Rock N Roll High School (1979)

A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.

Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, and Dey Young. The film featured the punk rock group The Ramones.

Vince Lombardi High School keeps losing principals to nervous breakdowns because of the students' love of rock 'n' roll and their disregard of education. The putative leader of the students is Riff Randell, who loves the music of the Ramones. A new principal, the rock-music-hating Miss Evelyn Togar, is brought in and promises to put an end to the music craze. When Miss Togar and a group of parents attempt to burn a pile of rock records, the students take over the high school, joined by the Ramones, who are made honorary students. When the police are summoned and demand that the students evacuate the building, they do so, which leads to an explosive finale.

Where the 3 R's Stood for ROCK, ROLL and REBELLION!

I have heard much about this cult classic but had never actually seen it.  I knew Howard Stern bought the rights a while back and planned to remake it.  But finally I had the opportunity and I made Lisa watch it with me.  And let's just say....I was really fucking disappointed.  It was cool to see the Ramones hamming it up though. 

Originally the producers wanted Cheap Trick as the stars, but the release of the "Live At Budakon" album had just made them superstars and too hot an item to be in a low budget movie. Very good luck for the Ramones who were looking to break out of the underground punk rock world and into the mainstream market.

Will your school be NEXT?

Let me back track a bit. I was disappointed after all the build up but the film is nevertheless still reasonably entertaining.  Putting the plot, setting, and production values aside, if you are interested in what a Ramones live performance was like in the semi-early days, you should fast-forward to the scenes in this movie in which the Ramones appear. 

One thing that gave the film an added boost had to be the divine PJ Soles (better known for her performance in Halloween), who gave such a bang up performance as the peachy Riff Randell.  Which is one of the coolest names I've heard in a while.  Riff "fucking" Randell. I may name my next dog Riff.

 I'm Riff Randell, rock-and-roller.

Writing a critical review of Rock & Roll High School is like writing a food review of your local McDonalds -- you know that it's crap but that's not really the point. So okay, it's crap, but it doesn't mean that there isn't any entertainment at all.  I'm still trying to figure out the balding dude with the office in the bathroom that charged for helping the students. He'd have been in the bathroom at my high school for about 10 minutes before someone whipped his ass. 

The only thing I'll ever lay is a rug!

Trivia:

Originally, Todd Rundgren was to star as the musical act, but both sides could not come to an agreement. Next, Cheap Trick was contacted, but a similar situation happened. After that, talks were conducted with Warner Bros. Records, where Allan Arkush had a connection, to decide on which band they should use in the film. The first suggestion was Devo, but Arkush decided that they had too much of their own concept. Another band considered for the movie was Van Halen, but Warner execs warned Arkush that they were raucous and would be difficult to handle. Finally, an exec name-dropped the Ramones, who recorded for Sire Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. Arkush, being a huge fan of the band, agreed. To this day, Rundgren regrets passing up the role he was offered.

Dee Dee Ramone was such a bad actor that his lines were cut from seven down to two, in the dressing room after the concert: "Hey, pizza!" and "Hey, pizza! It's great! Let's dig in!"

The on screen concert was attended by actual Ramones fans, whose uncontrollable, raucous behavior terrified lead P.J. Soles.

P.J. Soles had never heard Ramones before being cast in the film. She was given their music to listen to but she admits that she did not like it initially. But after her enjoyment of working with them, she became a fan of theirs.

On behalf of the students from Vince Lombardi High who are here tonight, I'd just like to say one thing: Screw you, Principal Togar, we made it to the concert anyway!

The high-school was portrayed by the non-operational Mount Carmel High School in South Central Los Angeles which had been closed-down since 1976. The building of the school blown-up at the end is the school which was scheduled for demolition. The explosion was five times bigger than it was supposed to be, and since the filming was at 3am, a lot of frightened neighborhood residents charged out of their homes, not knowing what had happened.

The Ramones were paid a total of $25,000 for appearing in the film, and had to play shows in southern California to help pay their hotel bills. During the 21-day shoot, Dee Dee Ramone got arrested for fighting with a roadie, overdosed in jail, and wound up in Cedars Sinai Hospital with a $3,000 medical bill.

During The Ramones' concert sequence at The Roxy near the end of the film, Darby Crash, late singer of seminal Los Angeles punk band The Germs, can be seen in the front row.

When The Ramones are backstage after the concert and Riff gives them her song, in the background on the wall is a picture of Cherie Currie, formerly the lead singer of The Runaways. The Runaways and The Ramones toured together.

As an inside joke regarding producer Roger Corman's notoriously stingy budget on the movie, sounds of birds going "cheap, cheap, cheap" can be heard as the New World Pictures credit appears onscreen.

The notoriously cheap Roger Corman, also a publicity genius, invited music journalists to work as extras in return for getting to be on the set and interview the principals.

Do your parents *know* that you're Ramones?

P.J. Soles purchased her own wardrobe because the film's budget was so low that they could not afford decent clothes for her. She spent her entire salary, $2100.00, on her clothes. The red satin jacket was $300.00 from Fred Segal. According to Soles, Rod Stewart was at the store and wanted to buy the jacket but she had claimed it before him.

Dick Miller improvised his line "Those Ramones are ugly, ugly people."

The origins of the film's plot were seeded in an old favorite story told to co-writer Joseph McBride by his father, the Milwaukee Journal's Raymond E. McBride, who held a walkout at the Central High School in Superior, Wisconsin during the 1920s.

On the last day of shooting, Allan Arkush was hospitalized for exhaustion, and Joe Dante was tapped to direct the remaining scenes, which were the scene in the gym where P.J. Soles sings her version of "Rock 'n' Roll High School", the long take in the bathroom, and the scene involving the telephone booth.

The romantic theme song heard under the credits, "Did We Meet Somewhere Before?" is sung by Paul McCartney and Wings. McCartney wrote it as the theme to Heaven Can Wait (1978), but Warren Beatty decided not to use it. Allan Arkush, the director, then swung a deal whereby he was able to use the song for only $500 provided McCartney did not receive screen credit.

The Ramones were recording their "End of the Century" album while working on this film.

The song 'Rock 'n' Roll High School' was changed in order to accommodate 'PJ Soles', who was unable to sing the song in its original key.

Rock Rock, Rock Rock, Rock and Roll High School...

The marijuana that Riff smokes was actually a mix of rosemary and other herbs.

The joke license plate number on the Ramones' car read "GABBA-GABBA HEY".

Hand-written posters visible on the walls during the Ear Mail sequence include a recruiting poster for the People's Temple offering free Kool-Aid and a film club poster advertising a double-feature showing of Death Race 2000 (1975) (directed by Paul Bartel) and Hollywood Boulevard (1976) (directed by Allan Arkushand Joe Dante).

Allan Arkush tried for several years to get the film produced under various rough draft titles: "High School Spirit of '76", "Heavy Metal Kids", "Girls' Gym", "California Girls", and "Disco High". After Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick and Tom Petty declined the project, Arkush settled on the Ramones for the band in the film.

The movie's main poster was designed in a similar vogue to the one used for Animal House (1978) a year earlier. That movie had been a box-office hit. Instead of a fraternity house exploding with action and characters, this movie did the same except it was a high school main building instead.

Despite playing a high school student, P.J. Soles was 28 when the movie was filmed, and was actually older than three of the four members of the Ramones (only Johnny Ramone was older than Soles).

The movie spurred just the one sequel which was made and released around twelve years later. Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1991) didn't garner theatrical releases and was a straight to video movie debut.

Banner slogans for the school read "Winning is better than losing" and "Winning isn't the most important thing....It's the only thing".

Things sure have changed since we got kicked out of high school.

Mary Woronov, who plays the tyrannical Principal Togar, is only seven years older than P.J. Soles, who plays rebellious high school student Riff Randell.

Reportedly, on 31st July 2008, it was announced that Alex Winter had been hired to develop a script to remake this movie for Howard Stern.

Among the albums in Riff's bedroom that are shown are Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited", The Who's "Who's Next", The Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers", and The Ramones' "Road to Ruin".

His role as the School Board President marked the final film performance of Grady Sutton, ending a career that spanned almost 55 years.

While technically it otherwise has no connection to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" (and takes place in the 50's), actresses PJ Soles, Dey Young, and Mary Woronov reunited for the 1994 remake of "Shake, Rattle, and Rock". The characters they played in that film are named Evelyn Randall, Kate Rambeau Sr., and E. Joyce Togar (respectively).

The motorcycle ridden by the hall monitors was a "death machine" from the film Deathsport, which executive producer Roger Corman had produced and directed the previous year.

Rob Bottin: Uncredited, the special-effects and make-up artist as a giant white mouse / Mrs. Mouse.

Joe Dante: Uncredited, the director as a riot cop with sunglasses.

Allan Arkush: Uncredited, as a ticket-taker in a green shirt.