Rock and Roll High School (1979) review

(9/10)

I would love to go to a school like this one day, minus the strict, no-rock rule. The campy jokes, different people, and the Ramones' soundtrack make this movie all that it is.

PLOT:Vince Lombardi High School has always had a problem keeping its students under control. After the last principal is driven straight-jacket insane by the students, Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov) decides to take over the school and run it with an iron fist. However, the majority of the student body is living for the party and living for the rock-and-roll, specifically songwriter, Riff Randell (P. J. Soles) and her best friend, wiz kid Kate Rambeau (Dey Young). Randell has always loved the Ramones and has been writing songs for them to hopefully play in the future; her luck seems to be on the light side when concert tickets go on sale in her hometown for the Ramones. Will her dream come true? Also, Kate has developed a crush on football star, Tom Roberts (Vincent Van Patton). Both go to the wisest student in VLHS, Eaglebauer (Clint Howard), and ask for advice. However, Tom wants Riff to like him and not Kate. What will become of this love triangle? It's a good plot executed hilariously.



ACTING:The performances in here were pretty good in my opinion. P. J. Soles ruled the show as the Ramone-crazy rocker, Riff. I believe her character stands for every punk-rocking hipster alive today. I also believe that Dey Young played an pretty innocent and sexy part as Kate Rambeau, the geeky girl after the popular jock. I would like to see more movies with her in them. The other shiners would be Clint Howard as Eaglebauer, Mary Woronov as Mrs. Togar, Paul Bartel as Mr. McGree, adn the Ramones as themselves. I also believe Eaglebauer's character was a pretty memorable one.

SCORE:The soundtrack is almost made entirely up of the Ramones' music, including the title track, "I Just Want Something to Do", "Teenage Lobotomy", "Blitzkrieg Bop", and many more hits by them, recorded in concert and standard form. One whole scene is composed of a Ramones concert. Needless to say, the soundtrack rocked.



EFFECTS:There weren't very many effects, but out of the ones which were used, they were pretty well used. Some of the effects included a school exploding and even a life-sized lab rat jammin' in the concert. They were used to camp excess, but it worked well.

OTHER CONTENT:This movie overall rocked pretty hard. It was campy, hilarious, and gave off an overall feeling of teenage emotion that I could relate to. The situations and feelings expressed in this movie are of those I can relate pretty well, such as the love triangle and the rebel rocker character. However, this movie did have a few parts where it seemed pretty bland and unfunny. There were a few typical stereotypes that just made me shake my head, but otherwise, it was pretty hilarious camp.

OVERALL,an awesome school comedy with a good plot, pretty good performances, rockin' score, well-used effects, lots of camp and hilarity, and a feeling of teenage emotion I could relate to, but this movie did have a few sleeper jokes and stereotypes.