Rock 'n' Roll High School — Rock 'n' Roll High School( Blu Ray)

Rock 'n' Roll High School was a Roger Corman-produced anachronic comedy-come-musical. It's centred around a cheekily delinquent and Ramones fanatic played PJ Soles (Halloween, Carrie, etc), who wants to overthrow her school's new strict principle, get her song sung by her favourite band, and have an all-round good time. The film also features the likes of Clint Howard, Vincent Van Pattten, Mary Wornov, Dick Miller, and The Ramones- and it's a bubble gum-blowing romp, that’s high on fun and music. Here from 101 Films is a recent region B Blu-Ray release of the film, which is baggy with extras and quirky 70s campness.

 

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School appeared in the year 1979- it was co-directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante(uncredited). The film is a bright, bubbling, and often downright silly affair, which is crammed with the music of The Ramones, as well as a few other acts like Alice Cooper, Chuck Berry, Todd Rundgren, and Devo. It’s fair to say there’s neither a huge amount of depth nor plot to  Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, but what there is in spades is fun and rock ‘n’ roll.

The film opens with new strict and rock music-hating principal Miss Togar (Mary Wornov) starting her new job at the unnamed high school. From the off, she makes it clear she’ll have no-nonsense- as she pulls the plug on a Ramones-themed whole school dance out, which is started by the hot pants and bright leggings wearing Riff Randell (PJ Soles). As the film unfolds, we have side plots of teen's romance, overzealous tubby and bumbling hall monitors trying to trick students out, and general student shenanigans. But the main focus here is a Ramones concert and the overthrowing of Miss Togar.

Soles and Wornov make for good often cartoonish/ campy enemies. With the cast filled out with the likes of Clint Howard, as wheeler-dealing fix-anything Eagelbauer who has his office in the boy's toilets. Vincent Van Patten, as naive/ trying to find love jock Tom, and Dick Miller as trying to fix the trouble police chief. In the picture's second half The Ramones have properly stepped into the film- as we get half-an-hour plus of concert footage, as well as later on the band actually heading to the school- with lead singer Joey Ramone getting a few lines.

The humour here is a blend of bumbling, slapstick, and anachronic- and while I never felt like all-out laughing, I did chuckle a few times. I guess it goes without saying that you’ll need to definitely be a fan of The Ramones- as there’s a lot of their music used, as well as a big chunk of live footage of the band. The film largely (just stays) in a formal film structure, never fully going total a concert film- with a very thin lead plot/ series of subplots just pulling things along.  But at the end of the day, you’re really getting what it says on the tin, and if you’re in the mood for turn your brain off musical comedy with an anachronic/ punked rock’ n’ rock spirit this most certainly fits the bill.

 

Moving onto this Blu-ray release- and we get a 4k scan of the film, this looks nicely vibrant and punchy. On the extra side of things, we get a good bumper selection of things- first, off we get four separate commentary tracks- one with director Allan Arkush, producer Mike Finnell and screenwriter Richard Whitley, one with Executive producer Roger Corman and actress Dey Young one with Allan Arkush and actors P.J. Soles and Clint Howard, and one with screenwriter Richard Whitley and Russ Dvonch. I listened to the first of these- and it’s a great fact-packed and entertaining affair. The three start off talking about how the idea of the film came about, and it was influenced by the Todd Rundgren track "Heavy Metal Kids" which came off the 1974 album Todd. They discuss how the project developed/ change. There is talk of the locations, which are apparently two separate schools. We find out the film had a budget of $300,000, it was shot in Dec, and it was for a time called Disco High.  We get chat about other bands who nearly become the focus of the film- with names like Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Devo, and Van Halen. There’s talk about how The Ramones got the job as the film's band.  Later on, we get talk about how they live footage was captured, and other songs filmed but not used.  Scenes that got cut, how extras got albums as payment for their work, and much more. So, a most worth a play track.
Otherwise, on the extra front we have Class Of '79: 40 Years of Rock 'N' Roll High School (1 hour and ten minutes) this is a full doc about the film, with loads of interviews/ input.  Back To School (24.46) more cast and crew interviews. Staying After Class (16.02) interviews with Actors P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten and Dey Young. Interview with Roger Corman conducted by Leonard Maltin(4.36). Interview with Allan Arkush including a look at rare, behind-the-scenes stills(11.35). Fifteen minutes of audio recordings from the live Ramones.  The finished release is finished off with limited edition booklet which features new pieces on the film 'Mindless Authority and Rebellious Youth' by Jon Towlson and 'I Got No Cerebellum' by Jimmy Martin.

 

It's great to see 101 Films giving Rock 'n' Roll High School a UK release- with a bulging selection of extras, and a bright and buoyant 4k scan. If you like campy, silly, and wacky teen movies- then this will be right up your street.