NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Sam Panico I am in love with film. It inspires me every single day. And so does rock and roll. I have a few rock and roll rules that rule my life and I'll share one with you: if you don't like The Ramones, I really don't trust you.Sure, you can tell me every Ramones song sounds the same. And I'll tell you that you're an asshole - Bonzo Goes to Bitburg sounds nothing like Pet Sematary and those two songs sound nothing like Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. The Ramones got me through my first year of advertising, keeping my sanity as I worked eighty hours a week and I will forever be in their debt.This movie makes me insanely happy because it posits a world where The Ramones are the biggest band in the world, big enough to cause a major stir when they come to town. Roger Corman originally wanted Cheap Trick or Todd Rundgren for this, but come on. Only one band could make this work.The students of Vince Lombardi High School are as good at driving educators insane as they are bad at actually learning. Foremost among their number is rock and roller Riff Randell (has P.J Soles ever been lovelier?) who dreams of writing songs for the Ramones and meeting Joey Ramone.When new Principal Togar (has Mary Woronov ever not been great in a film?) takes her ticket to the concert away from her, she and her best friend Kate have to figure out how they'll get to meet their heroes, win true love and escape the drudgery of high school.There's a moment here where Riff imagines Joey in her bedroom singing "I Want You Around" to her. It breaks my heart in the best of ways - pure teen worry and angst and then there's Joey - geeky, gangly, goofball Joey - the hero who comes to her room and there's this pure puppy love bliss. No other band could have been in this film and communicated punk rock swagger and danger while still having this tender sweetness.I love PJ's clothes in this film. That may be because the low budget of the film meant that they couldn't afford decent clothes for her, so she spent her entire salary on her outfits.Between Don Steele, Clint Howard, Dick Miller and Paul Bartel, the only members of my favorite actors club not in this film are weirdo Italian gore icons like John Saxon, Ivan Rassimov and George Eastman to make it perfect. Screw that - this is perfect. The end of the film, where Miss Togar snarls at Joey, "Do your parents know you're Ramones?" makes me get up and cheer out loud.Talk about punk rock - The Ramones were only paid a total of $25,000 for acting in this, so they had to play shows every night to make up for it. Meanwhile, Dee Dee fought a roadie, OD'd in jail and woke up in the ER with a $3,000 medical bill. But that's OK - Dee Dee was such a bad actor in this that he only got two lines: "Hey, pizza!" and "Hey, pizza! It's great! Let's dig in!"There's also a giant mouse and mouse children that somehow go to this school for some reason. Who cares!I love the end of this movie, when the school violently explodes as The Ramones rock out and Screamin' Steve Stevens goes wild. It's absolutely, totally perfect - and makes me wish that in my teen years, when no one in my high school knew or cared who The Ramones were, that Dee Dee would come and get me so high I'd wake up in the emergency room with one awesome story. Gabba gabba hey, indeed.

hnt_dnl I first saw ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL (1979) some time around the early 80s as a kid on a Saturday night. TV used to show a lot of "teen comedies" on the weekends back then. Not really having any insight into what I had just seen, I only recall enjoying RnR High School as a crazy high-school movie with a LOT of music! Now, in hindsight and having recently re-visited this cult classic, I appreciate it so much more. Sorry to sound completely cliché, but they REALLY don't make 'em like this anymore! The time of the purely fun, entertaining, lighthearted high-school comedy is all but extinct.RnR High School had the fortune (or misfortune) of premiering around the time of the insanely popular film Grease, but, for my money, RnR High School is much more invigorating, while simultaneously delivering a message without devolving into self-praise. The message of the movie is to enjoy being a teenager, because life is short! It's not telling kids to literally blow up the school (as is done in the climax), but to live life as a nonconformist. Be your own person, embrace your beliefs, tastes, and likes. Never forget the joys of youth. Even one of the teachers in the movie, the most stuffy in the school, turns against the principal and embraces the music of the rebellious students of the school.The setting of RnR High School is Vince Lombardi High School in an unnamed California town. The school's most popular student Riff Randle (played with nonstop energy and sex appeal by late 70s/early 80s vixen P.J. Soles) is the #1 fan of the iconic 70s band the Ramones, who are in town for a concert. Riff, with the help of her best friend, the nerdy bookworm Kate Rambeau (played with earnest charm by the appealing and sexy-in-her-own-right Dey Young), advertises the impending arrival of the band by playing the Ramones' music during school hours in the quad, during gym class, pretty much whenever and however they can! This inspires the wrath and ire of the Lombardi High's new principal, the intimidating and imposing authoritarian Evelyn Togar (deftly played by sexy 80s icon Mary Woronov). Miss Togar spends the entire film trying to thwart the efforts of Riff and her schoolmates from attending the concert.In addition to the wonderful and refreshing female cast, the film also boasts a very solid male contingent. In particular, the second-billed Vincent Van Patten (famous for both having a short-lived tennis career and being the son of Dick Van Patten) shows real comedy chops as the film's male lead Tom Roberts, captain and quarterback of the football team. In a very interesting and refreshing twist, even though Tom is an attractive jock, he's actually rather shy around girls and played as under-confident introvert; in most films, Tom would be essayed as a stud and a jerk, but Van Patten does a splendid job of playing him as an awkward teenager who just happens to be attractive and athletically gifted. A very nice subplot of the film is the relationship between Tom and Kate. I wish there had been more of this pair! The other male cast members are the infamous Clint Howard (Ron's little bro!) who plays school matchmaker Eaglebauer, 80s campy-comedy filmmaker Paul Bartel (as Mr. McGree, the aforementioned teacher who joins the student rebellion), Don Steele (as passionate radio D.J. Screamin Steve Stevens), and a great cameo appearance by 70s teen-comedy stalwart Dick Miller (as the Police Chief), who gets a wonderful line near the film's climax that underscores what many conformists truly think of punk rock music and much of the music that has taken over the airwaves in the last 30+ years now! With a short running time of right at 90 minutes, the first 45 minutes of the film is more even-tempered mixing in the Ramones music with the various subplots, then the last half just goes all out with nonstop music and almost plays like a long music video. But it's all good as the Ramones music in this flick is very infectious! There's a healthy amount of funny lines and clever dialog and bits sprinkled throughout to give the viewer a break from the nonstop music. More so than Grease, RnR High School is most probably the true precursor film for the wave of insanely popular 21st century high-school musical media such as the High School Musical movies and the Glee TV series. These new models have very much a similar comic tone and atmosphere to the original RnR High School. A refreshing comedy from the good ol' days that still holds up in a many ways.

sonya90028 This film is a jolt of punk rock fun, from start to finish. The Ramones, reigning princes of late-70s Punk rock, appear as themselves. PJ Soles stars as Riff Randle, the rebellious high school girl who lives and breathes rock 'n roll. Riff is obsessed with writing songs for the Ramones, her favorite rock band. She keeps the school rockin', and encourages her fellow-students to join her in her jubilant antics.Meanwhile the school that Riff attends, has just hired a brand-new Principal, named Ms. Togar. She's a tall, intimidating Amazon of a woman. And she vows to make the students 'toe-the-line'. She even has a couple of the students act as monitors, who report back to her with dirt on their classmates. Ms. Togar is especially determined to nab Riff, and put a stop to Riff's anarchic shenanigans. But Riff has clever ways to foil Togar, at every turn.Kudos to the superb performance of Mary Woronov, in her role as Principal Togar. Mary is a legendary B movie actress. And in this film, she plays the fascist Ms. Togar, with sneering relish. PJ Soles as Riff, turns in an electrifying performance. Clint Howard as the duplicitous Eaglebauer, has lots of fun with his role.The Ramones perform many of their hit songs in this film. And so the viewer sees why the Ramones were so influential, in the 70s Punk rock scene. Certainly, this is a good film for Ramones fans. But even if you're not into the Ramones, or Punk rock, this movie is a terrific blast (literally) of energetic fun.

Xander Seavy (RiffRaffMcKinley) The Ramones, whom I consider the founders of modern punk rock, lend their then-unique sounds to a terrifically twisted movie about a rowdy rock fan (P.J. Soles) who faces off against a merciless, joyless principal (Mary Woronov) for the right to rock.Featuring a soundtrack brimming with incredible music, RRHS is fascinating in concept and execution. It's chock full of riotous sight gags (like the mouse experiment), teenage spirit (probably my all-time favorite film opening), and bizarre, off-the-wall moments (the straitjacket scenes). If you're looking for a movie that seems to be made of pure fun on a molecular level, look no further. But if you're looking for a nice, dignified, dramatic epic, maybe you should look a wee bit further."Hi everybody, I'm Riff Randell, and this is Rock & Roll High School!"