Get ready for delirious, power-chord-banging, authority-fingering fun! Indeed, Rock’n’Roll High School may be the perfect rock film. It’s got all the elements–irrepressible teen-aged rock’n’rollers, mindless establishment types begging to be rebelled against and, it goes without saying, the Ramones in their heyday.
The plot is a simple one: Vince Lombardi High School student—and Ramones obsessive—Riff Randal (P.J. Soles) dreams of being a songwriter for her fave band, while Principal Togar (played to the hilt by Mary Woronov) attempts to thwart Riff’s efforts to meet the band in particular, and to de-rock the school in general. This being a rock film, it’s not giving too much away to say that the Ramones play Riff’s song (the title tune) and Vince Lombardi High winds up getting blown to smithereens.
This might add up to a run-of-the-mill teen flick but for a few notable points. One, there’s no sex—not even a gratuitous titty shot. Sure there’s a subplot involving students Tom Roberts (Vince Van Patten) and Kate Rambeau (Dey Young) wanting to get laid, but it never gets to that point. The focus is on, well, rocking.
Two, its two lead roles are females. The satin-jacket wearing, bubblegum-chewing Riff is wonderful on her own terms. But surely, she not the average rocker’s idea of the authority-defying everyman back in ’79. Togar, deliciously evil and sexy as hell, brings to mind no one as much as Maleficent, the wicked witch from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (maybe it’s the devil-horns hairdo). And who to play Riff’s Prince Charming but Joey Ramone, arriving with the band in full rock’n’roll glory in a Cadillac convertible. Cartoonish and kooky, it’s as great a rock-film moment as there is. Joey & co. ultimately redeem Riff by accepting her song. Not that Riff needs saving—she’s actually quite a capable character, certainly a model for the Riot Grrl ethic.
In some ways, the film seems out of touch—the Ramones brand of stripped-down rock was hardly in vogue (in fact, Executive Producer Roger Corman later revealed that the film, in its original inception, was titled “Disco High School”). Compared to the runaway hit (and a classic on its own right) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), with its teen sex-comedy trappings and soundtrack filled with contemporary hitmakers, Rock’n’Roll High School seems from another world. The film’s best-known musical cues—Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room”—were both several years old by 1979, while the inclusion of the Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll” and the MC5’s “High School” is just sort of bizarre. And extremely forward-thinking. The filmmaker’s adherence to aesthetic is a major factor in the film’s ultimate cult-classic status.
High points include a “Rockometer” device which uses band names as units of measurement (of course, the Ramones top the scale, above the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones) and a cop commenting on the leather-clad band: “They’re ugly, ugly, ugly people.” Oh, and the generous portion of live Ramones footage (“Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Teenage Lobotomy,” “Pinhead,” et al.) is about as cool as it gets.