent her entire salary on her outfits.Between Don Steele, Clint Howard, Dick Miller and Paul Bartel, the only members of my favorite actors club not in this film are weirdo Italian gore icons like John Saxon, Ivan Rassimov and George Eastman to make it perfect. Screw that - this is perfect. The end of the film, where Miss Togar snarls at Joey, "Do your parents know you're Ramones?" makes me get up and cheer out loud.Talk about punk rock - The Ramones were only paid a total of $25,000 for acting in this, so they had to play shows every night to make up for it. Meanwhile, Dee Dee fought a roadie, OD'd in jail and woke up in the ER with a $3,000 medical bill. But that's OK - Dee Dee was such a bad actor in this that he only got two lines: "Hey, pizza!" and "Hey, pizza! It's great! Let's dig in!"There's also a giant mouse and mouse children that somehow go to this school for some reason. Who cares!I love the end of this movie, when the school violently explodes as The Ramones rock out and Screamin' Steve Stevens goes wild. It's absolutely, totally perfect - and makes me wish that in my teen years, when no one in my high school knew or cared who The Ramones were, that Dee Dee would come and get me so high I'd wake up in the emergency room with one awesome story. Gabba gabba hey, indeed.

A silly (and very tame) teen movie surrounding some GREAT footage of The Ramones in concert. Uber fan PJ Soles thinks of nothing but The Ramones and wants everyone in her school to do the same. This causes a lot of trouble with new principal Mary Woronov, who sees rock music as the primary cause in the decline of today's youth. It's a lame brained plot to be sure, but it's also pretty enjoyable. Soles is perfectly hyperactive and the oddball supporting cast includes not only Woronov but Paul Bartel, Vincent van Patten, and Clint Howard (cast wildly against type as the school's hot shot). At the very least, see this for The Ramones and you won't be disappointed. Directed by the under-appreciated Allan Arkush.

A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.There really is not much that can be said about this film -- the plot is nothing special and the acting is pretty average. But as far as cult films go, this is about as cool as you can get. Just look at the list of those involved: Roger Corman, Dick miller, Joe Dante, Mary Woronov, Don Steele, P. J. Soles, Clint Howard... and on, and on...And then the Ramones, both starring and providing the soundtrack. I cannot say I am a huge fan, but they delivered in here.

How can you go wrong with the amazing Ramones? What a crime that two of them are already dead. It reminds me of the Dennis Leary joke about great musicians dying in kitchen fires while useless ones live forever. I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the idea.ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL tells the story of a group of disenfranchised kids fighting against their oppressive high school's administration. It's extremely silly stuff, but there's an optimism about it that's refreshing (even if they do resort to blowing up the building). Who knew that this would actually become a concern for students around the world? ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL is a time capsule of an era when people still believed that music mattered and that it could make a difference to the larger society. It's full of kids who know authority doesn't have the correct answers. Rather, rock and roll is the only thing they can trust.But most important, this is pure exploitation.Take none of it seriously. Just go in and have a good time. If this wasn't what high school life was like in the seventies, then it should have been.