Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Allan Arkush

Writers:

Richard Whitley (screenplay) &
Russ Dvonch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 August 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Tagline:

Hey ho, Let's go!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Ramones | High School | Rock 'n' Roll | B Movie | Hall Monitor

Cast

P.J. Soles	...	Riff Randell
Vincent Van Patten	...	Tom Roberts
Clint Howard	...	Eaglebauer
Dey Young	...	Kate Rambeau
Mary Woronov	...	Miss Evelyn Togar
Paul Bartel	...	Mr. McGree
Dick Miller	...	Police Chief
Don Steele	...	Screamin' Steve Stevens
Alix Elias	...	Coach Steroid
Loren Lester	...	Fritz Hansel
Daniel Davies	...	Fritz Gretel
Lynn Farrell	...	Angel Dust
Herbie Braha	...	Manager
Grady Sutton	...	School Board President
Chris Somma	...	Shawn

Also Known As:

Disco High (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:12 | Iceland:L (re-rating) | Finland:S (1990) | UK:15 (cut) | USA:PG (certificate #25611) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

El Segundo High School - 640 Main Street, El Segundo, California, USA

Company:

New World Pictures

Trivia:

The building blown up in the ending is the condemned Mount Carmel High School in the South section of Los Angeles, California. 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.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Riff is shown putting on the Ramones' "Road to Ruin" album to listen to the song "I Want You Around". This song does not appear on that record.

Quotes:

Riff: I'm Riff Randell, rock-and-roller.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore (1997)

Soundtrack:

Questioningly

My brief review of the film

An extremely silly and overdone comedy, the film is nevertheless still reasonably entertaining, as the songs are good, the characters are relatively fun to watch, and there are some genuine laughs along the way. The film has a thing or two to say as a cultural study and an examination of teenage rebellion, but whatever messages may be there are weak, for the film does not take itself too seriously, presenting many events and ideas that are plain out ridiculous. Also, it would have been nice to get to know the characters a bit better, but then were the filmmakers really trying to do something better than a run-of-the-mill high school set film, or were they just out to have fun, like their characters are? This is not a bad film either way, and arguably it is worth checking out, but it would take a lot of guts to call this a good film.