Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979, Review) SHOUT! Factory

Director: Allan Arkush

Cast: PJ Soles, Vincent Van Patten, Clint Howard, Dey Young, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel

SHOUT! Factory / NTSC Region 1 / Rated PG / 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / 91 minutes (specs say 84 min.)

DVD Extras: Audio Commentary With Director Allan Arkush, Producer Mike Finnell And Screenwriter Richard Whitley / New Audio Commentary With Director Allen Arkush, P.J. Soles And Clint Howard / New Audio Commentary With Screenwriter Richard Whitley & Russ Dvonch / Back To School: A Retrospective Including All-New Interviews With Allen Arkush, Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Dey Young And Marky Ramone / Staying After Class: A New Interview With P.J. Soles, Vincent Van Patten And Dey Young / Interview With Roger Corman Conducted By Leonard Maltin / New Interview With Director Allan Arkush Including A Look At Rare, Behind-The-Scenes Stills From His Personal Collection / Audio Outtakes From The Roxy / Original Radio Ads And TV Spots / Original Theatrical Trailer With Commentary By Eli Roth Courtesy Of Trailersfromhell.com / And More…

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It’s pretty much a given that cinematic musicals are for the ladies and their gay friends. I mean, what self-respecting man is going to sit through Moulin Rouge! or Chicago and still come out with his Man Card intact? Now I will admit to loving Grease but let’s face it, John Travolta is so fucking cool that it negates all sissyfication. That and Olivia Newton-John looks really hot in black leather. In that same vein, I would add that badass New York punk rock would also erase any thought of the  warblings of Liza Minnelli or Queen Latifah. That’s right, a musical with the music of The Ramones with the added coolness of PJ Soles (Halloween ’78), Clint Howard (Eat My Dust), Vince Van Patten (Hell Night) and tons of teenage hijinks and you have yourself one manly musical.

Vince Lombardi High’s resident bad girl and #1 Ramones fan Riff (Soles) and her best friend Kate, the school’s cute-yet-nerdy chick, set out to score tickets to the local Ramones concert. Riff not only idolizes Joey and the boys, but she has written a song – the titular “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” – for them and she wants to get it to them so they can record it. But the new principal Miss Togar and her Hall Monitor gestapo Fritz Hansel and Fritz Gretel are standing in the way and will use any means necessary to stop Riff and Kate as a means to bring order to the school and destroy punk rock once and for all.

This is one of those movies that really hit a nostalgic nerve with me. Not only did I listen to punk in the ’80s when I bought my first Black Flag, Exploited and Germs albums, but this movie in particular has a comfortable place in my heart. My local UHF station used to play it 4-5 times a year during the Saturday matinee and I would watch it whenever possible. So when I heard that SHOUT! Factory was putting this classic teen-punksploitation comedy out, I was really stoked. I haven’t seen it since the mid-’80s so the awesomeness came flooding back with every scene. The absurdity of the humor and characters mixed with the music and live performances of the Ramones make this one of my all-time favorite retro-teen comedies, right up there with Fast Times and The Breakfast Club.

Aside from the obvious rad soundtrack, there are so many outrageous characters that make up the cast and are played to the tee by the actors involved. PJ Soles as “Riff” is so fucking cute and rambunctious as the wild-child über fan, she really hams it up throughout. Ron Howard’s less famous yet, in my heart, no less talented brother Clint plays the school “hook-up” guy who runs Eaglebauer Enterprises and can get you anything you may want or need in high school. Joey, Johnny, DeeDee and Marky Ramone also get in on the acting fun with a few awfully acted yet hilarious lines, but in my opinion the best character awards go to Mary Woronov as “Principal Togar” (she delivers my favorite line in the whole movie, “Do your parents know you’re Ramones?”) and her two awesome henchmen the “Fritz” brothers. The over-acting on Woronov’s part and the Fritz’s evilness are just fantastic.

This is my first SHOUT! Factory disk so I was ignorant of the quality of their product. Let me tell you right now, that is no longer in question. Setting aside the actual A/V quality for a second, the packaging is phenomenal. Not only do they use a high quality case (don’t laugh, it’s important) with great graphics inside, but included is a 15 page insert with a history of the movie by the screenwriters, interviews with the director, Johnny Ramone, Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov. The new widescreen transfer looks amazing (check out the caps below, thanks to Ian Jane over at AVmaniacs.com) with only a scene or two suffering a little degradation from use of another transfer (maybe?). The dialogue was clear and the music sounded like it did in the ’80s with the Dolby Digital Stereo mix; loud and fast! The ridiculous amount of audio commentaries, interviews and overall extras packed onto this disk shows how much time and love SHOUT! Factory put into this release.

Greg Baty

Greg is a lifelong genre film fan who digs boobs, blood and beer. He also enjoys old school punk rock, comic books and spending time with his beautiful wife Ellen and his cats Sydney and Alabama. Greg is the webmaster, Editor in Chief and Head Writer for Cinesploitation.

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