Rock ‘N' Roll High School

It's almost enough to simply hear Joey Ramone remark that "things sure have changed since we got kicked out of high school." But there are a lot more reasons to enjoy this Roger Corman-produced punk-era gem. Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) is a shamelessly goofy throwback to the first generation of teen-exploitation movies, wherein the kids just wanted to rock and the square adults were determined to shut them down—until they learned to stop worrying and love the music. What RRHS brings to the party is a punk sensibility that leaves Vince Lombardi High in ruins and the hard-nosed principal, Miss Togar, in a strait-jacket! Director Alan Arkush, with an assist from Joe Dante, anticipated Airplane! with this anything-goes, Mad magazine-style gag-fest (B-movie king Corman originally wanted to make this as Disco High, a rare zeitgeist misreading). The cast is in a class by itself: P. J. Soles as Riff; Dey Young as her innocent best friend, Kate; Vincent Van Patten as the clueless football hero on whom Kate has an unrequited crush; Mary Woronov—channeling Joan Crawford—as Togar; Paul Bartel as music teacher Mr. McGree, who becomes a Ramones convert; and the great Clint Howard as Eaglebauer, who runs his test-score and hall-pass black market from a stall in the bathroom. The soundtrack (which could prove fatal to laboratory mice, as Togar memorably demonstrates with explosive results) combines blistering blasts of the Ramones ("Teenage Lobotomy," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," "Blitzkrieg Bop") with pop from Nick Lowe, Fleetwood Mac, Chuck Berry, and others. This 'Rock On Edition' gets an A, thanks to a new audio commentary by Corman and Young (it's here that Corman acknowledges the folly of his Disco High idea and quotes Arkush's rebuttal, "you can't blow up a high school to disco music"), as well as the original commentary with Arkush and others, a 'making-of' featurette, and Ramones audio outtakes. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson) [DVD Review—May 11, 2010—Shout! Factory, 84 min., PG, $19.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 1979's Rock ‘N' Roll High School sports a great transfer. DVD extras include a special intro by director Allan Arkush, four audio commentaries (the first with Arkush, producer Mike Finnell, and screenwriter Richard Whitley; second with Arkush and costars P.J. Soles and Clint Howard; third with screenwriters Whitley and Russ Dvonch; and fourth with executive producer Roger Corman and costar Dey Young), a 'Back to School' retrospective featurette (24 min.), a 'Staying After Class' interview with costars Soles, Young, and Vincent Van Patten (16 min.), audio outtakes from the Ramones' session at The Roxy (16 min.), interviews with Arkush (12 min.) and Corman (5 min.), various photo galleries, script pages from deleted scenes, radio ads, a booklet with various interviews, and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a cult classic.] [Blu-ray Review—Nov. 19, 2019—Shout! Factory, 93 min., PG, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1979’s Rock ‘N’ Roll High School features a great transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack. Extras include four audio commentaries (one by director Allan Arkush, producer Mike Finnell, and co-screenwriter Richard Whitley; another by Arkush and costars P.J. Soles and Clint Howard; the third by Whitley and co-screenwriter Russ Dvonch; and the last by executive producer Roger Corman and costar Dey Young), the production documentaries/featurettes 'Class of ’79: 40 Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School' (71 min.), 'Back to School: A Retrospective' (24 min.), and 'Staying After Class' (16 min.), audio outtakes (16 min.), and interviews with Arkush (12 min., 6 min.) and one with Corman conducted by Leonard Maltin (5 min.). Bottom line: this cult classic shines on Blu-ray.]